Quiet borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a lesser known sect of the mental health condition that is characterized by unstable moods, behaviors, and relationships. The “quiet” aspect comes from how individuals exhibit these symptoms. Spotting quiet borderline personality disorder may be harder and treating it is complex.
Understanding Quiet BPD
Emotions are typically externalized when it comes to traditional borderline personality disorder symptoms. Individuals with a diagnosis may have impulsive behaviors, experience intense anger, and have frequent mood swings that are drastic and affect how they interact with others. Due to this, they may have a harder time maintaining relationships that are stable due to their emotional and behavioral state.
Quiet borderline personality disorder differs, because individuals typically internalize their struggles and imbalance. Common ways this is done include self-blame, self-isolation, and even self-harm. Instead of having external mood swings, they keep their shift in mood internal. Individuals with a quiet BPD diagnosis are more likely to suppress their feelings, making it harder for loved ones and clinicians to notice that there is something going on.
The Main Symptoms of Quiet BPD
To dive deeper, common symptoms of quiet borderline personality disorder include:
- Emotional Suppression: Those with quiet BPD tend to bottle up their emotions, keeping their inner turmoil hidden from the outside world. They may experience deep anger or sadness but prefer to internalize these feelings instead of expressing them outwardly.
- Fear of Abandonment: This fear can be so intense that individuals might shy away from close relationships entirely, trying to avoid the pain of rejection. They may be reluctant to form meaningful bonds, always fearing the heartbreak of being left behind.
- Unstable Self-image: People with quiet BPD often grapple with a changing sense of self. One day they might feel capable and self-assured, while the next, they may see themselves as inadequate or unworthy.
- Impulsive Behaviors: While not as outwardly visible as in typical BPD, those with quiet BPD might engage in impulsive behaviors, often aimed at themselves. These actions can include anything from reckless driving to binge eating or self-harm.
- Chronic Feelings of Emptiness: This symptom often appears as a deep sense of isolation or loneliness, even when surrounded by others. People with quiet BPD might feel disconnected or detached, struggling to find meaning or fulfillment in life.
- Dissociation: When stressed, individuals with quiet BPD may experience dissociation, feeling as though they are detached from themselves or their surroundings. They might describe it as watching their life unfold from a distance, like viewing a movie.
Knowledge leads to better understanding and recognition of quiet BPD. This in turn leads to better treatment and support for those with a diagnosis.
Diagnosing Quiet Borderline Personality Disorder
Quiet borderline personality disorder is identified based on criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). To receive a diagnosis, a person must meet at least five of the following nine symptoms:
- Making frantic attempts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.
- Having a pattern of unstable relationships that swing between idealizing and devaluing others (often referred to as “splitting” or black-and-white thinking).
- Struggling with an unstable sense of self or fluctuating self-image.
- Engaging in impulsive or risky behaviors.
- Experiencing frequent thoughts of self-harm or suicide.
- Undergoing intense mood swings and experiencing strong emotional reactions.
- Feeling persistently empty inside.
- Dealing with overwhelming or uncontrollable anger.
- Experiencing dissociation, where you feel detached from yourself or as if you’re observing your life from outside your body.
Although quiet BPD is not an official diagnosis, people use the term to describe a subtype of borderline personality disorder. With this condition, individuals direct their symptoms inward, making them less noticeable to others. Because of this inward focus, doctors often misdiagnose quiet borderline personality disorder as conditions like depression, social anxiety, or even autism, or it may take longer to identify due to the lack of more recognizable outward symptoms.
While many clinicians expect individuals with BPD to present as angry or explosive, those with quiet BPD suffer in silence, hiding their pain behind a calm exterior.
What Causes Quiet BPD?
A quiet borderline personality disorder diagnosis leads many to wonder why they have the condition. A diagnosis of quiet BPD depends on genetics, childhood development, and the presence of co-occurring mental health conditions. Individuals are more likely to receive a diagnosis if they have a personal or family history of mental health conditions. Experiencing abuse, abandonment, or other trauma during childhood also increases the likelihood of a diagnosis.
However, there is no sure way that doctors and researchers can determine what makes someone develop quiet borderline personality disorder instead of typical BPD. That all varies from person to person.
Treatment for Quiet Borderline Personality Disorder
Often, clients with BPD have already been to treatment a number of times to deal with urges of self-harm, suicidal ideation, and attention seeking behaviors. At Alter Behavioral Health, we use proven techniques to help these clients live fuller lives without as many debilitating symptoms.
Some of the treatment modalities we use for quiet borderline personality disorder include:
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Medication Management
- Solution Focused Therapy
Each client is different, and what works for one person may not work for another. We use research backed treatment methods to ensure clients with quiet BPD get the right care they need to live a balanced life. If you or someone you know is exhibiting signs of quiet borderline personality disorder, give our admissions team a call. We have the tools needed to help you or your loved one get their condition managed and stabilized.
About Alter
Alter is a behavioral healthcare provider that specializes in evidence-based clinical treatment approaches. We provide a wide range of programs for adults and families experiencing mental health conditions including schizophrenia, depression, borderline personality disorder, anxiety, substance abuse, and more. This is done through client-centered care for a full-continuum of treatment. We serve the entire U.S. population from our revolutionary locations throughout sunny Southern California. Whether an individual needs 24/7 care or wants an outpatient program – we are there to guide every step of the journey. For more information, give us a call at (877) 613-9776 or visit our website at alterbehavioralhealth.com.
