Emotionally unstable personality disorder

Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder is a medical diagnosis equivalent to Borderline Personality Disorder but belonging to the ICD-10 system of classification. The diagnostic criteria differ slightly from that of the DSM-IV-TR system used by the American Psychiatric Association.

F60.30 Impulsive type

 * 1) The general criteria for personality disorder (F60) must be met. [see below]
 * 2) At least three of the following must be present, one of which must be (2):
 * 3) marked tendency to act unexpectedly and without consideration of the consequences;
 * 4) marked tendency to quarrelsome behaviour and to conflicts with others, especially when impulsive acts are thwarted or criticized;
 * 5) liability to outbursts of anger or violence, with inability to control the resulting behavioural explosions;
 * 6) difficulty in maintaining any course of action that offers no immediate reward;
 * 7) unstable and capricious mood.

F60.31 Borderline type

 * 1) The general criteria for personality disorder (F60) must be met. [see below]
 * 2) At least three of the symptoms mentioned in criterion 2 for F60.30 must be present [see above], with at least two of the following in addition:
 * 3) disturbances in and uncertainty about self-image, aims, and internal preferences (including sexual);
 * 4) liability to become involved in intense and unstable relationships, often leading to emotional crises;
 * 5) excessive efforts to avoid abandonment;
 * 6) recurrent threats or acts of self-harm;
 * 7) chronic feelings of emptiness.

F60 Disorders of adult personality and behaviour

 * 1) There is evidence that the individual's characteristic and enduring patterns of inner experience and behaviour as a whole deviate markedly from the culturally expected and accepted range (or "norm"). Such deviation must be manifest in more than one of the following areas:
 * 2) cognition (i.e. ways of perceiving and interpreting things, people, and events; forming attitudes and images of self and others);
 * 3) affectivity (range, intensity, and appropriateness of emotional arousal and response);
 * 4) control over impulses and gratification of needs;
 * 5) manner of relating to others and of handling interpersonal situations.
 * 6) The deviation must manifest itself pervasively as behaviour that is inflexible, maladaptive, or otherwise dysfunctional across a broad range of personal and social situations (i.e. not being limited to one specific "triggering" stimulus or situation).
 * 7) There is personal distress, or adverse impact on the social environment, or both, clearly attributable to the behaviour referred to in criterion 2.
 * 8) There must be evidence that the deviation is stable and of long duration, having its onset in late childhood or adolescence.
 * 9) The deviation cannot be explained as a manifestation or consequence of other adult mental disorders, although episodic or chronic conditions from sections F00-F59 or F70-F79 of this classification may coexist with, or be superimposed upon, the deviation.
 * 10) Organic brain disease, injury, or dysfunction must be excluded as the possible cause of the deviation. (If an organic causation is demonstrable, category F07.- should be used.)