How to Reduce the Risk of Inheriting BPD

If you have borderline personality disorder (BPD) and kids, you've probably wondered if they could inherit BPD from you. Although BPD does have a strong genetic component, rest easy: Your children most likely will not develop borderline personality disorder—and you can take action to help prevent it.

Is BPD Genetic?

Research has shown that borderline personality disorder can run in families. This happens most likely for a few reasons.

Having a genetic susceptibility to BPD isn't a guarantee that someone will eventually develop the condition, however. Other studies tracking BPD in families, particularly in twins, have suggested that interactions between your genes and your environment also play an important role.  

Other Risk Factors

The types of environments that can put children at risk of developing BPD also run in families. For example, someone who is maltreated as a child is at greater risk to develop BPD. That person is also at greater risk of having difficulty parenting. It is hard to be an effective parent when you are struggling with BPD symptoms, and it does not help if you did not have good parenting models yourself.

Although you can't change genetics, you have some control over your child's environment. In fact, research has uncovered strong evidence that the environment has a strong influence on whether people with the genes for BPD actually develop the disorder.

How to Decrease the Risk of BPD

Because BPD is also influenced by factors other than genetics, you can try a few things that may help lower the risk that you or your children will develop borderline personality disorder.

Get Treatment

The first thing that you can do is to get treatment for yourself. People who undergo effective treatment for borderline personality disorder under the guidance of a mental health professional can improve significantly. Some people no longer meet the diagnostic criteria for BPD after they finish treatment.

Having fewer symptoms means having more resources for effective parenting. Your doctor or therapist can help figure out an effective treatment path for you.

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Evaluate Your Home Environment

Once you are in treatment, express your concerns about your children to your care provider, and ask for help. Your provider can help you evaluate your home surroundings and whether your symptoms could be affecting your parenting skills.

Enroll in Skills Training

Your therapist may even be able to refer you to programs that help people build skills to be more effective parents. People with borderline personality disorder can be very effective and nurturing parents, but because the symptoms of BPD can be very intense, for many people this does take some work.

Treatment Options

BPD is typically treated with a combination of psychotherapy and medication. A number of different types of talk therapy have been shown to be helpful for treating this condition, including

• Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
• Transference-focused psychotherapy
• Mentalization-based therapy
• Schema-focused therapy

Medications that may be prescribed to treat BPD include antidepressants, antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, and anti-anxiety medications. These may relieve symptoms of anxiety, depression, impulsivity, and paranoid thinking. 

Self-help strategies, such as developing new coping skills to regulate emotions and cope with distress, can also be beneficial if you have BPD.

Takeaway

Although BPD has a strong genetic component, that does not mean that you will develop the condition inevitably or pass it down to your children. Genetics may increase the risk, but you can take steps to manage your condition and reduce the impact that it has on your loved one.

Getting treatment is an important step that can help you cope with the symptoms of BPD, develop new coping skills, and change household patterns that might increase the risk of your children developing BPD.