Borderline Personality Disorder can be challenging to live with.
The following books will help you cope with the most challenging parts of BPD and actually lead a fulfilling life.
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.
Borderline Personality Disorder According To DSM-5 TR
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a mental health disorder that is characterized by a long-term pattern of unstable and intense emotions, impulsive behavior, distorted self-image, and unstable relationships with others.
BPD is diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5 TR), which outlines specific criteria for the disorder.
To be diagnosed with BPD, an individual must meet at least five of the following criteria:
1. Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment
2. A pattern of unstable and intense relationships
3. Identity disturbance: Markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self
4. Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging
5. Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior
6. Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood
7. Chronic feelings of emptiness
8. Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger
9. Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms
An individual with BPD may experience these symptoms on a chronic basis and may struggle with daily functioning and interpersonal relationships.
However, with appropriate treatment, individuals with BPD can learn to manage their symptoms and improve their overall quality of life.
Top 10 BPD Books
1. I Hate You–Don’t Leave Me
by Hal Straus and Jerold Jay Kreisman
Now in its third edition, this book is considered a must-read. Dr. Jerold J. Kreisman and health writer Hal Straus offer much-needed professional advice, helping victims and their families to understand what borderline personality is, the way trauma impacts it, and current treatments.
2. The Borderline Personality Disorder Workbook
by Daniel Fox
This therapist-recommended workbook is a staple in BPD self-help. It offers real, concrete advice on navigating BPD. Using evidence-based dialectical behavior therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and more, to help you on your therapeutic journey.
Related: Is Online Therapy For Borderline Personality Disorder Effective? (+Top 7 BPD Coping Skills)
3. Coping with BPD: DBT and CBT Skills to Soothe the Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder
by Blaise Aguirre and Gillian Galen
This compassionate guidebook outlines how to soothe common issues those with BPD face, such as intense feelings of anger, depression, and anxiety.
It offers simple, easy-to-use skills drawn from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).
4. Mindfulness for Borderline Personality Disorder
by Blaise Aguirre and Gillian Galen
Mindfulness has been shown to be helpful in many different mental health conditions, and borderline personality disorder is no exception. This book shows you different ways you can use mindfulness to help you work through your BPD, soothe overwhelmed emotions, address relationship problems, and more.
Related: Borderline Personality Disorder Support Group
5. Beyond Borderline: True Stories of Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder
by John G. Gunderson, Perry D Hoffman
This book presents a rare glimpse into the lives and recovery of people affected by BPD. This powerful compilation of stories reveals the deeply personal, firsthand perspectives of people who suffer with BPD, explores the numerous ways in which this disorder has affected their lives, and outlines the most debilitating and misunderstood symptoms of BPD (the most tragic being suicide).
6. Freedom from Selfharm
by Kim L. Gratz, Alexander Chapman, Barent W. Walsh
Self-injury is one issue many people with BPD face.
This guide helps you stop self-injury by presenting the facts about self-harm, correcting common myths about this behavior, and providing self-soothing techniques you can begin using right away for regulating difficult or overwhelming emotions.
Related: Emotional Permanence (What Is It & Top 4 Tips On How To Cope With Emotional Permanence Deficit?)
7. Complex Borderline Personality Disorder
by Daniel J. Fox
In Complex Borderline Personality Disorder, psychologist and BPD expert Daniel J. Fox offers a new understanding and awareness of the complexity of BPD, and helps you lay the groundwork needed to manage your symptoms more effectively. You’ll find checklists of specific symptoms to help you identify coexisting conditions related to BPD.
8. Lost in the Mirror: An Inside Look at Borderline Personality Disorder
by Richard Moskovitz
In this book, Richard Moskovitz, MD, provides interesting accounts of BPD patients he has treated. He describes the psychiatric disorder through everyday analogies, and offers hope.
9. Get Me Out of Here: My Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder
by Rachel Reiland
A mother, wife, and working professional, Reiland was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder at the age of 29.
Her memoir reveals what mental illness looks and feels like from the inside, and how healing from borderline personality disorder is possible through intensive therapy and the support of loved ones.
10. The Buddha & the Borderline: My Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder Through Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Buddhism, & Online Dating
by Kiera Van Gelder
Kiera Van Gelder’s memoir sheds light on the private struggle to transform suffering into compassion for herself and others, and is essential reading for all seeking to understand what it truly means to recover and reclaim the desire to live.
Related: Top 7 Skills For Coping With BPD [+ BPD FREE Resources]
