"38 accurate term does not exist yet. Most people who have borderline personality disorder suffer from: • Problems with regulating emotions and thoughts • Impulsive and reckless behavior • Unstable relationships with other people People with this disorder also have high rates of co - oc curring disorders, such as depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and eating disorders, along with self - harm, suicidal behaviors, and completed suicides. According to data from a subsample of participants in a national survey on mental disorders, about 1.6 percent of adults in the United States have borderline personality disorder in a given year. Borderline personality disorder is often viewed as difficult to treat. However, recent research shows that borderline personality disorder can be treated effectively, and that many people with this illness improve over time. According to the DSM, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM - IV - TR), to be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, a person must show an enduring pattern of behavior that include s at least five of the following symptoms: • Extreme reactions — including panic, depression, rage, or frantic actions — to abandonment, whether real or perceived • A pattern of intense and stormy relationships with family, friends, and loved ones, often veering from extreme closeness and love (idealization) to extreme dislike or anger (devaluation) • Distorted and unstable self - image or sense of self, which can result in sudden changes in feelings, opinions, values, or plans and goals for the future (such as school or career choices) • Impulsive and often dangerous behaviors, such as spending sprees, unsafe sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, and binge eating. • Recu rring suicidal behaviors or threats or self - harming behavior, such as cutting Intense and highly changeable moods, with each episode lasting from a few hours to a few days • Chronic feelings of emptiness and/or boredom Inappropriate, intense anger or proble ms controlling anger • Having stress - related paranoid thoughts or severe dissociative symptoms, such as feeling cut off from oneself, observing oneself from outside the body, or losing touch with reality. Seemingly mundane events may trigger symptoms. For example, people with borderline personality disorder may feel angry and distressed over minor separations — such as vacations, business trips, or sudden changes of plans — from people to whom they feel close. Studies show that people with this disorder may see anger in an emotionally neutral"