Before learning other coping mechanisms, their efforts to manage or escape from their very negative emotions may lead to emotional isolation, self-injury or suicidal behavior. They are often aware of the intensity of their negative emotional reactions and, since they cannot regulate them, shut them down entirely since awareness would only cause further distress. This can be harmful since negative emotions alert people to the presence of a problematic situation and move them to address it.While people with BPD feel euphoria (ephemeral or occasional intense joy), they are especially prone to dysphoria (a profound state of unease or dissatisfaction), depression, and/or feelings of mental and emotional distress. Zanarini et al. recognized four categories of dysphoria typical of this condition: extreme emotions, destructiveness or self-destructiveness, feeling fragmented or lacking identity, and feelings of victimization. Within these categories, a BPD diagnosis is strongly associated with a combination of three specific states: feeling betrayed, feeling out of control, and "feeling like hurting myself". Since there is great variety in the types of dysphoria people with BPD experience, the amplitude of the distress is a helpful indicator.In addition to intense emotions, people with BPD experience emotional "lability" (changeability, or fluctuation). Although that term suggests rapid changes between depression and elation, mood swings in people with BPD more frequently involve anxiety, with fluctuations between anger and anxiety and between depression and anxiety.
Because of weak evidence and the potential for serious side effects from some of these medications, the United Kingdom (UK) National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) 2009 clinical guideline for the treatment and management of BPD recommends, "Drug treatment should not be used specifically for borderline personality disorder or for the individual symptoms or behavior associated with the disorder." However, "drug treatment may be considered in the overall treatment of comorbid conditions". They suggest a "review of the treatment of people with borderline personality disorder who do not have a diagnosed comorbid mental or physical illness and who are currently being prescribed drugs, with the aim of reducing and stopping unnecessary drug treatment". Cattarinussi (2021) stated medication for treatment of borderline personality disorder should be used at very low doses and for minimal amounts of time. Crawford (2018) found that despite mood stabilizers being prescribed frequently for BPD patients, they are neither cost effective or medically effective in treating BPD as whole after performing a year long study. Services
There is a significant difference between the number of those who would benefit from treatment and the number of those who are treated. The so-called "treatment gap" is a function of the disinclination to submit for treatment, an underdiagnosing of the disorder by healthcare providers, and the limited availability and access to state-of-the-art treatments. Nonetheless, individuals with BPD accounted for about 20% of psychiatric hospitalizations in one survey.