Personality disorders are mental illnesses that involve behaviors and long term ways of thinking, which are hard to change and are unhealthy. These behaviors affect peoples’ relationships and the way they conduct themselves at work. Affected people have problems in handling stress and addressing other problems. The way they relate to other people is always a problem. As a result, they always have unstable relationships. Personality disorders are said to be a genetic problem. They may also be caused as a result of one’s childhood experience. This paper is aimed at giving a summary of personality disorder giving considerations to the different aspects of research based on a particular example.
A research was conducted to show some of the possible examples of personality disorders. Long term instability in emotions and turbulence in emotions can be said to be a personality disorder. This situation is known as a borderline personality disorder (BPD). People with this disorder experience a series of impulsive emotions. They are regularly exposed to chaos in their relationships and with other people. This research was conducted to show the effects of BPD in adolescence. Along the aims of this research was to address some of the other cases concerned with BPD, such as the prevalence, risks involved, and some of the ways to avoid this disorder.
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The occurrence of BPD is shown to be related to the functioning of the cognitive and neuronal correlation. This is in regards to the ability of adolescents to process information. Cases of hyperactivity of the amygdala and the corticotropic axis are related to the development of BPD. The activity of the amygdala networks, as well as the neuronal networks, is determined by the genetic factors as well as environmental stressors (spodenkiewicz et al., 2013). The vulnerability of an adolescent to BPD is considered as a function of the two mentioned networks. Genetic and environmental factors affect the functioning of the amygdala and neuronal networks, which then affects the ability of subjects to process information and handle stress. The functioning of these networks is genetically directed at different gene encoding segments like the polymorphic region and the glucocorticoid receptor (spodenkiewicz et al., 2013). The bigger picture in this theory is that with time, maltreatment during early life will eventually lead to instability in the functioning of the networks consequently resulting to BPD.
During this research, a number of adolescents were interviewed on a face to face interview. Fifty students who had signs of BPD were interviewed along 50 other controls. The age of these adolescents ranged between 13 to 18 years, giving a median of 16 for the 50 students.). The experiences were expressed in thematic statements given by the ad. Qualitative data analysis was conducted through a process known as interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA).
After conducting the research, there were a number of findings discovered. Most of the problems faced by adolescents were emotional experiences. These experiences are characterized by sadness, fear, and pessimism. Another challenge was with the interpersonal relationships where subjects showed signs of solitude and hostility towards others. Subjects also expressed the theme of conformist self-image, where they had difficulty and feelings of normality in projecting into time. A discontinuity in the way the subject’s perceived different experiences was also recorded and was categorized under the structuring of discourse.
BPD was generally found to be characterized by chronic feelings of emptiness and identity disturbance. The effects of BPD could then be summarized in three different components. Each of these components, just like the themes, addressed different feelings experienced by adolescents suffering from BPD. The components included an interiorized component that addressed the feelings of emptiness, an emotional component that looked into the feelings of intense anger and affective instability. The final component in this aspect was the externalized component, which looked into interpersonal relationship instability alongside self-mutilating and suicidal thoughts.
Summarizing the findings of the research, we could conclude that adolescents experiencing BPD face challenges in their day to day experiences.
While the study might have proven useful, some details might have been left out. The study opts to have up to and including some of the reasons why this disorder is more prevalent in adolescents. The study only shows the vulnerability of adolescents but does elaborate on how this age group can be immune to such this disorder. I think that the primary causes as to why adolescents suffering from BPD experience these mixed feelings should have been captured during the interview. Without this concern, we could say that the method is applicable, and it can be used a number of times more.
In conclusion, we could say that the research was successfully carried out. However, most of the implications were faced during the interviewing session. This could be seen in some of the adolescents who were unable to corporate. The most likely reason for this inconvenience was maybe due to the fact that the subjects were experiencing some of the mentioned effects of BPD. As a result, some were unable to relate with the interviewers efficiently.
Reference
Spodenkiewicz, M., Speranza, M., Taïeb, O., Pham-Scottez, A., Corcos, M., & Révah-Levy, A.
(2013). Living from day to day–qualitative study on borderline personality disorder in
adolescence. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , 22 (4), 282.
