ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case of a 19-year-old woman with a 6-year history of self-harm who attends the emergency department. Her self-harm is usually in the form of cutting, but every few weeks when she feels things are getting on top of her, she takes an overdose. She is verbally abusive and threatening violence if she is not given what she wants. She is irritable and agitated. She is unkempt and looks like she has recently been in a fight. She is angry as she feels she is being thwarted in this. She says there is no point in living especially as her boyfriend has broken up with her. There is no evidence of any psychotic features and she is orientated in time, place and person. People with personality disorders have experiences and behaviour that are markedly outside their societal norms. This demonstrates itself in enduring ways, impacting upon relationships, emotion regulation, impulse control and attributions about self and others.
