WHY FOUR HAS BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER

by someone with the disorder and psychology as a special interest

note: this carrd was first published on november 30th, 2020. as of august 14th, 2021, it has been updated with more recent evidence, an introductory section, and references. i am considering this carrd complete for the foreseeable future, and as such, it will no longer be given major updates unless i state otherwise. thank you for reading.

if you would rather read this carrd in a document form, you can do so here.

you are encouraged to read the pages in order. general content warning for heavy topics, including suicide and self-harm (only in reference to diagnostic criteria).

INTRODUCTION

welcome. this carrd is an explanation of all the reasons as to why i believe four from battle for bfdi/bfb has borderline personality disorder.

borderline personality disorder (hereinafter, bpd) is described as "an illness marked by an ongoing pattern of varying moods, self-image, and behavior." to further elaborate, the diagnostic criteria are as follows:

1. frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment
2. chronic feelings of emptiness
3. emotional instability in reaction to day-to-day events
4. identity disturbance with markedly or persistently unstable self-image or sense of self
5. impulsive behavior in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging
6. inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger
7. pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by extremes between idealization and devaluation
8. recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-harming behavior
9. transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms.

in order to receive a diagnosis, one must present with five or more of the established criteria. of these, four displays at least five (arguably six or seven depending on one's interpretation of what happened in bfb 28 and bfb 30) and possibly even more that just haven't been seen yet.

please proceed with these criteria in mind.

I: EMOTIONAL INSTABILITY

throughout bfb, four has consistently shown a tendency to be very emotionally unstable and have mood swings, something many people with bpd struggle with.

specifically, they'll often have emotional outbursts, many seemingly very sudden. they're shown to quickly be able to go from angry to happy and vice versa. one clear example of this is in bfb 19, when x begins to announce that the contestants need to respect their aloe vera more. while four starts out siding with x, and is actually the one who started it in the first place, their mood suddenly shifts as they get angry towards x after firey points out that it's time for cake at stake. this makes it clear that their emotions can rapidly fluctuate.

additionally, considering that four is said to screech when they experience intense emotion, it's easy to infer that they experience emotions more intensely than is typical. they're seen to be very easily provoked, and pre-bfb 18, they were very quick to screech at anyone who did anything to anger them. this shows that four has trouble with regulating their emotions.

four has rapidly fluctuating and unstable moods.

II: IMPULSIVE BEHAVIOR

(note that this somewhat goes hand-in-hand with their emotional instability, so i may reiterate some points.)

very often, it's clear to see that four is driven by their impulses, something else that can be considered an indicator of bpd.

tying into their emotional instability, four regularly allows their feelings to take over them and cause them to make irrational, spur-of-the-moment decisions. many clear examples of this can be seen throughout the show, usually manifesting in hostile behavior and physical harm, but another clear example is them telling x to leave in bfb 16.

when four is basically forced to watch 40 of their contestants leave them for somebody "better," they begin to panic due to their fear of abandonment, which is elaborated on further in part v. when they recover bottle, who they'd previously been seen to get along with, they ask her if she'll stay with them. however, bottle doesn't hesitate at all to leave four, which upsets them immensely. they were already clearly on-edge, but that seemingly pushed them over the edge. so much so that when x tries to comfort them, four immediately tells them to leave under the assumption that x was going to switch shows as well.

had four's emotions not taken over in that situation, and they hadn't acted on their first impulse, they likely would have never told x to leave. but their feelings caused them to make the decision to do so in the moment, and this is only one time of many that this occurs (though the majority of other instances are due to anger rather than panic.)

additionally, in bfb 30, four is seen to avoid x and the contestants when they're trying to get them to come back, in direct opposition to their actual wants and needs. they clearly want to feel wanted, which is made clear by their intense fear of abandonment, but they consistently try to get those they care about to leave them behind anyway. this type of impulsivity is known as self-sabotaging behavior, and comes as a result of their low self-esteem.

there have been many instances of them displaying impulsive behavior in the episodes since. in fact, it may be the most obvious example of a bpd symptom we see from them - perhaps coming only second to their emotional instability.

four can be very quick to make impulsive, illogical, and self-sabotaging decisions if pushed far enough emotionally.

III: UNSTABLE RELATIONSHIPS

four's relationships with other characters in the series are consistently shown to be unstable, something which can be seen most easily with x due to their closeness. this, too, is a symptom of bpd.

at the beginning of bfb, four's interactions with x are mostly negative. they have a tendency to take out negative emotions on them, whether it be by inflicting physical harm or verbal harm. this isn't extreme, but it establishes what seems to be an ambiguously hostile relationship between the two.

as the series continues, it's soon seen that four and x's relationship isn't hostile so much as it is unstable, primarily due to conflicts caused by four. in fact, four's behavior towards x throughout bfb can easily be explained by a common symptom of bpd which causes unstable relationships: rapidly switching between idealizing and devaluing others.

the earlier episodes of the show (bfb 1-bfb 17) are the most obvious examples of this, as four's relationship with x has gotten more stable in recent episodes.

from bfb 1 to bfb 17, a viewer can see that four tends to be quick to be rude or hostile towards x if x makes any sort of mistake. however, their disposition and behavior towards x can, seemingly in the blink of an eye, become friendly and loving. this can even go to such lengths that they become possessive.

furthermore, four is very clearly more attached to x than anyone else they know. at the beginning of bfb 17, they're visibly brought to such distress that they seem nearly unable to function purely because x is gone. the only thing that's able to bring them out of this state is the possibility of x being brought back. this extreme attachment is very common in people with bpd, so much so that the term "favorite person" was made in order to help describe this experience; someone with bpd who has a favorite person will often feel so attached to a person that their mental health and stability will depend on them. any semblance of a negative interaction with this person can cause them to completely break down.

four is shown to have persistently unstable relationships, particularly with x, as well as an intense attachment to x.

IV: INSECURITY

while four may appear to have an inflated sense of self worth from a glance, looking deeper into their behavior makes it clear that they act this way in order to cope with their own insecurity, another thing that people with bpd tend to have problems with.

they want others to see them as important or superior because they doubt themself. this will be elaborated on more in part v, as my points here tie into that as well, but they're well aware that they're seen as "weird" by the majority of people. thus, to feel better about this, they try to make others like them (or at least make them act like they do.) that way, they're able to distract themself from their own insecurity.

they have a constant desire for attention and admiration because they see it as reassuring, artificial or not. this is seen multiple times - bfb 4's challenge, bfb 13's challenge (in part; it's a challenge because they "must be x's only treasure"), bfb 24's challenge, and even the exitors' worksheets (the answer to every problem is 4.) they're willing to do anything they can to get the affirmation they feel the need to have, even if they have to force it.

when the contestants immediately displayed kindness towards profily in bfb 26, they were immensely hurt by it. even though they'd managed well enough on the pseudo-admiration that they'd forced out of the contestants, they clearly still desired to be genuinely liked by other people, and for people to genuinely care for them. when they saw somebody who the contestants didn't even remember get more appreciation from the contestants than they had for basically the entire time they'd known the contestants, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. they let all their feelings spill - pent-up emotions from trying to hide their self-doubt - and such feelings were ones that they'd clearly been struggling with for a while.

finally, bfb 27 and 28 make it clear as day that four has trouble with feeling insecure and unliked by the contestants. when x was praised by leafy for being a good host, four began to feel upset and tried to say that they were a good host too. this insecurity is made even more prominent in the following episode, where four gets upset after realizing the contestants hadn't grown attached to them like they wanted to believe they had. this realization brings them extreme distress. this is elaborated on more in part v.

four wants to be liked and respected by other people because they're insecure.

V: FEAR OF ABANDONMENT

finally, on the subject of the single most common symptom of bpd, four very obviously has a deep-seated fear of abandonment, and their controlling nature throughout the series is the result of them trying to avoid said abandonment.

they have a fear of rejection that stems from this as well, and we can see this manifesting in their behavior towards the contestants as well as x.

bfb 16, where two causes 40 of their contestants to leave them, is the most prominent example of this. here, they're seen having a near-breakdown unlike anything we'd seen out of them prior, and it's clearly triggered by people abandoning them for two. they say that "everyone needs to stay with [them] forever." they can't understand why people are leaving them, and they're incredibly anxious because of it. this behavior is a manifestation of their fear. their fear is extreme to the point where near the end of the episode, they tell x to "just go."

along with bfb 16, bfb 28 is also a very prominent example of this. upon witnessing the last of their contestants favoring the announcer over them, they get incredibly upset and try to convince the announcer to let them keep their show - albeit indirectly. when this fails, they're pushed to the point of desperation and, quite literally, become the earth just so nobody can "get rid of" them, i.e. abandon them.

in both of these cases, they're seen making what is best described as "frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment" - a textbook symptom of bpd.

all throughout the show, they display controlling behavior towards the contestants and even more so towards x - though they don't make it incredibly obvious.

four is well aware that the contestants think they're "weird" and "strange," and even aware that many of the contestants dislike them. on the surface, the way they behave around the contestants might lead one to believe that four returns this dislike, but the reality of it is that four acts this way so the contestants won't leave them. they find it easiest to intimidate the contestants into staying by acting violent and making them scared of doing so.

they exhibit(ed) similar behavior towards x, though not to such an extreme, and they've been improving about it; in earlier episodes of bfb, we see them use similar intimidation and scare tactics to make x fear leaving them. in bfb 13, we even see them say that they "must be x's only treasure." it's clear that they value their friendship with x a lot.

after x decided to stay with them even after meeting two, though, this behavior dramatically decreased. instead, they're now more inclined to preserve their friendship with x by displaying kindness and being helpful towards them. we've seen a similar development with their behavior towards the contestants as well, though it's not as pronounced.

four is afraid of being abandoned by the people they care about and trust most.

VI: CONCLUSION

ultimately, i can't say for sure whether these things were intentional or not, but i'm more inclined to believe that they weren't. even with that taken into consideration, though, i feel that four displays too many of the symptoms for me to comfortably call this a "headcanon."

not only are they very emotionally unstable, but they are also impulsive. their general impulsivity seems to be directly correlated with their emotional instability. they're also insecure, and cope with this by trying to make people admire them. their relationships are unstable, made clear by their relationship with x, and they have a fear of abandonment which they repeatedly try to avoid by "forcing" others not to leave them.

the amount of evidence towards this is overwhelming, and i feel as though i can't just say nothing about it. while people are inclined to believe what they will, since this will likely never be confirmed or even touched upon in canon, i personally believe that four is undeniably bpd coded - intentional or not. thank you for taking the time to read my analysis.

REFERENCES

1. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition: DSM-5 (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Publishing.

2. Borderline personality disorder | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness. (2017, December). National Alliance on Mental Illness. https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Mental-Health-Conditions/Borderline-Personality-Disorder

3. Borderline personality disorder - Symptoms and causes. (2019, July 17). Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/borderline-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20370237

4. The National Institute of Mental Health. (2017, December). NIMH ยป Borderline Personality Disorder. National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/borderline-personality-disorder

evidence of four's behavior can be seen in the specified episodes within the carrd. clicking on mentions of each episode will bring you to that particular episode (though only when it is first mentioned). mentions of a several episode range will not have links.