DEAR DR. LeCRONE: I recently read a book in which one of the characters suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder. I have several friends and family members who seem to have this problem. Can you please tell me more about this psychological difficulty? — A reader in California

Dear reader: Like other personality disorders, Borderline Personality Disorder is a chronic mental condition that affects a person’s ability to function in everyday activities. It can affect one’s work, family and social relationships.

Many people have some of the traits and characteristics of personality disorders but, in order to be labeled a personality disorder, these traits must be pervasive (long standing) and persistent. A correct diagnosis is sometimes difficult, and it is usually only given after examination by a mental health professional.

During times of stress, many of these characteristics are more intense and problematic. Personality disorders often coexist with other psychological problems, such as depression and anxiety.

People with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) are often said to be living on a psychological edge. They experience instability in identity, moods and relationships. These individuals intensely fear and frantically avoid real or imagined abandonment. Often experiencing despondency, rage, fury, self-hatred, arrogance, anxiety and uncertainty, these individuals live in a world of “ups and downs.”

Along with the above mentioned features, they also often exhibit feelings of emptiness, clingy dependency and violent, often self-damaging impulses. They are often said to be living in perpetual anguish, and some mental health professionals have described this condition as a form of “emotional hemophilia,” in that they lack the psychological clotting mechanisms that enable them to control feelings in a healthy manner

Often they are described as being incapable of exhibiting such emotions as sadness, anger and worry in moderate proportions. Every reaction is extreme. Often impulsive to the point of being potentially self-damaging, these individuals may exhibit impulsivity in spending, sexual behavior, substance abuse, binge eating and other reckless behaviors. They often engage in self-mutilating acts, such as cutting themselves, and threaten or attempt suicide.

Their tendency to perceive the world around them in black-or-white, good-or-bad and all-or-nothing terms often makes them difficult for other people to deal with. At times, they have problems that manifest themselves in such extreme ways as a temporary loss of feelings of reality, severe dissociative symptoms and paranoia.

I can continue discussing this subject in a future column if readers express an interest.

Hap LeCrone is a Waco clinical psychologist. If you have questions or topics you would like him to discuss, write to him at 4555 Lake Shore Drive, Waco, 76710 or e-mail him at hlecrone@aol.com. Be sure to check out his blog at wacotrib.com/hap. And for an archive of his columns, visit www.haplecrone.com.