BPD Test: 9 DSM-5-TR Borderline Personality Disorder Criteria + Scoring

The BPD test on this page is a 9-item screener mapped one-to-one to the DSM-5-TR criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder. A positive screen is 5 or more of the 9 criteria. The screener covers the symptom clusters clinicians look for during a structured BPD assessment: emotional dysregulation, unstable relationships, identity disturbance, impulsivity, and intense fear of abandonment. It is educational, not diagnostic \u2014 confirm BPD with a licensed clinician using a structured interview (e.g. SCID-5-PD or IPDE).

Understanding BPD

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), also known as Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD) in some countries, is a complex mental health condition characterized by profound emotional dysregulation, unstable and intense relationships, identity disturbance, impulsivity, and intense fear of abandonment. BPD affects approximately 1.6–5.9% of the population and is among the most impairing and high-cost psychiatric conditions.

DSM-5-TR diagnosis requires meeting 5 of 9 criteria: frantic efforts to avoid abandonment; unstable and intense relationships; identity disturbance; impulsivity in ≥2 self-damaging areas; recurrent suicidal or self-harm behavior; affective instability; chronic emptiness; inappropriate intense anger; and transient paranoid ideation or severe dissociation. This dimensional structure means BPD presentations vary enormously between individuals.

BPD has historically been underdiagnosed, misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder, or undertreated. Evidence-based treatments have transformed outcomes: Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is the first-line, evidence-based treatment, supported by 16+ RCTs, targeting emotional regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness. Remission rates of 35–45% within 2 years of DBT are consistently reported in clinical trials.

BPD Symptom Screener

Rate how much each description applies to you over the past year. This screener is not a diagnosis, it requires clinical evaluation to confirm.

Endorsed Criteria

Nine DSM-5-TR BPD Criteria

DSM-5-TR requires ≥5 of these 9 criteria, present across a variety of contexts, representing a pervasive and persistent pattern (not limited to episodes of another disorder).

BPD Assessment Tools

BPD & Personality Disorder Outcome Tracking

DERS, ZAN-BPD, DBT diary cards, PHQ-9, and GAD-7, integrated personality disorder outcome monitoring for DBT programs, IOP, and residential treatment.