Terms and Awareness Lexicon

This lexicon provides the definitions of some common terms and phrases used within the BPD community.

Black and White Thinking – The concept that an idea or circumstance can only be one way or the other (binary thinking).

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) – A cluster b personality disorder primarily marked by extreme swings in mood, impulsive behavior, and unstable relationships.

Boundary – A rule that someone determines, sets, and enforces.

BPD Cycle, The – The loop in behavior experienced by someone with BPD. Generally, the BPD Cycle will include (1) a period of normal days, (2) the experience of triggers, (3) symptom development, (4) the consequence zone [episodes/splits], (5) the GBSEF complex [guilt, blame, shame, embarrassment, fault], and (6) the apology phase [optional].

BPD Eyes – The skewed/slanted perspective of someone with BPD; sometimes also mistakenly referring to the “evil or dead look in someone with BPD’s eyes during an episode.”

BPD Filter – Another term for the skewed/slanted perspective of someone with BPD; describes how people with BPD hear and experience things differently than a neurotypical individual.

BPD Pyramid, The – The concept that BPD, as a mental health condition, will trump all other mental health conditions comorbidly experienced by an individual in terms of symptoms and behavior.

Compromise – Arriving at an agreement with another person in which both people one or both people are getting some or all of what they desire, without any ill feelings on either side of the arrangement.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – A practice of psychotherapy which focuses on changing thought and behavioral patterns. Invented by Aaron Beck.

Depersonalization – The sense an individual has lost touch with their identity. Thoughts and feelings may appear “unreal,” and it may feel like watching oneself in a movie they have no control over.

Derealization – The sense and feeling that one’s surrounding environment is not real or that the world around them is fake.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) – A practice of talk therapy focusing on emotional management through accepting oneself and one’s innate security to avoid harmful behavior. Invented by Marsha Linehan.

Empathy – Fully understanding what another person is feeling and experiencing.

Episode – An adult temper tantrum, emotional outburst, or intense expression of emotion.

Favorite Person (FP) – Someone a person with BPD relies upon to extreme degree for validation, emotional support, attention, and affection. Typically this person is idealized and placed on a pedestal.

F.E.A.R. – An acronym for the concept of extreme anxiety (fear) which is broken down into “Future Events Appearing Real;” meant to remind people with BPD that most fears have not happened yet and may never happen.

Full Remission – Sensitive Stability’s definition of ultimate recovery from BPD, having achieved no episodes, no splits, and no regular symptoms.

GBSEF – The GBSEF complex stands for “Guilt, Blame, Shame, Embarrassment, and Fault,” and describes unproductive emotional content in terms of achieving and maintaining remission.

Interventive Emotional Skills (IES) – A practice of skill sets and perspective changes designed to intervene at the emotional level to avoid destructive and harmful behavior. Invented by Sensitive Stability’s Kevin Reynolds.

Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT) – A practice of psychotherapy which helps people connect their thoughts to their understandings of themselves and their relationships with other people.

Psychotherapy – A practice or treatment protocol for a mental condition which utilizes verbal communication and interaction with a mental health professional.

Quiet BPD – An internalized, less-externalized version of BPD which may be more difficult to detect. People suffering from quiet BPD may lean more towards self-harm, suicidal ideation, splitting, and internal paranoia/fear.

Remission – Exhibiting less than 5 of the 9 core symptoms of BPD for a period of at least 2 years.

Splitting – Another term for Black and White Thinking; going from thinking something is “really great” to thinking it is “really awful” instantly. It is possible to split on people, places, organizations, ambitions, and ideas.

Symptom – An identifiable physical or mental feature of a condition (e.g. “Fear of Abandonment” for BPD).

Symptom Map – An IES tool for identifying all of one’s symptoms, triggers, and their relationships with one another. The IES Symptom Map helps individuals conquer their condition faster.

Trauma – An extreme or deeply distressing experience.

Trigger – An external or internal stimulus that creates an adverse emotional reaction and instigates symptom development.