Dorian Gray: Borderline Personality Disorder

Dorian Gray portrays the assets of borderline personality disorder based on his impulsive actions, volatile mood swings, and difficulty maintaining healthy relationships with others. The National Institute of Mental Health defines this disorder as “a mental illness that severely impacts a person’s ability to manage their emotions” (Et. al 1). Dorian Gray exemplifies this when he is unable to control his responses and reactions to others. Discovery mood indicates that these people are “often swinging from extreme closeness and love (idealization) to extreme dislike or anger (devaluation)” (Admin 3). In “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” Dorian Gray is emotionally unstable, often having mood swings. For instance, when Dorian learned of Sybil’s suicide,

Moreover, Dorian makes impulsive decisions without thinking about the consequences. The National Institute of Mental Health describes these types of people's behaviors as “impulsive and often dangerous” (Et al. 2). At the end of the novel, when Dorian visited the portrait again and it looked the worst it had ever been, Dorian impulsively grabs the knife in which he killed Basil and stabs the portrait. “He seized it, and stabbed the canvas with it, ripping the thing right up from top to bottom” (Wilde 248). Dorian does not think to realize that the portrait is so connected to him that by hurting it he is also hurting himself. The fact that Dorian does not think about something before he does it indicates the factor of not thinking about the consequences that come with his actions which supports the disorder within him. Furthermore, the struggle Dorian faces when attempting to maintain healthy relationships with others supports him possessing borderline personality disorder. “You move between things constantly, people and passions,” noted the Discovery article on page 4 of how borderline personality feels from the