Do changes in environment and late nights worsen BPD symptoms?

[zanyapple]

My mother very likely has BPD, although she's undiagnosed and refuses to seek help; it could also be a mix of early dementia.

She is 70 and there is nothing I can do to convince her to seek help. She doesn't completely shut the idea down, BUT her response is always, "I took up sociology back in college which also touches on human psychology. I know what you're talking about, but I can handle this on my own."

Apart from the typical BPD symptoms she has, she seems to really have heightened anxiety if she were in a new or unfamiliar place. Her mind would then go to dark places, extra cautious thinking there's a bad person out there that she'll randomly cross paths with. After that, she becomes hypersensitive to everything. Every little thing becomes an issue that she'll start screaming about.

Her emotions also seems to get exacerbated if it's dark out already - so late evenings up to the wee hours of the morning. With that said:

1. Is heightened anxiety because of a change in environment a symptom of BPD?
2. Why does her anxiety seem to be worse late at night?

[Riv3rW0lf]

It could be related to a trauma, something that happened to her at night when she was young. She might not even remember it herself.

I don't know for others here, but my BPD mother was sexually abused and it seems to me, the only reason she could be diagnosed as BPD is because her hatred, her emotions, her shame are all directed outward and she lacks empathy, she cannot see the pain she caused.  Or she acknowledges it but she just cannot control herself, cannot change herself, and it always comes back to blaming others instead of taking responsibility for herself. She has all the symptoms, but so did I in my early twenties because of past abuse... Only, I could see I was hurting people around me and I stopped acting in those ways that were hurtful to others.

All this to say, anyone, borderline or not, who carry trauma, who was abused, carry those kind of scars, get reactivated by things that remind them of their trauma. They then get overly stressed, or irritable, not because of a reason in the present, but because of a haunting memory, a flash from childhood, unconscious or not.

I am not borderline, but am aware that moving distresses me. I've moved all my life, from one school to another, from one house to another, and moving now always makes me sad or unnerved for a few weeks. I just moved one month ago and it certainly increased my anxiety. Also when there are  a lot of people, I have always been deeply uncomfortable with that, it takes me days to calm myself and get over it. Yet, I am not borderline.. but being raised by one came with a lot of trauma that I carry around...

So no, I wouldn't say those are from her BPD, but more from her possible childhood neglect/abuse.

[missing NC]

Interesting. Many but not all individuals with BPD have a trauma history, and as Riv3rWOlf observes, the commonality between the two is heightened reactivity to emotional arousal.  So anything that heightens that arousal further - depending on what the individual finds stressful - will likely bring out the symptoms associated with BPD. 

BPD is a fear-based disorder.  One of the hallmarks is rocky relations with and distrust of other people.  The struggles of individuals with BPD are compounded by the fact that they misread facial cues assuming a neutral face is an angry one. So being dysregulated in an unfamiliar place, especially if there are strangers around, makes a great deal of sense. 

Most, but not all individuals with BPD have at least one comorbid condition, often anxiety or depression.  Two of the most anxiety-provoking times of the day for those who have anxiety are morning when the stress hormone, cortisol is the highest and after dark. The latter makes sense in evolutionary terms as the most dangerous time of day be a mammal is at night when the predators come out. 

To respond to Riv3rWOlf's observations regarding her dysregulation in her twenties, I wonder if Complex PTSD might have been at play (?). 

[Riv3rW0lf]

Missing NC

Yes.

I guess where I was going with this was that Complex PTSD and borderline are not mutually exclusive.

I find it hard to really categorize what is BPD behaviors VS trauma behaviors, especially when the 9 criteria for BPD are rather vast.

I am not an expert and I can only speak from my experience that nights, mornings, room full of people, change in environment, can  lead to more emotional dysregulation, which like you said, would come out as heightened symptoms for BPD people, but I don't think they are symptoms of BPD itself, since cPTSD will also experience heightened dysregulation when stressed.

You seem to know much more about the borderline disorder than I do, and your knowledge seems science-based though, so I would rely more on your answer than mine.

[Notwendy]

I think the trauma history does have an influence, but also I think we can generalize this.

If someone is prone to anxiety, a routine helps. The unexpected can raise anxiety for anyone, but if there's a disorder of emotional regulation, this can be more obvious.

I think anyone can over react emotionally if they are tired or angry enough. I think we can all recall a time where we over reacted because we were tired or stressed.

Now imagine if someone has difficulty regulating their emotions even when most people would not be tired or stressed. How would a slight increase in this affect them?

Young children have difficulty regulating their emotions. This is due to their age and immaturity- they don't have the skills yet. How do adults deal with this? By having a routine. Young children do better with a routine and yet they can still have tantrums. Keep a young child up past their bedtime and they will act out.

There's also a phenomenon called "sundowning" in the elderly that may be going on with an elderly parent.

Knowing this - one can use this to help the situation- by trying to keep a routine with an elderly BPD parent. Also if you know she's more likely to get disregulated at night, avoiding contact or minimizing stressful encounters might help.