Borderline Test

Signs and symptoms of borderline personality disorder

When suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD), it is common to have difficulties controlling your thoughts and emotions. As a result, you can potentially behave in an impulsive and reckless manner and have unstable relationships with other people. In other words, having BPD affects how you think and feel about yourself, how you behave and how you interact with others. It is common for people with BPD to also suffer from other mental disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders or substance abuse.

People with BPD are often good at hiding their problems at work or school. However, it is much more obvious in intimate relationships and in difficulties in taking care of yourself when you are alone. BPD is fairly common and although studies vary, it is estimated that up to 6% of the population may suffer from the disorder.

Common signs and symptoms when suffering from BPD

You are afraid of being abandoned and have difficulties dealing with separations. In a close personal relationship, you can go to great lengths to make sure you will not be abandoned and can become very demanding.

How you act, feel and behave towards others shifts back and forth. One minute you feel intense admiration and the next you think degrading thoughts about a person, especially in intimate relationships. Others may feel that you are unreliable, uncaring or aggressive.

You may develop unstable self-images or sense of self. Some may believe that they are worthless, while others believe they are invincible.

You are impulsive which is often manifested through the misuse of sex, alcohol, drugs, food and/or money.

You may have attempted suicide or hurt yourself (like cutting yourself) as a way to deal with your feelings or get attention.

Your emotions are unstable. You react to what happens to you very strongly and have a tendency to act on your emotions. Your sense of who you are and your values, goals and plans change dramatically.

You experience chronic feelings of emptiness.

You easily act aggressively and have difficulties restraining your feelings of anger.

You may have brief feelings of unreality, out-of-body experiences and paranoia that occur under stress

Further reading: Manage your bpd with online therapy.

If you suffer from any of the symptoms described above, we recommend that you take this test. Evaluate the statements and select the option that you feel best reflects the way you have felt for the past two weeks. The test is, of course, anonymous and free (see our privacy policy).

This borderline test is not to be seen as a final diagnosis. If you are uncertain about your result, we suggest that you get professional help as soon as possible.

True
Partly true
Not true
1. I have prevented my partner from leaving me by begging him/her to stay or I have made powerful threats to try to prevent him/her from leaving me.
2. I feel afraid that my family and friends will abandon me and would do basically anything to avoid that from happening.
3. I frequently experience intense mood swings or emotional overreactions.
4. I have idealized a person and in the next moment been thinking that he/she is completely obnoxious.
5. I often dramatically change my values, goals and focus in life.
6. I have an unstable self-image and often suddenly get a new sense of who I really am and where I am going in life.
7. I experience a constant feeling of emptiness.
8. I often wonder what people think of me and can easily become paranoid.
9. I often get very angry and feel that I can’t control these emotions.
10. My relationships are often intense and unstable.
11. I often act impulsively which has led to self-destructive behavior that included alcohol, drugs and/or sex.
12. I have attempted suicide or hurt myself in some way, for example, by cutting myself.
Generating result...