Assessing and Classifying/Diagnosing 16 to 20 Year Olds

Topic: Problems related to assessing and classifying/diagnosing 16 to 20 year olds with patterns of impulsivity, instability in interpersonal relationships, self image and affect. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. What is Borderline personality disorder 3. Developmental stages of Borderline Disorder on 16-20 year olds 4. Problems associated with diagnosing and classifying Borderline personality Disorder 5. How its patterns affect self image and interpersonal relationships 6. Conclusion 7. References 1. Introduction

In this essay I will be discussing the problems related to assessing and classifying/diagnosing 16-20 year olds with patterns of impulsivity, instability in interpersonal relationships, self image and effect. Before I will discuss the above statement, we have to understand what Borderline Personality disorder. “Borderline personality disorder is a pervasive pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self image and emotions. People with Borderline Personality Disorder are usually very impulsive (Grohol,J, 2010).

The American Psychiatric Association (2009) found that the Borderline Personality Disorder is a serious psychiatric disorder which is difficult to treat and is poorly understood. As time goes on of course they are working on finding q theoretical concept with the help of psychiatrists. 2. What is Borderline Personality Disorder? According to the APA (2000) “Borderline Personality Disorder is a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self image, and effects and a marked impulsivity beginning in early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts”.

It is a critical disorder, a person with this disorder will have a variety of symptoms where they avoid real life events, they have unstable intense interpersonal relationships where sometimes they are happy with whom they are relating to, and then the other moment they are dissatisfied with the relationship. They have an image disturbance where they really do not understand who they are, what they are about and what they want for themselves. 3. Developmental stage of Borderline Personality Disorder on 16-20 year olds The development of Borderline Personality Disorder is not exactly known, since it is difficult to diagnose.

Psychiatrist and clinicians also find it complicated to know how it develops. There are various factors that can develop it, such as biological, social and genetic factors, since it involves patterns of Depression, Bipolar, Anxiety and other personality disorders. Borderline Personality Disorder shows up at a later stage of one’s life but it actually starts when the person is still very young. The relationships at the young age the person has had have an impact to its development. Most symptoms are extreme at early 20’s.

According to Goodman,M. et al. (2009) Case Presentation of “V” who was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, they found out that when ‘V’ was a child she was moody and unusually sensitive to physical experiences, responded with anger and at times loose appreciation of her surroundings which these episodes occurred from 3-4 times a week, which goes to show that these continuous actions did have an impact towards “V” being diagnosed with borderline Personality Disorder. 4.

Problems associated with diagnosing and classifying Borderline personality Disorder Most people who have personality disorders or a general mental health problems they do not seek out medical health at early stages when the they can see that something is wrong but rather they leave it, but only start acting when the mental problem start affecting their day to day living. In such cases it can be difficult to help people in a short period of time because the disorder may have affected a large area of their lives which will take time for healing.

With Borderline Personality Disorder to diagnose most patients are misdiagnosed with other disorders related to it like depression or Bipolar or end up being diagnosed at a later stage of their lives. Borderline Personality Disorder is treated by professional mental health practitioners and they also have difficulty in diagnosing it in 16-20 year olds, since this disorder involves patterns of various personality disorders, so at this age it is still early to know exactly, there maybe still doubts, because the individual diagnosed has to have had repetitive actions of either suicide, depression, anxiety and Bipolar.

At the age of 16-20 years the psychiatrist or clinician might just diagnose and say you only have one of the disorders mentioned above. According to the American Psychiatry Association, the individual has to be 18 years old to be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, so basically that means at 16-20 years the disorder is at its early stages, and might be difficult for the psychiatrist to easily diagnose it. It is at early adult hood between 22 years and upwards the psychiatrist can easily pick up from the ongoing patterns of impulsive behaviors. . How its patterns affect self image and interpersonal relationships People with Borderline Personality Disorder are frequently angry and are difficult to live with due to their actions and symptoms of impulsive behavior, sometimes they are happy sometimes they are not happy, these patterns can really confuse a relative and making it difficult to tolerate such a person. 5. 1 Family and Friends Family and friends are usually the first to be affected when their relative has Borderline Personality Disorder.

Since clinicians and psychiatrists take time in diagnosing this disorder it does get difficult for the family to deal with it since they do not understand what is wrong with them. People with Borderline Personality Disorder are affected in the way they think and see things and can affect the way they see their family and friends. Since it is also caused by the way they have been nurtured at a young age, those experiences can affect the way people treat them. Some of their family and friends cannot really keep up with their impulsive behaviors, and end up resenting and rejecting them.

They are also fearful of how they will end up since they are involved also in dangerous acts. 5. 2 Self Image The way one sees themselves determines how they will respond and interprete situations they face. People with Borderline Personality Disorder do not believe in themselves since they are fearful and suicidal, so in some instances they lack in productivity. They cannot control situations they are involved in due to their impulsive behaviors, and they are stressful and face many other challenges due to their personalities.

Their different patterns affect even their careers, one moment they are productive and impressive the next moment they are on a downfall. With the loss of some close relatives due to their behavior can lead to their change in self image, leading them next relationships to be very sensitive. They usually expect a lot from people and if they do not get what they want they will end up being disappointed. The change in self image may lead to them thinking they are irrelevant and they are not needed by anyone. 6. Conclusion

There are problems related in diagnosing16-20 year olds with Borderline Personality Disorder, because it is a pervasive patterns of instability which includes a variety of other disorders, making it hard for clinicians and psychiatrists to diagnose it. Its development it is still not exactly known and shows up at a later stage even thought it starts at a younger age. It does also affect the relationship s the person has with their friends, family and also the way they see themselves due to their behavior. 7. References 1. Goodman, M. , Hazlett, E. A. , New, A. S. , Koenigsberg, H.

W. , & Siever, L. (2009). Quieting the effective storm of Borderline Personality Disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 166,522-528. 2. Grohol, J. , (2010). Borderline Personality Disorder. Psych Central. Retrived on May 04, 2012, from http://psychcentral. com/lib/2007/symptoms-of-borderline-personality-disorder/ 3. Gunderson, J. G. (2009). Borderline Personality Disorder: Ontogeny of a diagnosis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 166,530-539. 4. Kernberg, O. F. , Michels, R. (2009) Borderline Personality Disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 166,505-508.