Does Childhood Trauma increase vulnerability to Borderline Personality Disorder in adults?
Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash
-By Nisa Panthaki (BSc. Applied Psychology, FY)
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental illness that severely impacts a person’s ability to manage their emotions. This loss of emotional control can increase impulsivity, affect how a person feels about themselves, and negatively impact their relationships with others.
Certain symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder include intense mood swings, impulsive and reckless behaviour, viewing things on extremes, ending relationships quickly due to fear of abandonment, unstable relationships, a distorted self-image, feelings of emptiness and self-harming behaviour. These are some of the symptoms of BPD, however, the severity of these symptoms varies from person to person.
Several studies have shown that numerous factors could be responsible for Borderline Personality Disorder including genetics and biological factors, social and environmental factors and also brain structure and function.
A child’s early years can have lifelong physical, social, and emotional impacts. While positive experiences and environments can set a young child on a stronger life-long path, traumatic experiences or environments during those formative years can have long-lasting, detrimental impacts.
Benjamin Otto of Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany authored a study which involved 95 adult women. 44 of them were previously diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. They were required to complete multiple psychological assessments which involved a personality test, life history questionnaire, a questionnaire measuring aggressiveness, a childhood trauma questionnaire, and a chronic stress questionnaire. The researchers also recorded the participants’ allostatic load which is a measure of the cumulative wear and tear in the body due to long term or chronic exposure to stress. This was done by measuring physiological indicators of stress such as blood pressure, body-mass index (BMI) etc.
The study found that the participants with Borderline Personality Disorder scored significantly higher on the childhood trauma questionnaire than the participants who did not have BPD. This finding corroborated other research that concluded that up to 80 percent of people diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder experienced some form of childhood trauma, neglect or abuse. This negatively impacts their growth and development. The authors contend that childhood trauma produces a "Pace-of-Life-Syndrome," whereby individuals grow faster, exhibit higher metabolism, and are more prone to early bodily decline and death. This results in higher allostatic loads in adulthood.
Children who experience abuse or neglect may develop a negative view of themselves because of the way they are treated and blame themselves for their mistreatment while becoming untrusting of others. This may lead to low self-worth and a fear of abandonment – a core feature of BPD according to The Wave Clinic. Within the family, higher rates of psychiatric disorders in general are also associated with BPD. According to one review, having a family member with a psychiatric disorder like anxiety or depression was the biggest risk factor for a BPD diagnosis.
When caregivers are living with mental health disorders, it can be hard for them to be attentive and responsive to their child’s needs. As with experiences of abuse and neglect, this may disrupt emotional, social, and cognitive developmental processes and cause a young person to feel invaluable or fear abandonment.
Early trauma can trigger BPD because experiencing hardship, abuse (physical, sexual or emotional), or neglect as a child affects different biological systems in the brain. Children who live with these problems throughout their childhood develop serious abandonment issues, a negative view of themselves, depression as adults which are some of the key symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder.
On a more biological level, childhood trauma may affect the transmission of certain neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine. These neurotransmitters are involved in regulating emotions, moods etc.
Dr Filippo Varese, from The University of Manchester said that they found a strong link between childhood trauma and Borderline Personality Disorder which is particularly large when emotional abuse and neglect was involved.
How is Borderline Personality Disorder treated?
Treatment for BPD involves certain therapeutic techniques.
Psychotherapy - Psychotherapy or Talk therapy is a basic treatment approach for borderline personality disorder. The mental health professional may adjust the type of therapy to best meet the client’s needs.
It helps the client by focusing on their ability to function and by helping them manage uncomfortable emotions. It reduces impulsive behaviours by teaching clients to note feelings rather than act on them and works on making relationships better by being aware of the client’s own feelings as well as the feelings of others.
Developmental psychology is the branch of psychology that focuses on how people grow and change over the course of a lifetime. Childhood and adolescence are extremely important periods of one’s development and the experiences during these periods shape an individual’s personality. Childhood trauma such as neglect, emotional, sexual, verbal or physical abuse can increase vulnerability to develop several personality disorders. Childhood trauma can increase the risk of developing personality disorders such as borderline, narcissistic, schizotypal etc. This is an important link that must be studied when studying the causes of these disorders. One’s psychological environment during upbringing is as important as their physiological environment and this is an important area for more research in the future.
References :
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/about/department-initiatives/early-childhood/why-early-childhood-matters
https://alterbehavioralhealth.com/blog/impact-trauma-borderline-personality-disorder/
https://www.verywellmind.com/developmental-psychology-4157180
About The Author :
Nisa Panthaki
Member, PsyCreative Column, Psychology Committee, JDSOLA, NMIMS.
Nisa is a first year student currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Psychology from NMIMS, Mumbai. She enjoys learning as much as she can about neuropsychology and mathematics. She is very organised and particular when it comes to academics. In her free time, she loves watching movies and shows. She feels that movies allow her to experience different emotions through multiple perspectives and help her transport herself to another reality, even if it is just for a couple of hours. Music plays a central role in Nisa’s life. She is a musician ; she plays the piano, the guitar and sings beautifully. She is extremely passionate about her art. Nisa loves listening to a lot of artists but some of her favourites are Queen, The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Bryan Adams. She truly enjoys attending live concerts and loves listening to what these artists have to say through their music. Music helps her by inspiring her to give her best every single day, no matter what. She is also extremely passionate about Clinical Psychology and aims to make a difference in people’s lives by being a mental health professional in the future.
Comments
Post a Comment