original source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoQdp2prfmM&feature=youtu.be&t=2h3m28s
Psychology Professor Dr. Jordan B. Peterson talks about Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and antisocial behavior.

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Tonight, I'd like to ask you about 2 different psychological disorders, the first being borderline personality disorder.

So 2 lectures ago, somebody asked you about it, and you gave a very sparse answer.

I can't remember exactly what you said, but it seemed like it was, there was too much complexity to just answer it right there and then.

And then somebody else also asked you about the same disorder in your Patreon livestream recently.

And when they asked you that, you kind of stopped for

a moment and something, I don't know, something kind of flicked on in your head, it seemed like, and you thought for a couple of seconds and then you said, you know what, I don't think that I can answer that right now because it's just too It's just too bloody complex, and I was wondering just like Many young men have gravitated towards your lectures.

Do you think that there's something about this particular?

Disorder that There's something about people with this particular disorder that might gravitate to your insights and your lectures

Okay, okay, so now I would say probably no to the second 1, but I could comment more about borderline personality disorder I think I have enough mental energy to do that tonight, so Technically speaking it's often considered the female variant of antisocial personality disorder So it's it's it's it's classified or it's classified in in the domain of externalizing disorders, acting out disorders.

We don't understand borderline personality disorder very well.

I mean, it's characterized by tremendous impulsivity, radical confusion of identity, and then this pattern of idealization of people with whom the person afflicted with the disorder is associating with radical idealization of those people and then radical devaluation of them.

And then there's another theme that sort of weaves along with it, which is the proclivity of people with borderline personality disorder to presume that they will be abandoned and then to act in a manner that makes such abandonment virtually certain.

And so, it's a very complicated disorder, but that, I think, gets at the crux of it.

1 of the things that's interesting about people with borderline personality disorder in my experience is that they're often quite intelligent and You you see in the person with borderline personality disorder something like the waste or the squandering of tremendous potential.

They seem capable of thinking through the nature of their problems and analyzing them and discussing it, but not capable whatsoever of implementing any solutions.

Technically, there's no relationship between IQ and conscientiousness.

Because if you read the neuropsychological literature, and you read about the functions of the prefrontal cortex, they're usually conceptualized in intellectual terms.

And they're associated with planning and strategizing and so forth.

And that's what conscientiousness is, is planning and strategizing and implementation.

But the correlation between IQ and conscientiousness is 0.

And so is the correlation between working memory and conscientiousness.

I mean, really, it's hard to find things in psychology that are correlated at 0.

Things tend to be correlated to some degree, they tend to be interrelated.

The borderline seems to be able to strategize and to abstract, but not to be able to implement.

And so, the intellect per se seems to be functional, but it's not embodied in action.

It's very, so it can be frustrating to be associated with someone who has borderline personality disorder because they can tell you what the problem is and even tell you what the solution might be, but there's no implementation.

So maybe something went wrong developmentally.

We don't know exactly how these sorts of things come about.

The other thing that seems to be characteristic of borderline, people with borderline personality disorder, is that they, they remind me very much of people who are 2 years old.

And in some manner, like, people with borderline personality disorder can have temper tantrums.

And, you know, now and then you see a temper tantrum, and they're usually thrown by two-year-olds, right?

Most people grow out of temper tantrums by the time They're about 3 they're very rare at 4 which is a good thing because if they're still there at 4 That is not a good diagnostic predictor That's a good diagnostic predictor, but it's not the kind that you want.

And, you know, it's funny the way that we respond to two-year-old temper tantrums because the two-year-old will throw themselves on the ground and beat their hands and their legs on the floor and scream and yell and turn red or even blue.

I saw a child once who was capable of holding his breath during a temper tantrum till he turned blue Which was really an impressive feat you should try that right?

You really have to work at it and You see that in adult borderlines.

They'll have temper tantrums And the funny thing is when a two-year-old does it it's like it's you know it's a little off-putting but when an adult does it it's Completely bloody terrifying and it happens very frequently with borderlines, and so I would also say to some degree They didn't get properly socialized between that critical period of development between 2 and 4.

And you see the same thing with adult males who grow up to be antisocial.

Because a large proportion of adult males who grow up to be antisocial are aggressive as children, as two-year-olds.

So there's a small proportion of two-year-olds who are quite aggressive They'll kick and hit and bite and steal if you put them with other two-year-olds It's about 5% of the of the males smaller fraction of the females But most of them are socialized by the time they're 4 but there's a small percentage who aren't and they tend to stay antisocial and they tend to turn into long-term offenders and and then the develop the critical period for socialization development seems to be between 2 and 4 and it seems to be mediated by Pretend play and rough-and-tumble play and those sorts of mechanisms, And if it isn't instantiated by the age of 4 It doesn't happen, and it doesn't look like it's addressable now there are Dialectic behavior therapies that have been developed for people with borderline personality disorder, and they're purported to be successful.


Speaker 0: Hello, Dr. Peterson.

Speaker 1: Hey, there we go.

Speaker 0: Tonight, I'd like to ask you about 2 different psychological disorders, the first being borderline personality disorder. So 2 lectures ago, somebody asked you about it, and you gave a very sparse answer. I can't remember exactly what you said, but it seemed like it was, there was too much complexity to just answer it right there and then. And then somebody else also asked you about the same disorder in your Patreon livestream recently. And when they asked you that, you kind of stopped for

Speaker 2: a moment and something, I don't know, something kind of flicked on in your head, it seemed like, and you thought for a couple of seconds and then you said, you know what, I don't think that I can answer that right now because it's just too It's just too bloody complex, and I was wondering just like Many young men have gravitated towards your lectures. Do you think that there's something about this particular? Disorder that There's something about people with this particular disorder that might gravitate to your insights and your lectures

Speaker 1: Okay, okay, so now I would say probably no to the second 1, but I could comment more about borderline personality disorder I think I have enough mental energy to do that tonight, so Technically speaking it's often considered the female variant of antisocial personality disorder So it's it's it's it's classified or it's classified in in the domain of externalizing disorders, acting out disorders. And I think what happens... We don't understand borderline personality disorder very well. I mean, it's characterized by tremendous impulsivity, radical confusion of identity, and then this pattern of idealization of people with whom the person afflicted with the disorder is associating with radical idealization of those people and then radical devaluation of them. And then there's another theme that sort of weaves along with it, which is the proclivity of people with borderline personality disorder to presume that they will be abandoned and then to act in a manner that makes such abandonment virtually certain.

And so, it's a very complicated disorder, but that, I think, gets at the crux of it. 1 of the things that's interesting about people with borderline personality disorder in my experience is that they're often quite intelligent and You you see in the person with borderline personality disorder something like the waste or the squandering of tremendous potential. They seem capable of thinking through the nature of their problems and analyzing them and discussing it, but not capable whatsoever of implementing any solutions. And... Technically, there's no relationship between IQ and conscientiousness.

It's very weird. Because if you read the neuropsychological literature, and you read about the functions of the prefrontal cortex, they're usually conceptualized in intellectual terms. And they're associated with planning and strategizing and so forth. And that's what conscientiousness is, is planning and strategizing and implementation. But the correlation between IQ and conscientiousness is 0.

And so is the correlation between working memory and conscientiousness. 0. And 0 is a very low correlation, right? I mean, really, it's hard to find things in psychology that are correlated at 0. Things tend to be correlated to some degree, they tend to be interrelated.

The borderline seems to be able to strategize and to abstract, but not to be able to implement. And so, the intellect per se seems to be functional, but it's not embodied in action. It's very, so it can be frustrating to be associated with someone who has borderline personality disorder because they can tell you what the problem is and even tell you what the solution might be, but there's no implementation. So maybe something went wrong developmentally. We don't know exactly how these sorts of things come about.

The other thing that seems to be characteristic of borderline, people with borderline personality disorder, is that they, they remind me very much of people who are 2 years old. And in some manner, like, people with borderline personality disorder can have temper tantrums. In fact, they often do. And, you know, now and then you see a temper tantrum, and they're usually thrown by two-year-olds, right? Most people grow out of temper tantrums by the time They're about 3 they're very rare at 4 which is a good thing because if they're still there at 4 That is not a good diagnostic predictor That's a good diagnostic predictor, but it's not the kind that you want.

And, you know, it's funny the way that we respond to two-year-old temper tantrums because the two-year-old will throw themselves on the ground and beat their hands and their legs on the floor and scream and yell and turn red or even blue. I saw a child once who was capable of holding his breath during a temper tantrum till he turned blue Which was really an impressive feat you should try that right? It's really hard. You really have to work at it and You see that in adult borderlines. They'll have temper tantrums And the funny thing is when a two-year-old does it it's like it's you know it's a little off-putting but when an adult does it it's Completely bloody terrifying and it happens very frequently with borderlines, and so I would also say to some degree They didn't get properly socialized between that critical period of development between 2 and 4.

And you see the same thing with adult males who grow up to be antisocial. Because a large proportion of adult males who grow up to be antisocial are aggressive as children, as two-year-olds. So there's a small proportion of two-year-olds who are quite aggressive They'll kick and hit and bite and steal if you put them with other two-year-olds It's about 5% of the of the males smaller fraction of the females But most of them are socialized by the time they're 4 but there's a small percentage who aren't and they tend to stay antisocial and they tend to turn into long-term offenders and and then the develop the critical period for socialization development seems to be between 2 and 4 and it seems to be mediated by Pretend play and rough-and-tumble play and those sorts of mechanisms, And if it isn't instantiated by the age of 4 It doesn't happen, and it doesn't look like it's addressable now there are Dialectic behavior therapies that have been developed for people with borderline personality disorder, and they're purported to be successful.

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Jordan Peterson - Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)