Borderline personality disorder (BPD) in the perinatal period

Borderline personality disorder in the perinatal period

What is borderline personality disorder?

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental health condition that affects the way a person thinks, feels and behaves. It can negatively impact how they feel about themselves, their relationships with others, their ability to manage their emotions, and cause impulsive or reckless behaviour.

Around 3 in 100 Australian women aged 25 or more experience borderline personality disorder.

Living with borderline personality disorder (BPD) can be challenging. Having a baby makes things a bit more difficult. That’s why it is important to get help.

What causes borderline personality disorder?

Problems in childhood may cause borderline personality disorder. This includes sexual, physical or emotional abuse or neglect.

Parenting with borderline personality disorder

A mother with borderline personality disorder may struggle with her relationship with her baby. She may not feel the way she thinks that she should feel about the baby. She may also find caring for the baby difficult. It can be very hard to cope when the baby is crying or distressed when you have trouble managing your own distress.

Having a mother with borderline personality disorder affects infants in different ways. If the mother’s behaviour is ‘frightening’ for the infant or she has trouble responding to the infant’s emotional needs, it is more likely that the infant will develop problems with emotions and relationships. Having other people take care of the baby sometimes can reduce these effects on the baby.

Signs and symptoms of borderline personality disorder

Unstable and extreme emotions (sadness, irritability, anxiety)
Efforts to avoid being abandoned
A history of intense and unstable relationships with people
Not having a clear sense of who you are as a person or how you feel about yourself
Impulsiveness (e.g. spending lots of money, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating)
Talking about or engaging in self-harm and/or suicidal behaviours
Ongoing feelings of emptiness
Feelings of anger that may be intense, inappropriate or difficult to control
Being paranoid or feeling disconnected from the world when under stress

How is borderline personality disorder identified?

Talk to your doctor about your symptoms. If you have five or more of the symptoms listed above, you may have borderline personality disorder.

Getting support for borderline personality disorder during pregnancy and after having a baby

A family support service may be able to visit you and your infant in your home
An individual therapist can support you and help you manage your feelings
Therapy for you and your infant helps to build on your relationship
Having someone else care for the baby (family or child care) gives you a break to look after yourself

Download our Borderline Personality Disorder Fact Sheet

Treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in the perinatal period

Borderline personality disorder in the perinatal period

Managing emotions

Finding and practising a way to calm yourself is almost always valuable. Useful skills are mindfulness or meditation. Mindfulness is a technique used to help you stay focused in the present moment and to respond to the world (and your child). Learning this technique may be helpful for you if you tend to find that you are often ‘stuck in your own head’ (going over and over worries or negative thoughts) or tend to ‘react’ emotionally when you are in stressful situations.

Medication

Medicines are not usually used to treat borderline personality disorder. If your symptoms are strong, your doctor may give you a short course of medicines.

Talking therapies

Your doctor will talk to you about psychological (talking) therapies.

Dialectical behaviour therapy is the most studied therapy for borderline personality disorder. It can help decrease inappropriate anger, reduce self-harm and improve general functioning. Long-term therapy may be required.

Registered practitioners with appropriate training and experience provide talking therapies for individuals or groups.

You can find these types of professionals on the eCOPE Directory.