This term means a "borderline state", it is defined by a personality disorder characterised by a large emotional fluctuation and leads to a lasting personality change. The main characteristics of this disorder are extreme positive or negative emotions and feelings that last longer than "normal", difficulty in controlling actions, marked feelings of abandonment, and high impulsiveness. These all add up to a disturbed self-image often leading to self-harming (such as scarification), and suicidal behaviour. These risky behaviours aim to reduce or eliminate the psychological suffering and negative emotions felt. The risk of acting out is very high. Many borderline patients are still diagnosed as suffering from bipolar disorders. This lack of knowledge has harmful consequences because the treatments (mainly drug-based) used in bipolar disorder have no positive effects on people suffering from a borderline personality and may even cause other disorders.