When Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) was first being diagnosed, it was thought of as a disorder that didn’t fit into the category of a neurotic or psychotic personality. People who were diagnosed as having BPD were considered to be on the “borderline” between neurosis and psychosis.
Through research, it has been discovered that BPD is a distinct disorder with its own set of complex symptoms. The primary symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder include intense emotional experiences and instability in relationships and behaviors.
Now that more is known about BPD, there has been a recent movement in the therapeutic community to rename the disorder to something more accurate. Thomas R. Insel, MD, director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), is one of the experts calling for a reexamination of the name Borderline Personality Disorder. He discusses the label of BPD and the outlook for treating the disorder in a recent blog posting.
Alternative Names for BPD
Recent surveys of clinicians and patients provided the following names as possible suggestions when renaming Borderline Personality Disorder:
- Emotional Regulation Disorder
- Emotional Dysregulation Disorder
- Emotional Intensity Disorder
- Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder
- Impulsive Personality Disorder
- Impulsive-Emotional Dysregulation Disorder
- Emotionally Impulsive Personality Disorder
Of those, Emotional Regulation Disorder was the most popular among clinicians and Emotional Intensity Disorder the most popular among patients. The latest revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-V, has proposed the name Borderline Type.
What do you think about a new name for Borderline Personality Disorder? What would you recommend?