Hi, Mia, borderline is kind of hard to pigeonhole, really. It isn't a psychotic disorder so no, it isn't serious in THAT way. But it does tend to be a chronic disorder and some of its symptoms can include self-defeating behaviors like doing really impulsive things such as risky sexual encounters, going on shopping sprees, eating or drinking too much, etc.

But the good news is, it CAN get better. There are quite a few meds that help and also certain kinds of therapy. A lot of pdocs used to be pessimistic about the outcome of BPD (they thought people with BPD just didn't get better) but they're learning now that they were WRONG about that.

I've been diagnosed with BPD too and I'm optimistic--I think I'm doing a lot better than I was even a couple of years ago.

Good luck and welcome to the club!