Personality disorders are a group of conditions characterised by long-standing patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that differ significantly from what is expected in a person’s culture, and that cause distress or difficulties in relating to others. The most well known include borderline personality disorder (BPD), also called emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD), narcissistic personality disorder, and avoidant personality disorder, among others.
These are often misunderstood and sometimes stigmatised labels. The experiences behind them are real: intense and rapidly shifting emotions, difficulty in relationships, a fragile or unstable sense of self, and patterns that feel deeply ingrained and hard to change.
Common experiences
- Intense fear of abandonment and difficulty sustaining stable relationships
- Emotions that feel overwhelming, unpredictable, or difficult to regulate
- A shifting or unclear sense of identity and self-worth
- Impulsive behaviour that feels hard to control
- Black-and-white thinking: seeing people or situations as all good or all bad
- Chronic feelings of emptiness or dissociation
How therapy can help
Therapy for personality disorders is a long-term and collaborative process. At Inner Space, we approach this work with care and without judgment, understanding that these patterns almost always developed as ways of coping with difficult early experiences. Change is possible, and many people find that therapy brings real and lasting improvement in their quality of life and relationships.
This work connects closely with trauma, self-esteem, and relationship difficulties.
Mind and Emergence Plus offer further information and peer support for people with lived experience of personality disorders.