Dr. Natasha

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a mental illness. A patient suffering from BPD maintains unstable relationships with other people, shows inappropriate emotional reactions and possesses suicidal or self-harm tendencies. It is purely a personality disorder caused due to multiple factors. Patients suffering from BPD may find it difficult to stay alone. They fear abandonment and loneliness. Yet they have a tendency of showing mood swings, sudden emotional outburst or anger and hostility. This prevents them from having a long lasting relationship in life.

It usually starts affecting the patient's life from early adulthood. It however seems to improve with age. The patient also has distorted self-image. He or she is unclear about what they want from life or what they are in reality. Even minor incidents can trigger intense reactions in people with BPD.

Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder:

The signs of suffering from BPD are listed below:

1. Intense and frantic effort to avoid abandonment or loneliness
2. Unstable relationships with people and changing the attitude towards them drastically. It can change from being in immense love with each other to intense hatred.
3. Developing paranoid thoughts and having dissociative feelings-The patient often lacks the feeling of self and suffers from identity crisis.
4. Suicidal feelings and attempts
5. Tendency to cause self harm or destruction by drug abuse, driving irresponsibly or be having unprotected sex
6. Reflecting intense depression
7. Chronic boredom
8. Sudden anger and hostility

Causes for Borderline Personality Disorder: Borderline Personality Disorder can be caused due to multiple reasons. Usually it has been found by researchers that it occurs to patients who have had a disturbed childhood. Complex and unpleasant happenings in the childhood may leave a deep impact on the patient's personality, which comes back as a disorder in his or her early adulthood. From mental, physical to sexual abuse in the childhood can lead to this condition in adults.

Besides, researchers have discovered recently that this illness has hereditary links. Some genes may be responsible for BPD. Improper functioning of the brain is also another factor. Especially, the portion of brain that controls emotions might not be functioning properly in co-ordination with other parts of it.

Diagnosis: There is no particular clinical test that can diagnose BPD. It can be diagnosed by a series of interactive session with the patient by a psychiatrist.

Treatment:  The treatment of BPD involves three steps- psychotherapy, medications and support from peer and family. Dialectical Behavioral therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy are used in treating the patient. There are no specific medicines to cure identity crisis, boredom and loneliness. However, other symptoms like mood swings, depression and anxiety can be treated with anti-depressants and mood stabilizers. Antipsychotic drugs are also helpful to a certain extent. In extreme cases, hospitalization may be needed. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a Psychiatrist.

There are several natural methods that have been proven to work, for weight loss. Here are 6 easy ways to lose weight naturally:

1. Add Protein to Your Diet

When it comes to weight loss, protein is the king of nutrients.Your body burns calories when digesting and metabolizing the protein you eat, so a high-protein diet can boost metabolism by up to 80-100 calories per day. A high-protein diet can also make you feel more full and reduce your appetite. 

In fact, some studies show that people eat over 400 fewer calories per day on a high-protein diet.Even something as simple as eating a high-protein breakfast (like eggs) can have a powerful effect.

2. Eat Whole, Single-Ingredient Foods

One of the best things you can do to become healthier is to base your diet on whole, single-ingredient foods. By doing this, you eliminate the vast majority of added sugar, added fat and processed food. Most whole foods are naturally very filling, making it a lot easier to keep within healthy calorie limits.

Furthermore, eating whole foods also provides your body with the many essential nutrients that it needs to function properly. Weight loss often follows as a natural ―side effect‖ of eating whole foods.

3. Avoid Processed Foods

Processed foods are usually high in added sugars, added fats and calories. What’s more, processed foods are engineered to make you eat as much as possible. 

They are much more likely to cause addictive-like eating than unprocessed foods.

4. Stock Up on Healthy Foods and Snacks

Studies have shown that the food you keep at home greatly affects weight and eating behaviour. By always having healthy food available, you reduce the chances of you or other family members eating unhealthy.

There are also many healthy and natural snacks that are easy to prepare and take with you on the go. These include yoghurt, whole fruit, nuts, carrots and hard-boiled eggs.

5. Limit Your Intake of Added Sugar

Eating a lot of added sugar is linked with some of the world’s leading diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. This amount is usually hidden in various processed foods, so you may be consuming a lot of sugar without even realizing it.

Since sugar goes by many names in ingredient lists, it can be very difficult to figure out how much sugar a product actually contains.

Minimizing your intake of added sugar is a great way to improve your diet.

6. Drink Water

There is actually truth to the claim that drinking water can help with weight loss. Drinking 0.5 litres (17 oz) of water may increase the calories you burn by 24–30% for an hour afterwards.

Drinking water before meals may also lead to reduced calorie intake, especially for middle-aged and older people. Water is particularly good for weight loss when it replaces other beverages that are high in calories and sugar.