Q. I saw this web page on borderline. A friend of mine also found it and showed me it. I really liked it as you know with bpd you go from one side of the scale to the other with emotions and I think that is the most frustrating part.
I use to cut (self mutilate) which I do not do any more thank God for that. Any way I am asking for any info that you might have on this subject.
A. An article I wrote on the BPD in 1992 was entitled “Anything to Stop the Pain.” The pain borderlines refer to is called “dysphoria” – and generally consists of anxiety, rage (even if self directed), depression and despair. Borderlines generally search for anything that works. When a borderline is extremely dysphoric, particularly when associated with complex partial seizure or temporal lobe seizure symptoms such as chronic sense that things seem unreal and deja vu, often the only thing that works to stop the pain is hurting oneself. Oddly, it doesn’t hurt – it only feels good and stops the dysphoria. I suspect something equivalent to the “gate” theory of pain is involved. It’s referred to as “parasuicidal behavior.” I’ve found it to be more intense in adolescents.
I’ve taken care of hundreds of self mutilators, and make it clear the self mutilation must stop. You can’t have a healthy life doing it. When the meds are right, former self mutilators are stunned to discover that things that normally caused pain relief and pleasure (such as cutting oneself with a glass) now are painful.