This video describes the concept of “borderline rage,” which refers to the anger that is oftentimes seen with borderline personality disorder. Specifically, one of the criterion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) indicates inappropriate intense anger or difficulty controlling anger. I believe a lot of times when we see this term “borderline rage” it is referring to that even though when we think of rage, we think of a more primitive type of anger. I think one of the reasons is that with borderline personality disorder, the anger does appear to be more intense and more primal than we would see with somebody without borderline personality disorder. Anger in borderline personality just one symptom, however, it's the symptom that tends to get noticed first or at least one of the symptoms that tends to get noticed early on. That's because of the outward acting component of anger. Anger expressed in borderline personality is not simple. We see constant anger, which is when somebody appears to be angry all the time. There is automatic anger, which is anger that comes about without any stimuli or at least without any stimuli that would normally provoke anger. We can also see triggered anger. That is anger that does have an apparent cause. Oftentimes with borderline personality disorder, we believe the anger has higher intensity, a lower threshold to activate, and an extended duration. The anger associated with borderline personality disorder is often pervasive, internalized (“quiet borderline”) and externalized, cyclic associated with a desire for revenge, and there is a lack of insight as to the origin.
