A Newfound Sympathy - Anxiety Sensitivity and Borderline Personality Disorder

It has been considered for a long time that anxiety sensitivity or the fear of becoming anxious is a factor in the occurrence of panic attacks. It is considered that a lot of panic attacks are a result of or are intensified by the fear of anxiety, a self-perpetuating sequence that could ultimately result in the person to become bound to their home in an attempt to be in command of their environment. There has been new research made that shows that anxiety sensitivity could also be considered as a reason for the development of borderline personality disorder, or BPD. In such a scenario, there could be new expectation to treat this destructive and severe personality disorder.

In most cases, borderline personality disorder is misunderstood by the general public. It could be difficult to show sympathy towards the person suffering from this disorder that makes them aggressive, impulsive or needy behavior, usually wavering between helplessness and rage. The two main indicators of BPD are splitting and a low sense of self-worth. Splitting is viewing people as either completely good or completely bad. There is no in-between. In case someone does something the person with BPD likes, they are put on a pedestal; however, if they make an error, they are considered to be completely evil. People suffering from borderline personality disorder also have a weak self-esteem and be short of a stable sense of who they are.

A recent study confirmed that anxiety sensitivity may be related to the unstable behavior of a person suffering from BPD. Although their behavior might seem to be destructive to others, splitting and a weak self-esteem as well as the consequential behaviors as a result of these two markers could merely be a way that a person suffering from borderline personality disorder uses to keep away from anxiety.

Outpatients suffering from borderline personality disorder were evaluated with those patients not suffering from any personality disorder. They were analyzed for anxiety sensitivity in addition to experiential avoidance, or efforts to keep away from unnecessary internal experiences like anxiety. They found out that there was an evidently higher occurrence of experiential avoidance and anxiety sensitivity in people suffering from borderline personality disorder.

What does this signify? It might signify that borderline personality disorder develops partly in reaction to anxiety sensitivity. As the borderline is afraid of certain situations and their outcomes, they keep away from such anxiety provoking situations by splitting and lack of a tangible self-esteem.

How would this work? Splitting permits the borderline to evade having to face the impulsive nature of other people. Accepting the fact that no one is entirely good or entirely bad raises the fear that the borderline person would be unable to seek protection from other people, thus blanket generalizations makes it a lot easier for them to identify handling interpersonal relationships. If a person does something wrong, just cut them off. The person suffering from borderline personality disorder creates mayhem in their relationships for the reason of splitting; however they also fear life devoid of it.

A weak self-image lets the borderline to turn into a chameleon and behave in whatever way they believe will earn them the affection of others and develop an overpowering fear of being abandoned. Yet again, they experience anxiety sensitivity regarding the negative feelings such as rejection or abandonment might cause, therefore they make use of a lack of steady self-worth to reduce anxiety sensitivity feelings.

Eventually, the behavior of a person suffering from BPD is more hurtful than helpful; they start to use such beliefs and behaviors as self-protection. Recently, in the past few years dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) has shown immense potential to treat this disorder which was at one time thought to be untreatable. Yet, more research in the link between BPD and anxiety sensitivity could reveal further options for treatment and provide optimism to people who have fought with pain and misunderstanding for a long time.