As to the question of what are symptoms of HPD, here is a running list of symptoms for HPD:
Difficulty maintaining relationships
Discomfort when not at the center of attention
Dramatic actions and expressions that seem to lack sincerity
Gullibility
High sensitivity to criticism
Impulsivity
Inappropriately provocative and flirtatious dress or behavior
Inflated concern with physical appearance
Low tolerance for frustration; easily bored
Need for reassurance and approval from others
Rapidly shifting emotions
Self-centered thoughts or behavior.
This is a brief, but not comprehensive analysis of what can be a the core of the disorder:
A lay person who is involved with the disorder needs to understand
that all the behaviors enumerated here are long-held defenses against
feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, absence of mother bond and
personality malformation principally due to a detached mother.
Later trauma such as a death or divorce may also impact on this
persons inability to form intimate relationships. There is scant evidence
for the etiology of the illness. Whether biological or nurture, it takes
an exceptional therapist to get past the defenses and reach the core.
Many persons with HPD also have Borderline or other disorders 3/4 times. Symptoms of borderline personality disorder include:
Inappropriate or extreme emotional reactions
Highly impulsive behaviors
A history of unstable relationships
Having an unstable or dysfunctional self-image or a distorted sense of self (how one feels about one’s self)
Feelings of isolation, boredom and emptiness
Difficulty feeling empathy for others
A history of unstable relationships that can change drastically from intense love and idealization to intense hate
A persistent fear of abandonment and rejection, including extreme emotional reactions to real and even perceived abandonment
Intense, highly changeable moods that can last for several days or for just a few hours
Strong feelings of anxiety, worry and depression
Impulsive, risky, self-destructive and dangerous behaviors, including reckless driving, drug or alcohol abuse and having unsafe sex
Hostility
Unstable career plans, goals and aspirations
Many people experience one or more of the above symptoms regularly, but a person with borderline personality disorder will experience many of the symptoms listed above consistently throughout adulthood.
The term “borderline” refers to that fact that people with this condition tend to “border” on being diagnosed with additional mental health conditions in their lifetime, including psychosis.
One of the ironies of this disorder is that people with BPD may crave closeness, but their intense and unstable emotional responses tend to alienate others, causing long-term feelings of isolation.
These two disorders, HPD & BPD often go hand in hand and if a person is regularly cutting people out of their life, without feeling to how it impacts others, it often is a defense mechanism to protect oneself from more emotional pain one fears could occur, but a person my repress these feelings and not be consciously aware of it.