What Happens if Borderline Personality Disorder Goes Untreated
Suppose someone exhibits the signs of BPD but isn’t aware of the symptoms or actively decides not to seek treatment. Over the course of this person’s life, they might experience the following.
Relationship Trouble
Relationships in particular can be problematic. David Ryan Hooper, PhD, a clinical psychologist in private practice and an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says people with BPD commonly have a love-hate approach to others. One day, a person with BPD might view their partner, friend, or family member as the best person in the world. The next day, he or she might do a 180 and decide that the “best person in the world” is now the worst.
Job Loss
“Their life is in disarray,” Dr. Hooper says. The symptoms of BPD can be severe and debilitating, to the point where being unable to regulate emotions can “almost certainly wreck their life,” Hooper adds. “What you begin to see is a life described as instability.”
But that doesn’t mean everyone with BPD will fall into this camp. “There are some people with BPD who function quite well,” Ackerman says. “I wouldn’t say the diagnosis alone means someone might not be able to hold a job or get married if they wanted to.” (For example, Marsha Linehan, PhD, the creator of dialectical behavior therapy [DBT] and a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle, has acknowledged having BPD herself.)
Self-Harm
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