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Medical Author:

Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD

Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD

Dr. Roxanne Dryden-Edwards is an adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist. She is a former Chair of the Committee on Developmental Disabilities for the American Psychiatric Association, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and Medical Director of the National Center for Children and Families in Bethesda, Maryland.

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Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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Like most other mental disorders, BPD has no one specific cause but tends to have a number of biological, psychological, and social contributing factors. Biological risk factors for BPD include a family history of this diagnosis, substance abuse, antisocial personality disorder, impulsivity, or mood instability. Many consequences of being the victim of childhood abuse can be features of BPD. Specifically, childhood abuse can result in the sufferer having difficulty regulating their own emotions, a tendency to harm oneself, and problems forming healthy bonds with others. Other symptoms that childhood abuse victims and individuals with BPD have in common may include trouble understanding their thoughts and feelings and those of others, having an unstable self-image, trouble expressing both positive and negative feelings, and having trouble understanding and managing their feelings about themselves and others, also called splitting.

Although a history of being the victim of child abuse (for example, physical, sexual, or emotional) is a psychological risk factor for BPD, it is also a contributing factor for a number of other emotional problems. Socially, being part of what is considered to be a modern or rapidly changing culture is thought to be associated with the development of BPD as well.

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