Individuals who struggle with BPD often grew up in atmospheres where they were neglected and abandoned or even abused. Most of their behaviors that can be unhealthy are due to how they tend to feel a great fear of abandonment and rejection so many of their tactics are ways they learned where they gained some sense of control as control often brings a sense of safety, yet that control for them will "still" be threatened so they tend to suffer from fear of when they may lose control which turns into how they experience challenges with a mood disorder where their emotions get away from them.

One of the theories for treatment is to give them a medication that deals with controlling the mood swings in hopes that getting that under control can be the first step towards gaining on mood control, then the therapy is meant to work on the issues/challenges an individual struggles with so they can slowly learn for themselves what they are and then work on ways to manage themselves better so they gain on feeling better about themselves and learn how to function better.