I think women are likely to subject themselves to being diagnosed.

Oh, that makes sense. Thanks, Nota.

Not a psychology major (as of yet), but I've some reading on the subject, and I think there are some theories on the developement of BPS (patients reporting being frequently, if not necessarily abused in childhood) that would make women more likely afflicted. There is, however, apparently a discrepancy between the estimated ratio of occurance based on sex, that being 1:3, and actual diagnoses, of which only 25 per cent are on male patients.

That said, I know some guys too who'd definitely fit the description.

BPD is a personality disorder of relationships - one of the main characterisitcis is relationships marked by extreme highs and lows - dramatic relationships. People with BPD do this push/pull thing with their relationships; they are often abusive to ones they love, but are overly afraid of rejection/abandonment. They are the ones you will see threaten suicide if someone says they're going to leave. They are typically self-destructive, and will self-harm, but are rarely truly suicidal.

So yes, you will typically see women diagnosed with BPD. In one of my classes, the professor stated that in men with BPD, there is typically not a diagnosis, but one will see alcoholism/addiction, domestic violence, and criminal history.

The mental health field has acknowledged that males and females will manifest different disorders differently (for instance, more boys are diagnosed with ADHD, there was the realization that girls have different symptomology). But as of yet, they haven't been able to alter critieria for diagnoses to reflect that. I don't know if that's something that is supposed to change with the DSM-V.

I read a book called "Understanding the Borderline Mother." The author is a woman and states the following in her intro:

"Females have greater difficulty separating their identity from their mothers', primarily because mother and daughter share the same gender. Therefore, most of the case examples discussed are mothers and daughters. Although borderline mothers obviously raise sons as well as daughters, males are less likely to enter therapy. If male children of borderline mothers develop BPD, they are more likely to identified among prison populations. A male child who does not develop BPD is most likely the all-good child. The all-good male child tends to display narcissistic traits and, as an adult, may marry a borderline woman, re-creating his role of rescuer. Such men are often successful professionals who are highly defended against recognizing their mother's disorder."