title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Second, the moods of bipolar disorder do not respond to changes in the environment, while the moods of BPD do respond to changes in the environment. That is, a positive event would not lift the depressed mood caused by bipolar disorder, but a positive event would potentially lift the depressed mood of someone with BPD. Similarly, an undesirable event would not dampen the euphoria caused by bipolar disorder, but an undesirable event would dampen the euphoria of someone with borderline personality disorder.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Third, when people with BPD experience euphoria, it is usually without the racing thoughts and decreased need for sleep that are typical of hypomania, though a later 2013 study of data collected in 2004 found that borderline personality disorder diagnosis and symptoms were associated with chronic sleep disturbances, including difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, and waking earlier than desired, as well as with the consequences of poor sleep, and noted that "[f]ew studies have examined the experience of chronic sleep disturbances in those with borderline personality disorder".


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Because the two conditions have a number of similar symptoms, BPD was once considered to be a mild form of bipolar disorder or to exist on the bipolar spectrum. However, this would require that the underlying mechanism causing these symptoms be the same for both conditions. Differences in phenomenology, family history, longitudinal course, and responses to treatment suggest that this is not the case. Researchers have found "only a modest association" between bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, with "a strong spectrum relationship with [BPD and] bipolar disorder extremely unlikely". Benazzi et al. suggest that the DSM-IV BPD diagnosis combines two unrelated characteristics: an affective instability dimension related to bipolar II and an impulsivity dimension not related to bipolar II.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) occurs in 3–8% of women. Symptoms begin during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, and end during menstruation. Symptoms may include marked mood swings, irritability, depressed mood, feeling hopeless or suicidal, a subjective sense of being overwhelmed or out of control, anxiety, binge eating, difficulty concentrating, and substantial impairment of interpersonal relationships. People with PMDD typically begin to experience symptoms in their early twenties, although many do not seek treatment until their early thirties.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Although some of the symptoms of PMDD and BPD are similar, they are different disorders. They are distinguishable by the timing and duration of symptoms, which are markedly different: the symptoms of PMDD occur only during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, whereas BPD symptoms occur persistently at all stages of the menstrual cycle. In addition, the symptoms of PMDD do not include impulsivity.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: About three-fourths of people diagnosed with BPD also meet the criteria for another Axis II personality disorder at some point in their lives. (In a major 2008 study—see adjacent table—the rate was 73.9%.) The Cluster A disorders, paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal, are broadly the most common. The Cluster as a whole affects about half, with schizotypal alone affecting one third.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: BPD is itself a Cluster B disorder. The other Cluster B disorders, antisocial, histrionic, and narcissistic, similarly affect about half of BPD patients (lifetime incidence), with again narcissistic affecting one third or more. Cluster C, avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive, showed the least overlap, slightly under one third.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Psychotherapy is the primary treatment for borderline personality disorder. Treatments should be based on the needs of the individual, rather than upon the general diagnosis of BPD. Medications are useful for treating comorbid disorders, such as depression and anxiety. Short-term hospitalization has not been found to be more effective than community care for improving outcomes or long-term prevention of suicidal behavior in those with BPD.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Long-term psychotherapy is currently the treatment of choice for BPD. While psychotherapy, in particular dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and psychodynamic approaches, is effective, the effects are slow: many people have to put in years of work to be effective.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: More rigorous treatments are not substantially better than less rigorous treatments. There are six such treatments available: dynamic deconstructive psychotherapy (DDP), mentalization-based treatment (MBT), transference-focused psychotherapy, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), general psychiatric management, and schema-focused therapy. Long-term therapy of any kind is better than no treatment, especially in reducing urges to self-injure.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Transference-focused therapy aims to break away from absolute thinking. In this, it gets the people to articulate their social interpretations and their emotions in order to turn their views into less rigid categories. The therapist addresses the individual's feelings and goes over situations, real or realistic, that could happen as well as how to approach them.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: The dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) components are interpersonal (communication), distress tolerance, emotional regulation and mindfulness. In doing this, it helps the individual with BPD gain skills to manage symptoms. Since those diagnosed with BPD have such intense emotions, learning to regulate them is a huge step in the therapeutic process. Some components of DBT are working long-term with patients, building skills to understand and regulate emotions, homework assignments, and strong availability of therapist to their client. Patients with borderline personality disorder also must take time in DBT to work with their therapist to learn how to get through situations surrounded by intense emotions or stress as well as learning how to better their interpersonal relationships.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is also a type of psychotherapy used for treatment of BPD. This type of therapy relies on changing people's behaviors and beliefs by identifying problems from the disorder. CBT is known to reduce some anxiety and mood symptoms as well as reduce suicidal thoughts and self-harming behaviors.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Mentalization-based therapy and transference-focused psychotherapy are based on psychodynamic principles, and dialectical behavior therapy is based on cognitive-behavioral principles and mindfulness. General psychiatric management combines the core principles from each of these treatments, and it is considered easier to learn and less intensive. Randomized controlled trials have shown that DBT and MBT may be the most effective, and the two share many similarities. Researchers are interested in developing shorter versions of these therapies to increase accessibility, to relieve the financial burden on patients, and to relieve the resource burden on treatment providers.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Some research indicates that mindfulness meditation may bring about favorable structural changes in the brain, including changes in brain structures that are associated with BPD. Mindfulness-based interventions also appear to bring about an improvement in symptoms characteristic of BPD, and some clients who underwent mindfulness-based treatment no longer met a minimum of five of the DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria for BPD.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: A 2010 review by the Cochrane collaboration found that no medications show promise for "the core BPD symptoms of chronic feelings of emptiness, identity disturbance, and abandonment". However, the authors found that some medications may impact isolated symptoms associated with BPD or the symptoms of comorbid conditions. A 2017 review examined evidence published since the 2010 Cochrane review and found that "evidence of effectiveness of medication for BPD remains very mixed and is still highly compromised by suboptimal study design". A 2020 review found that research into pharmacological treatments had declined, with more results confirming no benefits. The review found "moderate to large, statistically significant effects for both doses of quetiapine (150 mg/day and 300 mg/day) regarding BPD severity, psychosocial impairment and aggression, and an additional effect for the higher dose regarding manic symptoms." Despite lack of evidence of efficacy, the review stated that SSRI antidepressants continue to be widely prescribed to people with BPD.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Of the typical antipsychotics studied in relation to BPD, haloperidol may reduce anger and flupenthixol may reduce the likelihood of suicidal behavior. Among the atypical antipsychotics, one trial found that aripiprazole may reduce interpersonal problems and impulsivity. Olanzapine, as well as quetiapine, may decrease affective instability, anger, psychotic paranoid symptoms, and anxiety, but a placebo had a greater benefit on suicidal ideation than olanzapine did. The effect of ziprasidone was not significant.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Mood stabilizers are anticonvulsant drugs used for both epilepsy and reduction in mood variations in patients with excessive and often dangerous mood variabilities. Often, the goal of the anticonvulsants is to bring certain areas of the brain to equilibrium and control outbursts and seizures. Of the mood stabilizers studied, valproate semisodium may ameliorate depression, impulsivity, interpersonal problems, and anger. Topiramate may ameliorate interpersonal problems, impulsivity, anxiety, anger, and general psychiatric pathology. The effect of carbamazepine was not significant. Of the antidepressants, amitriptyline may reduce depression, but mianserin, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, and phenelzine sulfate showed no effect. Omega-3 fatty acid may ameliorate suicidality and improve depression. , trials with these medications had not been replicated and the effect of long-term use had not been assessed. Lamotrigine showed no benefit in a large randomized clinical trial. A case study on a male patient with borderline personality disorder found IV ketamine treatments, typically used for treatment unresponsive depression, drastically decreased anxiety, depression, and suicidal behaviors.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Chen and associates (2022) studied the effect of IV ketamine on adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) and borderline features compared to those with MDD without borderline features. Those with borderline features tend to be harder to treat and are more likely to suffer from suicidal ideation. They found that IV ketamine was more effective at treating those with borderline features 14 days after treatment, as compared to the MDD without borderline features group. While this study looked at those with MDD and borderline features, further studies are needed to see if the results will be the same for those with a diagnosis of BPD. In particular, those with BPD may experience episodes of psychosis and dissociation, which can also be brought on by the use of ketamine. However, in this study, those with borderline features did not show increased signs of dissociation or psychosis, suggesting that ketamine may eventually prove to be an effective treatment for those with MDD and BPD.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Because of weak evidence and the potential for serious side effects from some of these medications, the United Kingdom (UK) National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) 2009 clinical guideline for the treatment and management of BPD recommends, "Drug treatment should not be used specifically for borderline personality disorder or for the individual symptoms or behavior associated with the disorder." However, "drug treatment may be considered in the overall treatment of comorbid conditions". They suggest a "review of the treatment of people with borderline personality disorder who do not have a diagnosed comorbid mental or physical illness and who are currently being prescribed drugs, with the aim of reducing and stopping unnecessary drug treatment". Cattarinussi (2021) stated medication for treatment of borderline personality disorder should be used at very low doses and for minimal amounts of time. Crawford (2018) found that despite mood stabilizers being prescribed frequently for BPD patients, they are neither cost effective or medically effective in treating BPD as whole after performing a year long study.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: There is a significant difference between the number of those who would benefit from treatment and the number of those who are treated. The so-called "treatment gap" is a function of the disinclination to submit for treatment, an underdiagnosing of the disorder by healthcare providers, and the limited availability and access to state-of-the-art treatments. There are also ongoing problems with creating clear pathways to services and medical care, with many people with BPD finding it difficult to access treatment. Even when medical providers try to help, many are not trained or equipped to help severe BPD, which is a problem that has been recognized by both those affected by BPD and doctors.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Nonetheless, individuals with BPD accounted for about 20% of psychiatric hospitalizations in one survey. The majority of individuals with BPD who are in treatment continue to use outpatient treatment in a sustained manner for several years, but the number using the more restrictive and costly forms of treatment, such as inpatient admission, declines with time.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Experience of services varies. Assessing suicide risk can be a challenge for clinicians, and patients themselves tend to underestimate the lethality of self-injurious behaviors. People with BPD typically have a chronically elevated risk of suicide much above that of the general population and a history of multiple attempts when in crisis. Approximately half the individuals who commit suicide meet criteria for a personality disorder. Borderline personality disorder remains the most commonly associated personality disorder with suicide.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: After a patient with BPD died, the National Health Service (NHS) in England was criticized by a coroner in 2014 for the lack of commissioned services to support those with BPD. Evidence was given that 45% of female patients had BPD and there was no provision or priority for therapeutic psychological services. At the time, there were only a total of 60 specialized inpatient beds in England, all of them located in London or the northeast region.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: With treatment, the majority of people with BPD can find relief from distressing symptoms and achieve remission, defined as a consistent relief from symptoms for at least two years. A longitudinal study tracking the symptoms of people with BPD found that 34.5% achieved remission within two years from the beginning of the study. Within four years, 49.4% had achieved remission, and within six years, 68.6% had achieved remission. By the end of the study, 73.5% of participants were found to be in remission. Moreover, of those who achieved recovery from symptoms, only 5.9% experienced recurrences. A later study found that ten years from baseline (during a hospitalization), 86% of patients had sustained a stable recovery from symptoms.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Patient personality can play an important role during the therapeutic process, leading to better clinical outcomes. Recent research has shown that BPD patients undergoing dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) exhibit better clinical outcomes correlated with higher levels of the trait of agreeableness in the patient, compared to patients either low in agreeableness or not being treated with DBT. This association was mediated through the strength of a working alliance between patient and therapist; that is, more agreeable patients developed stronger working alliances with their therapists, which in turn, led to better clinical outcomes.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: In addition to recovering from distressing symptoms, people with BPD also achieve high levels of psychosocial functioning. A longitudinal study tracking the social and work abilities of participants with BPD found that six years after diagnosis, 56% of participants had good function in work and social environments, compared to 26% of participants when they were first diagnosed. Vocational achievement was generally more limited, even compared to those with other personality disorders. However, those whose symptoms had remitted were significantly more likely to have good relationships with a romantic partner and at least one parent, good performance at work and school, a sustained work and school history, and good psychosocial functioning overall.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: The prevalence of BPD was estimated in the mid-2000s to be 1–2% of the general population and to occur three times more often in women than in men. However, the lifetime prevalence of BPD, as defined in the DSM-IV, in a 2008 study was found to be 5.9% of the American population, occurring in 5.6% of men and 6.2% of women. The difference in rates between men and women in this study was not found to be statistically significant.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Borderline personality disorder is estimated to contribute to 20% of psychiatric hospitalizations and to occur among 10% of outpatients.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: 29.5% of new inmates in the U.S. state of Iowa fit a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder in 2007, and the overall prevalence of BPD in the U.S. prison population is thought to be 17%. These high numbers may be related to the high frequency of substance use and substance use disorders among people with BPD, which is estimated at 38%.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: The coexistence of intense, divergent moods within an individual was recognized by Homer, Hippocrates, and Aretaeus, the latter describing the vacillating presence of impulsive anger, melancholia, and mania within a single person. The concept was revived by Swiss physician Théophile Bonet in 1684 who, using the term "folie maniaco-mélancolique", described the phenomenon of unstable moods that followed an unpredictable course. Other writers noted the same pattern, including the American psychiatrist Charles H. Hughes in 1884 and J. C. Rosse in 1890, who called the disorder "borderline insanity". In 1921, Kraepelin identified an "excitable personality" that closely parallels the borderline features outlined in the current concept of BPD.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: The first significant psychoanalytic work to use the term "borderline" was written by Adolf Stern in 1938. It described a group of patients with what he thought to be a mild form of schizophrenia, on the "borderline" between neurosis and psychosis.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: The 1960s and 1970s saw a shift from thinking of the condition as borderline schizophrenia to thinking of it as a borderline affective disorder (mood disorder), on the fringes of bipolar disorder, cyclothymia, and dysthymia. In the DSM-II, stressing the intensity and variability of moods, it was called cyclothymic personality (affective personality). While the term "borderline" was evolving to refer to a distinct category of disorder, psychoanalysts such as Otto Kernberg were using it to refer to a broad spectrum of issues, describing an intermediate level of personality organization between neurosis and psychosis.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: After standardized criteria were developed to distinguish it from mood disorders and other Axis I disorders, BPD became a personality disorder diagnosis in 1980 with the publication of the DSM-III. The diagnosis was distinguished from sub-syndromal schizophrenia, which was termed "schizotypal personality disorder". The DSM-IV Axis II Work Group of the American Psychiatric Association finally decided on the name "borderline personality disorder", which is still in use by the DSM-5 today. However, the term "borderline" has been described as uniquely inadequate for describing the symptoms characteristic of this disorder.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Earlier versions of the DSM—before the multiaxial diagnosis system—classified most people with mental health problems into two categories: the psychotics and the neurotics. Clinicians noted a certain class of neurotics who, when in crisis, appeared to straddle the borderline into psychosis. The term "borderline personality disorder" was coined in American psychiatry in the 1960s. It became the preferred term over a number of competing names, such as "emotionally unstable character disorder" and "borderline schizophrenia" during the 1970s. Borderline personality disorder was included in DSM-III (1980) despite not being universally recognized as a valid diagnosis.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: The credibility of individuals with personality disorders has been questioned at least since the 1960s. Two concerns are the incidence of dissociation episodes among people with BPD and the belief that lying is a key component of this condition.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Researchers disagree about whether dissociation, or a sense of emotional detachment and physical experiences, impacts the ability of people with BPD to recall the specifics of past events. A 1999 study reported that the specificity of autobiographical memory was decreased in BPD patients. The researchers found that decreased ability to recall specifics was correlated with patients' levels of dissociation.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Some theorists argue that patients with BPD often lie. However, others write that they have rarely seen lying among patients with BPD in clinical practice.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Joel Paris states that "In the clinic ... Up to 80% of patients are women. That may not be true in the community." He offers the following explanations regarding these sex discrepancies:


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: In short, men are less likely to seek or accept appropriate treatment, more likely to be treated for symptoms of BPD such as substance use rather than BPD itself (the symptoms of BPD and ASPD possibly deriving from a similar underlying etiology); more likely to wind up in the correctional system due to criminal behavior; and, more likely to commit suicide prior to diagnosis.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Among men diagnosed with BPD there is also evidence of a higher suicide rate: "men are more than twice as likely as women—18 percent versus 8 percent"—to die by suicide.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: There are also sex differences in borderline personality disorders. Men with BPD are more likely to recreationally use substances, have explosive temper, high levels of novelty seeking and have anti-social, narcissistic, passive-aggressive or sadistic personality traits. Women with BPD are more likely to have eating disorders, mood disorders, anxiety and post-traumatic stress.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Manipulative behavior to obtain nurturance is considered by the DSM-IV-TR and many mental health professionals to be a defining characteristic of borderline personality disorder. However, Marsha Linehan notes that doing so relies upon the assumption that people with BPD who communicate intense pain, or who engage in self-harm and suicidal behavior, do so with the intention of influencing the behavior of others. The impact of such behavior on others—often an intense emotional reaction in concerned friends, family members, and therapists—is thus assumed to have been the person's intention.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: However, their frequent expressions of intense pain, self-harming, or suicidal behavior may instead represent a method of mood regulation or an escape mechanism from situations that feel unbearable.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: The features of BPD include emotional instability; intense, unstable interpersonal relationships; a need for intimacy; and a fear of rejection. As a result, people with BPD often evoke intense emotions in those around them. Pejorative terms to describe people with BPD, such as "difficult", "treatment resistant", "manipulative", "demanding", and "attention seeking", are often used and may become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the negative treatment of these individuals triggers further self-destructive behavior.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Since BPD can be a stigmatizing diagnosis even within the mental health community, some survivors of childhood abuse who are diagnosed with BPD are re-traumatized by the negative responses they receive from healthcare providers. One camp argues that it would be better to diagnose these men or women with post-traumatic stress disorder, as this would acknowledge the impact of abuse on their behavior. Critics of the PTSD diagnosis argue that it medicalizes abuse rather than addressing the root causes in society. Regardless, a diagnosis of PTSD does not encompass all aspects of the disorder (see brain abnormalities and terminology).


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: The stigma surrounding borderline personality disorder includes the belief that people with BPD are prone to violence toward others. While movies and visual media often sensationalize people with BPD by portraying them as violent, the majority of researchers agree that people with BPD are unlikely to physically harm others. Although people with BPD often struggle with experiences of intense anger, a defining characteristic of BPD is that they direct it inward toward themselves. One of the key differences between BPD and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is that people with BPD tend to internalize anger by hurting themselves, while people with ASPD tend to externalize it by hurting others.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: One 2020 study found that BPD is individually associated with psychological, physical and sexual forms of intimate partner violence (IPV), especially amongst men. In terms of the AMPD trait facets, hostility (negative affectivity), suspiciousness (negative affectivity) and risk taking (disinhibition) were most strongly associated with IPV perpetration for the total sample.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: In addition, adults with BPD have often experienced abuse in childhood, so many people with BPD adopt a "no-tolerance" policy toward expressions of anger of any kind. Their extreme aversion to violence can cause many people with BPD to overcompensate and experience difficulties being assertive and expressing their needs. This is one way in which people with BPD choose to harm themselves over potentially causing harm to others. Another way in which people with BPD avoid expressing their anger through violence is by causing physical damage to themselves, such as engaging in non-suicidal self-injury.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: People with BPD are considered to be among the most challenging groups of patients to work with in therapy, requiring a high level of skill and training for the psychiatrists, therapists, and nurses involved in their treatment. A majority of psychiatric staff report finding individuals with BPD moderately to extremely difficult to work with and more difficult than other client groups. This largely negative view of BPD can result in people with BPD being terminated from treatment early, being provided harmful treatment, not being informed of their diagnosis of BPD, or being misdiagnosed. With healthcare providers contributing to the stigma of a BPD diagnosis, seeking treatment can often result in the perpetuation of BPD features. Efforts are ongoing to improve public and staff attitudes toward people with BPD.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: In psychoanalytic theory, the stigmatization among mental health care providers may be thought to reflect countertransference (when a therapist projects his or her own feelings on to a client). Thus, a diagnosis of BPD often says more about the clinician's negative reaction to the patient than it does about the patient and explains away the breakdown in empathy between the therapist and the patient and becomes an institutional epithet in the guise of pseudoscientific jargon. This inadvertent countertransference can give rise to inappropriate clinical responses, including excessive use of medication, inappropriate mothering, and punitive use of limit setting and interpretation.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Some clients feel the diagnosis is helpful, allowing them to understand that they are not alone and to connect with others with BPD who have developed helpful coping mechanisms. However, others experience the term "borderline personality disorder" as a pejorative label rather than an informative diagnosis. They report concerns that their self-destructive behavior is incorrectly perceived as manipulative and that the stigma surrounding this disorder limits their access to health care. Indeed, mental health professionals frequently refuse to provide services to those who have received a BPD diagnosis.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Because of concerns around stigma, and because of a move away from the original theoretical basis for the term (see history), there is ongoing debate about renaming borderline personality disorder. While some clinicians agree with the current name, others argue that it should be changed, since many who are labelled with borderline personality disorder find the name unhelpful, stigmatizing, or inaccurate. Valerie Porr, president of Treatment and Research Advancement Association for Personality Disorders states that "the name BPD is confusing, imparts no relevant or descriptive information, and reinforces existing stigma".


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Alternative suggestions for names include "emotional regulation disorder" or "emotional dysregulation disorder". "Impulse disorder" and "interpersonal regulatory disorder" are other valid alternatives, according to John G. Gunderson of McLean Hospital in the United States. Another term suggested by psychiatrist Carolyn Quadrio is "post traumatic personality disorganization" (PTPD), reflecting the condition's status as (often) both a form of chronic post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as a personality disorder.<ref name="AxisOne/AxisTwo"></ref> However, although many with BPD do have traumatic histories, some do not report any kind of traumatic event, which suggests that BPD is not necessarily a trauma spectrum disorder.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: The Treatment and Research Advancements National Association for Personality Disorders (TARA-APD) campaigned unsuccessfully to change the name and designation of BPD in DSM-5, published in May 2013, in which the name "borderline personality disorder" remains unchanged and it is not considered a trauma- and stressor-related disorder.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: In literature, characters with behavior consistent with borderline personality disorder include Catherine in "Wuthering Heights" (1847), Smerdyakov in "The Brothers Karamazov" (1880), and Harry Haller in "Steppenwolf" (1927).


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Films attempting to depict characters with the disorder include "A Thin Line Between Love and Hate" (1996), "Gia" (1998), "Filth" (2013), "Fatal Attraction" (1987), "The Crush" (1993), "Mad Love" (1995), "Malicious" (1995), "Interiors" (1978), "The Cable Guy" (1996), "Mr. Nobody" (2009), "Moksha" (2001), "Margot at the Wedding" (2007), "Cracks" (2009), "Welcome to Me" (2014), and "Tamasha" (2015).


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Robert O. Friedel has suggested that the behavior of Theresa Dunn, the leading character of "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" (1975) is consistent with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: The films "Play Misty for Me" (1971) and "Girl, Interrupted" (1999, based on the memoir of the same name) both suggest the emotional instability of the disorder.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: The film "Single White Female" (1992) suggests characteristic which are typical of the disorder: the character Hedy had markedly disturbed sense of identity and reacts drastically to abandonment.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Multiple commenters have noted that Clementine in "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" (2004) shows classic borderline personality disorder behavior.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: In a review of the film "Shame" (2011) for the British journal "The Art of Psychiatry", another psychiatrist, Abby Seltzer, praises Carey Mulligan's portrayal of a character with the disorder even though it is never mentioned onscreen.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: Psychiatrists Eric Bui and Rachel Rodgers argue that the Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader character in the "Star Wars" films meets six of the nine diagnostic criteria; Bui also found Anakin a useful example to explain BPD to medical students. In particular, Bui points to the character's abandonment issues, uncertainty over his identity, and dissociative episodes.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: On television, The CW show "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" portrays the main character, played by Rachel Bloom, with borderline personality disorder, and Emma Stone's character in the Netflix miniseries "Maniac" is diagnosed with the disorder. Additionally, incestuous twins Cersei and Jaime Lannister, in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series and its television adaptation, "Game of Thrones", have traits of borderline and narcissistic personality disorders. In "The Sopranos" the character of Dr. Melfi diagnoses Livia Soprano with BPD and the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman, as portrayed in the show "Titans", is said to have it too.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: In early 2008, the United States House of Representatives declared the month of May Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month.


title: Borderline personality disorder

text: In 2020, South Korean singer-songwriter Lee Sunmi spoke out about her struggle with borderline personality disorder on the show "Running Mates", having been diagnosed 5 years prior.


title: Family Guy

text: Family Guy is an American animated sitcom conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children, Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog, Brian. Set in the fictional city of Quahog, Rhode Island, the show exhibits much of its humor in the form of metafictional cutaway gags that often lampoon American culture.


title: Family Guy

text: The family was conceived by MacFarlane after developing two animated films, "The Life of Larry" and "Larry & Steve". MacFarlane redesigned the films' protagonist, Larry, and his dog, Steve, and renamed them Peter and Brian, respectively. MacFarlane pitched a seven-minute pilot to Fox in December 1998, and the show was greenlit and began production. "Family Guy" cancellation was announced shortly after the third season had aired in 2002, with one unaired episode eventually premiering on Adult Swim in 2003, finishing the series' original run. Favorable DVD sales and high ratings from syndicated reruns since then convinced Fox to revive the show in 2004; a fourth season would begin airing the following year, on May 1, 2005.


title: Family Guy

text: Catherine Seipp of National Review Online described the show as a "nasty but extremely funny" cartoon. Caryn James of "The New York Times" called it a show with an "outrageously satirical family" that "includes plenty of comic possibilities and parodies". "The Sydney Morning Herald" named "Family Guy" the "Show of the Week" on April 21, 2009, hailing it a "pop culture-heavy masterpiece". "The New Yorker"s Nancy Franklin said that "Family Guy" is becoming one of the best animated shows; she commented on its ribaldry and popularity. IGN called "Family Guy" a great show, and added that it has gotten better since its revival. They stated that they cannot imagine another half-hour sitcom that provides as many laughs as "Family Guy". The series has been nominated for 12 Primetime Emmy Awards and 11 Annie Awards, and has won three of each. In 2009, it was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, the first time an animated series was nominated for the award since "The Flintstones" in 1961. In 2013, "TV Guide" ranked "Family Guy" the ninth Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time. The series has also attracted criticism and controversy for its characterization, cutaway gags, sexual content, antisemitism, racism, violence, sacrilegious humor and writing.


title: Family Guy

text: Many tie-in media have been released, including "", a straight-to-DVD special released in 2005; "", a soundtrack-DVD combo released in 2005, featuring music from the show as well as music created by MacFarlane and Walter Murphy; a video game and pinball machine, released in 2006 and 2007, respectively; since 2005, six books published by Harper Adult; and "" (2010), a collection of three episodes parodying the original "Star Wars" trilogy. A spin-off series, "The Cleveland Show", featuring Cleveland Brown, aired from September 27, 2009, to May 19, 2013. On May 11, 2020, Fox renewed the series for a nineteenth season. On September 23, 2020, Fox announced that the show would continue through a twenty-first season. The twenty-first season premiered on September 25, 2022 and will include the show's 400th episode. Currently, episodes of "Family Guy" have been broadcast.


title: Family Guy

text: The show revolves around the adventures and activities of the Griffin family, consisting of father Peter Griffin, a bumbling and clumsy yet well-intentioned blue-collar worker; Lois, a stay-at-home mother and piano teacher (in early episodes) who is a member of the affluent Pewterschmidt family; Meg, their often bullied and mistreated teenage daughter who is also constantly ridiculed or ignored by the family; Chris, their awkward teenage son, who is overweight, unintelligent, unathletic and, in many respects, is simply a younger version of his father; and Stewie, their diabolical infant son of ambiguous sexual orientation who is an adult-mannered evil genius and uses stereotypical archvillain phrases. Living with the family is their witty, smoking, martini-swilling, sarcastic, English-speaking anthropomorphic dog Brian, though he is still considered a pet in many ways.


title: Family Guy

text: Recurring characters appear alongside the Griffin family. These include the family's neighbors: sex-crazed airline pilot bachelor Quagmire; deli owner/mail carrier Cleveland and his wife Loretta (later Donna); paraplegic police officer Joe, his wife Bonnie, their son Kevin and their baby daughter Susie; neurotic Jewish pharmacist Mort, his wife Muriel, and their geeky and annoying son Neil; and elderly child molester Herbert. TV news anchors Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons, "Asian reporter" Tricia Takanawa, and "Blaccu-Weather" meteorologist Ollie Williams also make frequent appearances. Actor James Woods guest stars as himself in multiple episodes, as did Adam West, prior to his death.


title: Family Guy

text: The primary setting of "Family Guy" is Quahog ( [pron. ko-hog or kwo-hog]), a fictional city in Rhode Island that was founded by Peter's ancestor, Griffin Peterson. MacFarlane resided in Providence during his time as a student at Rhode Island School of Design, and the show contains distinct Rhode Island landmarks similar to real-world locations. MacFarlane often borrows the names of Rhode Island locations and icons such as Pawtucket and Buddy Cianci for use in the show. MacFarlane, in an interview with Providence's Fox affiliate WNAC-TV, stated that the town is modeled after Cranston, Rhode Island.


title: Family Guy

text: MacFarlane initially conceived "Family Guy" in 1995 while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). During college, he created his thesis film entitled "The Life of Larry", which was submitted by his professor at RISD to Hanna-Barbera. MacFarlane was hired by the company. In 1996 MacFarlane created a sequel to "The Life of Larry" entitled "Larry and Steve", which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve; the short was broadcast in 1997 as one of Cartoon Network's "World Premiere Toons".


title: Family Guy

text: Executives at Fox saw the "Larry" shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series, entitled "Family Guy", based on the characters. Fox proposed MacFarlane complete a 15-minute short, and gave him a budget of $50,000. Several aspects of "Family Guy" were inspired by the "Larry" shorts. While he worked on the series, the characters of Larry and his dog Steve slowly evolved into Peter and Brian. MacFarlane stated that the difference between "The Life of Larry" and "Family Guy" was that ""Life of Larry" was shown primarily in my dorm room and "Family Guy" was shown after the Super Bowl." After the pilot aired, the series was given the green light. MacFarlane drew inspiration from several sitcoms such as "The Simpsons" and "All in the Family". Premises were drawn from several 1980s Saturday-morning cartoons he watched as a child, such as "The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang" and "Rubik, the Amazing Cube".


title: Family Guy

text: The Griffin family first appeared on the demo that MacFarlane pitched to Fox on May 15, 1998. "Family Guy" was originally planned to start out as short movies for the sketch show "Mad TV", but the plan changed because "MADtv"s budget was not large enough to support animation production. MacFarlane noted that he then wanted to pitch it to Fox, as he thought that it was the place to create a prime-time animation show. "Family Guy" was originally pitched to Fox in the same year as "King of the Hill", but the show was not bought until years later, when "King of the Hill" became successful. Fox ordered 13 episodes of "Family Guy" to air in midseason after MacFarlane impressed executives with a 14-minute pilot.


title: Family Guy

text: MacFarlane has served as an executive producer during the show's entire history. The first executive producers were David Zuckerman, Lolee Aries, David Pritchard, and Mike Wolf. "Family Guy" has had many executive producers in its history, including Daniel Palladino, Kara Vallow, and Danny Smith. David A. Goodman joined the show as a co-executive producer in season three, and eventually became an executive producer.


title: Family Guy

text: The first team of writers assembled for the show consisted of Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith, Gary Janetti, Ricky Blitt, Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan, Matt Weitzman, and Mike Barker. The writing process of "Family Guy" generally starts with 14 writers that take turns writing the scripts; when a script is finished it is given to the rest of the writers to read. These scripts generally include cutaway gags. Various gags are pitched to MacFarlane and the rest of the staff, and those deemed funniest are included in the episode. MacFarlane has explained that normally it takes 10 months to produce an episode because the show uses hand-drawn animation. The show rarely comments on current events for this reason. The show's initial writers had never written for an animated show; and most came from live-action sitcoms.


title: Family Guy

text: MacFarlane explains that he is a fan of 1930s and 1940s radio programs, particularly the radio thriller anthology "Suspense", which led him to give early episodes ominous titles like "Death Has a Shadow" and "Mind Over Murder." MacFarlane explained that the team dropped the naming convention after individual episodes became hard to identify, and the novelty wore off. For the first few months of production, the writers shared one office, lent to them by the "King of the Hill" production crew.


title: Family Guy

text: Credited with 19 episodes, Steve Callaghan is the most prolific writer on the "Family Guy" staff. Many of the writers that have left the show have gone on to create or produce other successful series. Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan co-wrote 13 episodes for the NBC sitcom "Scrubs" during their eight-year run on the show, while also serving as co-producers and working their way up to executive producers. Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman left the show and went on to create the long-running and still ongoing adult animated series "American Dad!" MacFarlane is also a co-creator of "American Dad!" On November 4, 2013, it was announced that Barker had departed "American Dad!" during its run as well, after 10 seasons of serving as producer and co-showrunner over the series.


title: Family Guy

text: During the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, official production of the show halted for most of December 2007 and for various periods afterward. Fox continued producing episodes without MacFarlane's final approval, which he termed "a colossal dick move" in an interview with "Variety". Though MacFarlane refused to work on the show, his contract under Fox required him to contribute to any episodes it would subsequently produce. Production officially resumed after the end of the strike, with regularly airing episodes recommencing on February 17, 2008. According to MacFarlane, in 2009, it cost about $2 million to make an episode of "Family Guy".


title: Family Guy

text: During his September 2017 AMA on Reddit, MacFarlane revealed that he hadn't written for the show since 2010, focusing instead on production and voice acting.


title: Family Guy

text: "Family Guy" officially premiered after Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIII on January 31, 1999, with "Death Has a Shadow". The show debuted to 22 million viewers, and immediately generated controversy regarding its adult content. The show returned on April 11, 1999, with "I Never Met the Dead Man". "Family Guy" garnered decent ratings in Fox's 8:30 pm slot on Sunday, scheduled between "The Simpsons" and "The X-Files". At the end of its first season the show ranked at No. 33 in the Nielsen ratings, with 12.8 million households tuning in. The show launched its second season in a new time slot, Thursday at 9 pm, on September 23, 1999. "Family Guy" was pitted against NBC's "Frasier", and the series' ratings declined sharply. Subsequently, Fox removed "Family Guy" from its schedule, and began airing episodes irregularly. The show returned on March 7, 2000, at 8:30 pm on Tuesdays, where it was constantly beaten in the ratings by ABC's then-new breakout hit "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", coming in at No. 114 in the Nielsen ratings with 6.32 million households tuning in. Fox announced that the show had been canceled in May 2000, at the end of the second season. However, following a last-minute reprieve, on July 24, 2000, Fox ordered 13 additional episodes of "Family Guy" to form a third season.


title: Family Guy

text: The show returned on November 8, 2001, once again in a tough time slot: Thursday nights at 8:00 pm. This slot brought it into competition with "Survivor" and "Friends" (a situation that was later referenced in ""). During its second and third seasons, Fox frequently moved the show around to different days and time slots with little or no notice and, consequently, the show's ratings suffered. Upon Fox's annual unveiling of its 2002 fall line-up on May 15, 2002, "Family Guy" was absent. Fox announced that the show had been officially canceled shortly thereafter.


title: Family Guy

text: Fox attempted to sell the rights for reruns of the show, but finding networks that were interested was difficult; Cartoon Network eventually bought the rights, " basically for free", according to the president of 20th Century Fox Television. "Family Guy" premiered in reruns on Adult Swim on April 20, 2003, and immediately became the block's top-rated program, dominating late-night viewing in its time period versus cable and broadcast competition and boosting viewership by 239%. The complete first and second seasons were released on DVD the same week the show premiered on Adult Swim, and the show became a cult phenomenon, selling 400,000 copies within one month. Sales of the DVD set reached 2.2 million copies, becoming the best-selling television DVD of 2003 and the second-highest-selling television DVD ever, behind the first season of Comedy Central's "Chappelle's Show". The third-season DVD release also sold more than a million copies. The show's popularity in DVD sales and reruns rekindled Fox's interest, and, on May 20, 2004, Fox ordered 35 new episodes of "Family Guy", marking the first revival of a television show based on DVD sales.


title: Family Guy

text: "North by North Quahog", which premiered May 1, 2005, was the first episode to be broadcast after the show's hiatus. It was written by MacFarlane and directed by Peter Shin. MacFarlane believed the show's three-year hiatus was beneficial because animated shows do not normally have hiatuses, and towards the end of their seasons, "... you see a lot more sex jokes and "bodily function" jokes and signs of a fatigued staff that their brains are just fried". With "North by North Quahog", the writing staff tried to keep the show "[...] exactly as it was" before its cancellation, and "None of us had any desire to make it look any slicker". The episode was watched by 11.85 million viewers, the show's highest ratings since the airing of the first season episode "".


title: Family Guy

text: In March 2007, comedian Carol Burnett filed a $6 million lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, claiming that her charwoman cartoon character had been portrayed on the show without her permission. She stated it was a trademark infringement, and that Fox violated her publicity rights. On June 4, 2007, United States District Judge Dean D. Pregerson rejected the lawsuit, stating that the parody was protected under the First Amendment, citing "Hustler Magazine v. Falwell" as a precedent.


title: Family Guy

text: On October 3, 2007, Bourne Co. Music Publishers filed a lawsuit accusing the show of infringing its copyright on the song "When You Wish Upon a Star", through a parody song entitled "I Need a Jew" appearing in the episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein". Bourne Co., the sole United States copyright owner of the song, alleged the parody pairs a "thinly veiled" copy of its music with antisemitic lyrics. Named in the suit were 20th Century Fox Film Corp., Fox Broadcasting Co., Cartoon Network, MacFarlane and Murphy; the suit sought to stop the program's distribution and asked for unspecified damages. Bourne argued that "I Need a Jew" uses the copyrighted melody of "When You Wish Upon a Star" without commenting on that song, and that it was therefore not a First Amendment-protected parody per the ruling in "Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc." On March 16, 2009, United States District Judge Deborah Batts held that "Family Guy" did not infringe on Bourne's copyright when it transformed the song for comical use in an episode.


title: Family Guy

text: In December 2007, "Family Guy" was again accused of copyright infringement when actor Art Metrano filed a lawsuit regarding a scene in "", in which Jesus performs Metrano's signature "magic" act involving absurd "faux" magical hand gestures while humming the distinctive tune "Fine and Dandy". 20th Century Fox, MacFarlane, Callaghan and Borstein were all named in the suit. In July 2009, a federal district court judge rejected Fox's motion to dismiss, saying that the first three fair use factors involved – "purpose and character of the use", "nature of the infringed work" and "amount and substantiality of the taking" – counted in Metrano's favor, while the fourth – "economic impact" – had to await more fact-finding. In denying the dismissal, the court held that the reference in the scene made light of Jesus and his followers – not Metrano or his act.


title: Family Guy

text: Seth MacFarlane voices three of the show's main characters: Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Stewie Griffin. Since MacFarlane had a strong vision for these characters, he chose to voice them himself, believing it would be easier than for someone else to attempt it. MacFarlane drew inspiration for the voice of Peter from a security guard he overheard talking while attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Stewie's voice was based on the voice of English actor Rex Harrison, especially his performance in the 1964 musical drama film "My Fair Lady". MacFarlane uses his regular speaking voice when playing Brian. MacFarlane also provides the voices for various other recurring and one-time-only characters, most prominently those of the Griffins' neighbor Glenn Quagmire, news anchor Tom Tucker, and Lois' father, Carter Pewterschmidt.


title: Family Guy

text: Alex Borstein voices Peter's wife Lois Griffin, Asian correspondent Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown, and Lois' mother, Babs Pewterschmidt. Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the pilot while she was working on "MADtv". She had not met MacFarlane or seen any of his artwork, and said it was "really sight unseen". At the time, Borstein was performing in a stage show in Los Angeles. She played a redheaded mother whose voice she had based on one of her cousins.


title: Family Guy

text: Seth Green primarily voices Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman. Green stated that he did an impression of the character Buffalo Bill from the thriller film "The Silence of the Lambs" during his audition.


title: Family Guy

text: Mila Kunis and Lacey Chabert have both voiced Meg Griffin. Chabert left the series after the first season because of time conflicts with schoolwork (at the time) and her role on "Party of Five". When Kunis auditioned for the role, she was called back by MacFarlane, who instructed her to speak slower. He then told her to come back another time and enunciate more. Once she claimed that she had it under control, MacFarlane hired her. Archival recordings of Lacey Chabert's voice that she provided as Meg Griffin are used in the tenth season episode "Back to the Pilot" in which Brian and Stewie go back in time to the events of "Death Has a Shadow."


title: Family Guy

text: Mike Henry voices Herbert, Bruce the Performance Artist, Consuela, the Greased-up Deaf Guy, and until 2021, Cleveland Brown. Henry met MacFarlane at the Rhode Island School of Design, and kept in touch with him after they graduated. A few years later, MacFarlane contacted him about being part of the show; he agreed and came on as a writer and voice actor. During the show's first four seasons, he was credited as a guest star, but beginning with season five's "Prick Up Your Ears", he has been credited as a main cast member. On June 26, 2020, after twenty years of voicing the character, Mike Henry announced on Twitter that he was stepping down from voicing Cleveland, stating "persons of color should play characters of color." On September 25, 2020, it was announced that Arif Zahir would take over as the voice of Cleveland.


title: Family Guy

text: Other recurring cast members include Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson; Jennifer Tilly as Bonnie Swanson; John G. Brennan as Mort Goldman and Horace the bartender; Carlos Alazraqui as Jonathan Weed; Adam Carolla and Norm Macdonald as Death; Lori Alan as Diane Simmons; Phil LaMarr as Ollie Williams and Judge Dignified Q. Blackman, and Kevin Michael Richardson as Jerome. Fellow cartoonist Butch Hartman has made guest voice appearances in episodes as various characters. Also, writer Danny Smith voices various recurring characters, such as Ernie the Giant Chicken. Alexandra Breckenridge also appears as many various characters. Adam West appeared as the eponymous Mayor Adam West, until his death in 2017.


title: Family Guy

text: Episodes often feature guest voices from a wide range of professions, including actors, athletes, authors, bands, musicians, and scientists. Many guest voices star as themselves. Leslie Uggams was the first to appear as herself, in the fourth episode of the first season, "Mind Over Murder". The episode "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" guest starred the entire cast of "", including Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Wil Wheaton, Marina Sirtis, and even Denise Crosby (season 1 as Tasha Yar), playing themselves; this is the episode with the most guest stars of the seventh season.


title: Family Guy

text: The "Road to" episodes are a series of hallmark travel episodes. They are a parody of the seven "Road to..." comedy films starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. These episodes have always involved Stewie and Brian in some foreign, supernatural or science-fiction location, unrelated to the show's normal location in Quahog. The first, entitled "Road to Rhode Island", aired on May 30, 2000, during the second season. The episodes are known for featuring elaborate musical numbers, similar to the "Road" films. The episodes contain several trademarks, including a special version of the opening sequence, custom musical cues and musical numbers, and parodies of science fiction and fantasy films.


title: Family Guy

text: The original idea for the "Road to" episodes came from MacFarlane, as he is a fan of the films of Crosby, Hope and Dorothy Lamour. The first episode was directed by Dan Povenmire, who would direct the rest of the "Road to" episodes until the episode "Road to Rupert", at which point he had left the show to create "Phineas and Ferb" with Jeff "Swampy" Marsh. Series regular Greg Colton then took over Povenmire's role as director of the "Road to" episodes.


title: Family Guy

text: The "Road to" episodes are generally considered by critics and fans to be some of the greatest in the series, thanks to the developing relationship between Stewie and Brian and the strong plotlines of the episodes themselves.


title: Family Guy

text: "Family Guy" uses the film-making technique of cutaways, which occur in the majority of "Family Guy" episodes. Emphasis is often placed on gags which make reference to social phenomena and/or modern cultural icons.


title: Family Guy

text: Early episodes based much of their comedy on Stewie's "super villain" antics, such as his constant plans for total world domination, his evil experiments, plans and inventions to get rid of things he dislikes, and his constant attempts at matricide. As the series progressed, the writers and MacFarlane agreed that his personality and the jokes were starting to feel dated, so they began writing him with a different personality. "Family Guy" often includes self-referential humor. The most common form is jokes about Fox Broadcasting, and occasions where the characters break the fourth wall by addressing the audience. For example, in "North by North Quahog", the first episode that aired after the show's revival, included Peter telling the family that they had been canceled because Fox had to make room in their schedule for shows like "Dark Angel", "Titus", "Undeclared", "Action", "That '80s Show", "Wonderfalls", "Fastlane", "Andy Richter Controls the Universe", "Skin", "Girls Club", "Cracking Up", "The Pitts", "Firefly", "Get Real", "FreakyLinks", "Wanda at Large", "Costello", "The Lone Gunmen", "A Minute with Stan Hooper", "Normal, Ohio", "Pasadena", "Harsh Realm", "Keen Eddie", "The $treet", "The American Embassy", "Cedric the Entertainer Presents", "The Tick", "Luis" and "Greg the Bunny". Lois asks whether there is any hope, to which Peter replies that if all these shows are canceled they might have a chance; the shows were indeed canceled during "Family Guy"s hiatus.


title: Family Guy

text: The show uses catchphrases, and most of the primary and secondary characters have them. Notable expressions include Quagmire's "Giggity giggity goo", Peter's "Freakin' sweet", Cleveland's "Oh, that's nasty", and Joe's "Bring it on!" The use of many of these catchphrases declined in later seasons. The episode "Big Man on Hippocampus" mocks catchphrase-based humor: when Peter, who has forgotten everything about his life, is introduced to Meg, he exclaims "D'oh!", to which Lois replies, "No, Peter, that's not your catchphrase."


title: Family Guy

text: In 2016, a "New York Times" study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that like other satirical comedies, "Family Guy" "is most popular in cities. The show's popularity was more correlated with support for Hillary Clinton than any other show". As of 2008, the franchise has generated in total revenue, including from TV syndication, from DVD sales, and from merchandise sales.


title: Family Guy

text: "Family Guy" has received generally positive reviews particularly for its pop culture references, blue humor, satire, and non-sequitur storytelling. Catherine Seipp of National Review Online described it as a "nasty but extremely funny" cartoon. Caryn James of "The New York Times" called it a show with an "outrageously satirical family" that "includes plenty of comic possibilities and parodies". "The Sydney Morning Herald" named "Family Guy" the "Show of the Week" on April 21, 2009, hailing it a "pop culture-heavy masterpiece". Frazier Moore from "The Seattle Times" called it an "endless craving for humor about bodily emissions". He thought it was "breathtakingly smart" and said a "blend of the ingenious with the raw helps account for its much broader appeal". He summarized it as "rude, crude and deliciously wrong". "The New Yorker"s Nancy Franklin said that "Family Guy" is becoming one of the best animated shows; she commented on its ribaldry and popularity. The show has become a hit on Hulu; it is the second-highest viewed show after "Saturday Night Live". IGN called "Family Guy" a great show, and commented that it has gotten better since its revival. They stated that they cannot imagine another half-hour sitcom that provides as many laughs as "Family Guy". "Empire" praised the show and its writers for creating really hilarious moments with unlikely material. They commented that one of the reasons they love the show is because nothing is sacred—it makes jokes and gags of almost everything. Robin Pierson of "The TV Critic" praised the series as "a different kind of animated comedy which clearly sets out to do jokes which other cartoons can't do." "Family Guy" has proven popular in the United Kingdom, regularly obtaining between 700,000 and 1 million viewers for re-runs on BBC Three.


title: Family Guy

text: The series has attracted many celebrities. Robert Downey Jr. telephoned the show production staff and asked if he could produce or assist in an episode's creation, as his son is a fan of the show; the producers subsequently created a character for Downey. Lauren Conrad met MacFarlane while recording a "" clip for the episode "Prick Up Your Ears" (season 5, 2006). She has watched "Family Guy" for years and considers Stewie her favorite character. Commenting on his appearance in the episode "Big Man on Hippocampus" (season 8, 2010), actor Dwayne Johnson stated that he was a "big fan" of "Family Guy". Johnson befriended MacFarlane after he had a minor role in Johnson's 2010 film "Tooth Fairy". R&B singer Rihanna has admitted to being a fan of "Family Guy", as has pop singer Britney Spears; she tries to imitate Stewie's English accent. Spears, who was mocked for her personal problems in the "South Park" episode "Britney's New Look" in 2008, offered to appear in a cameo to hit back at the similar animated show, but MacFarlane declined, stating that he did not want to start a feud with the series.


title: Family Guy

text: "Family Guy" and its cast have been nominated for 27 Emmy Awards, with 8 wins. MacFarlane won the Outstanding Voice-Over Performance award for his performance as Stewie; Murphy and MacFarlane won the Outstanding Music and Lyrics award for the song "You Got a Lot to See" from the episode "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows"; Steven Fonti won the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation award for his storyboard work in the episode "No Chris Left Behind"; and Greg Colton won the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation award for his storyboard work in the episode "Road to the Multiverse". The show was nominated for eleven Annie Awards, and won three times, twice in 2006 and once in 2008. In 2009, it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, becoming the first animated program to be nominated in this category since "The Flintstones" in 1961. "The Simpsons" was almost nominated in 1993, but voters were hesitant to pit cartoons against live action programs. The show was nominated for a Grammy in 2011. "Family Guy" has been nominated and has won various other awards, including the Teen Choice Awards and the People's Choice Awards. In the 1,000th issue of "Entertainment Weekly", Brian Griffin was selected as the dog for "The Perfect TV Family"." Wizard Magazine" rated Stewie the 95th-greatest villain of all time. British newspaper "The Times" rated "Family Guy" as the 45th-best American show in 2009. IGN ranked "Family Guy" at number seven in the "Top 100 Animated Series" and number six in the "Top 25 Primetime Animated Series of All Time". "Empire" named it the twelfth-greatest TV show of all time in 2008. In 2005 viewers of the UK television channel Channel 4 voted "Family Guy" at number 5 on their list of the 100 Greatest Cartoons. Brian was awarded the 2009 Stoner of the Year award by "High Times" for the episode "420", marking the first time an animated character received the honor. In 2004 and 2007, TV Guide ranked "Family Guy" number 12 and number 15 in their list of top cult shows ever. "Family Guy" has garnered six Golden Reel Awards nominations, winning three times. In 2013, TV Guide ranked "Family Guy" the ninth Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time.


title: Family Guy

text: One of the initial critics to give the show negative reviews was Ken Tucker from "Entertainment Weekly"; he called it ""The Simpsons" as conceived by a singularly sophomoric mind that lacks any reference point beyond other TV shows". The Parents Television Council (PTC), a conservative non-profit watchdog, has attacked the series since its premiere and has branded various episodes as "Worst TV Show of the Week". In May 2000, the PTC launched a letter-writing campaign to the Fox network in an effort to persuade the network to cancel the show. The PTC has placed the show on their annual lists of "Worst Prime-Time Shows for Family Viewing" in 2000, 2005, and 2006. The Federal Communications Commission has received multiple petitions requesting that the show be blocked from broadcasting on indecency grounds. Tucker and the PTC have both accused the show of portraying religion negatively, and of being racist. Because of the PTC, some advertisers have canceled their contracts after reviewing the content of the episodes, claiming it to be unsuitable. Critics have compared the show's humor and characters with those of "The Simpsons".


title: Family Guy

text: Various episodes of the show have generated controversy. In "420" (season seven, 2009) Brian decides to start a campaign to legalize cannabis in Quahog; the Venezuelan government reacted negatively to the episode and banned "Family Guy" from airing on their local networks, which generally syndicate American programming. Venezuelan justice minister Tareck El Aissami, citing the promotion of the use of cannabis, stated that any cable stations that did not stop airing the series would be fined; the government showed a clip which featured Brian and Stewie singing the praises of marijuana as a demonstration of how the United States supports cannabis use. In "Extra Large Medium" (season eight, 2010) a character named Ellen (who has Down syndrome) states that her mother is the former Governor of Alaska, which strongly implies that her mother is Sarah Palin, the only woman to have served in the office of governor in the state. Sarah Palin, the mother of a child with Down syndrome, criticized the episode in an appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor", calling those who made the show "cruel, cold-hearted people."


title: Family Guy

text: In the United States, the show currently airs on FX, FXX, Freeform, and The CW in some regions. The show was syndicated to Adult Swim and TBS from 2003 to 2021, sharing the rights to the first fifteen seasons. In April 2019, FX Networks began airing reruns of season 16 on FXX, with season 17 debuting that October, and shared off-network rights to both seasons with sister channel Freeform. After Adult Swim and TBS' rights expired on September 18, 2021, FXX and Freeform began airing the first fifteen seasons. The show also joined FX's lineup that month. These deals did not affect the syndication rights held by local broadcast stations. The series is available for streaming exclusively on Hulu.


title: Family Guy

text: The show's departure from Adult Swim on September 18, 2021, was commemorated with a remembrance bumper created by the network, which played after the final airing (the episode "Stewie is Enceinte"). The bumper showed animations of several Adult Swim characters bidding farewell to "Family Guy", including shots of Peter crying at the beginning and the Griffin family waving goodbye towards the end.


title: Family Guy

text: Internationally "Family Guy" is available to stream on Star on Disney+, except in Latin America, where the series is exclusively available on the standalone service Star+.


title: Family Guy

text: "Family Guy" premiered in Australia on April 9, 1999, on the Seven Network, in 2000 on Fox8, and on 7mate on September 27, 2010. Initially, only 2 seasons were available to stream on Disney+ Star due to pre existing contracts. The other 17 seasons were added on December 1, 2021, after the contract expired.


title: Family Guy

text: In Canada, the series premiered January 31, 1999 on Global and September 1, 2003, on Teletoon at Night. Beginning in the 2015–2016 season, the show moved to Citytv. Starting in November 2021, the series moved to Disney+. In addition to Teletoon at Night, the show has been syndicated to TVtropolis (now DTour), Adult Swim Canada, and FX Canada.


title: Family Guy

text: In the United Kingdom, "Family Guy" premiered in September 1999, originally on Channel 4 and Sky One. In January 2005, Fox UK (then known as FX) began broadcasting the show. From October 2005, BBC Two started screening "Family Guy" before the show moved to BBC Three in September 2006. Beginning with season 14, the show moved to ITV2, premiering on February 29, 2016, while the BBC would continue to hold the rights for past seasons until 2017.


title: Family Guy

text: Family Guy: It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One was written by executive story editor Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and actress Alex Borstein. The book was first published on May 8, 2007. The book is a biographical monologue by Lois Griffin covering a portion of her life spanning from her memories of growing up to her attempted run for mayor in the town of Quahog. Though the book primarily consists of a loose narrative monologue by Lois, it is also interspersed with sections from other characters such as Peter Griffin. The book covers events featured in the "Family Guy" episode "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", with which it shares a title. It was published in the United Kingdom in 2007 by Orion Books.


title: Family Guy

text: A comic book based on the "Family Guy" universe was produced. Published by Titan Comics, edited by Steve White, and illustrated by Anthony Williams and S. L. Gallant, the writing and the illustrations was supervised by the show's producers. The first comic book was released on July 27, 2011.


title: Family Guy

text: As promotion for the show and as Newman described "[to] expand interest in the show beyond its diehard fans", Fox organized four "Family Guy Live!" performances, which featured cast members reading old episodes aloud. The cast also performed musical numbers from the "" comedy album. The stage shows were an extension of a performance by the cast during the 2004 Montreal Comedy Festival. The "Family Guy Live!" performances, which took place in Los Angeles and New York, sold out and were attended by around 1,200 people each.


title: Family Guy

text: At the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 2007, MacFarlane performed (as the digitally inserted Stewie and Brian) the ceremony's opening number. He performed a song insulting modern television to the tune of the song "The Fellas At The Freakin' F.C.C." performed in the episode "PTV". The song insulted TV shows such as "Two and a Half Men", "Desperate Housewives", and "Scrubs", as well as the final scene of "The Sopranos".


title: Family Guy

text: In 2009, a special televised performance show aired entitled "Family Guy Presents Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show", in which voice actors Alex Borstein and MacFarlane performed songs from the show, as well as a parody of Lady Gaga's song "Poker Face" in the voice of Marlee Matlin, who appeared on stage as a guest during the performance. Some new animated gags also appeared in the show.


title: Family Guy

text: In a July 22, 2007 interview with "The Hollywood Reporter", MacFarlane announced that he may start working on a feature film, although "nothing's official." In "TV Week" on July 18, 2008, MacFarlane confirmed plans to produce a theatrically released "Family Guy" feature film sometime "within the next year." He came up with an idea for the story, "something that you could not do on the show, which [to him] is the only reason to do a movie." He later went on to say he imagines the film to be "an old-style musical with dialogue" similar to "The Sound of Music", saying that he would "really be trying to capture, musically, that feel." On October 13, 2011, MacFarlane confirmed that a deal for a "Family Guy" film had been made, and that it would be written by himself and series co-producer Ricky Blitt.


title: Family Guy

text: On November 30, 2012, MacFarlane confirmed plans to produce a "Family Guy" film. The project was put on hold while MacFarlane worked on "Ted 2".


title: Family Guy

text: On August 10, 2018, Fox announced that a live-action/animated film based on the series is in development.


title: Family Guy

text: MacFarlane co-created—alongside Mike Henry and Richard Appel—the "Family Guy" spin-off "The Cleveland Show", which premiered September 27, 2009. They began discussing the project in 2007.


title: Family Guy

text: The "Family Guy Video Game!" is a 2006 action game released by 2K Games and developed by High Voltage Software.


title: Family Guy

text: "", which is centered around the episode "Road to the Multiverse", was released on November 20, 2012.


title: Family Guy

text: "", a card game with content and characters from five animated television shows from Fox – "Family Guy", "Futurama", "American Dad!", "Bob's Burgers" and "King of the Hill" – was released in 2016 by Kongregate.


title: Family Guy

text: "Warped Kart Racers" is a racing game that was released on Apple Arcade in May 2022. The game features the entire Griffin family, and includes characters from "American Dad!", "King of the Hill" and "Solar Opposites".


title: Family Guy

text: As of 2009, six books have been released about the "Family Guy" universe, all published by HarperCollins since 2005. The first, "" () by Steve Callahan, was released on April 26, 2005. Written in the style of a graphic novel, the plot follows Stewie's plans to rule the world. Other books include "" (), which covers the events of the episode of the same name; and "Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure for the Petarded" (), a collection of 17 essays exploring the connections between the series and historical philosophers. A book written from Brian's point of view (written by Andrew Goldberg) was published in 2006, called "Brian Griffin's Guide to Booze, Broads and the Lost Art of Being a Man".


title: Family Guy

text: "Family Guy" has been commercially successful in the home market. The show was the first to be resurrected because of high DVD sales. The first volume, covering the show's first two seasons, sold 1.67 million units, topping TV DVD sales in 2003, while the second volume sold another million units. Volumes six and seven debuted at fifth place in United States DVD sales; volume seven was the highest-selling television DVD, selling 171,000 units by June 21, 2009. "Family Guy Presents Blue Harvest", the DVD featuring the "Star Wars" special "Blue Harvest", was released on January 15, 2008, and premiered at the top of United States DVD sales. The DVD was the first "Family Guy" DVD to include a digital copy for download to the iPod. In 2004, the first series of "Family Guy" toy figurines was released by Mezco Toyz; each member of the Griffin family had their own toy, with the exception of Stewie, of whom two different figures were made. Over the course of two years, four more series of toy figures were released, with various forms of Peter. In 2008, the character Peter appeared in advertisements for Subway Restaurants, promoting the restaurant's massive feast sandwich.


title: Hinduism

text: Hinduism () is an Indian religion or "dharma", a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global population, known as Hindus. The word "Hindu" is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as "Sanātana Dharma" (), a modern usage, which refers to the idea that its origins lie beyond human history, as revealed in the Hindu texts. Another endonym is "Vaidika dharma", the dharma related to the Vedas.


title: Hinduism

text: Hinduism is a diverse system of thought marked by a range of philosophies and shared concepts, rituals, cosmological systems, pilgrimage sites, and shared textual sources that discuss theology, metaphysics, mythology, Vedic yajna, yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life; namely, dharma (ethics/duties), artha (prosperity/work), kama (desires/passions) and moksha (liberation/freedom from the passions and the cycle of death and rebirth), as well as karma (action, intent and consequences) and saṃsāra (cycle of death and rebirth). Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings ("Ahiṃsā"), patience, forbearance, self-restraint, virtue, and compassion, among others. Hindu practices include worship (puja), fire rituals (homa/havan), recitations (pravachan), devotion (bhakti), chanting (japa), meditation (dhyāna), sacrifice (yajña), charity (dāna), selfless service (sevā), homage to one's ancestors (śrāddha), family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals, and occasional pilgrimages (yatra). Along with the practice of various yogas, some Hindus leave their social world and material possessions and engage in lifelong Sannyasa (monasticism) in order to achieve moksha.


title: Hinduism

text: Hindu texts are classified into Śruti ("heard") and Smṛti ("remembered"), the major scriptures of which are the "Vedas", the "Upanishads", the "Purānas", the "Mahābhārata", the "Rāmāyana", and the "Āgamas". There are six āstika schools of Hindu philosophy, who recognise the authority of the Vedas, namely Sānkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaisheshika, Mimāmsā and Vedānta. While the Puranic chronology presents a genealogy of thousands of years, starting with the Vedic "rishis", scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of Brahmanical orthopraxy with various Indian cultures, having diverse roots and no specific founder. This Hindu synthesis emerged after the Vedic period, between c. 500–200 BCE and c. 300 CE, in the period of the Second Urbanisation and the early classical period of Hinduism, when the Epics and the first Purānas were composed. It flourished in the medieval period, with the decline of Buddhism in India.


title: Hinduism

text: Currently, the four major denominations of Hinduism are Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and the Smarta tradition. Sources of authority and eternal truths in the Hindu texts play an important role, but there is also a strong Hindu tradition of questioning authority in order to deepen the understanding of these truths and to further develop the tradition. Hinduism is the most widely professed faith in India, Nepal, Mauritius and in Bali, Indonesia. Significant numbers of Hindu communities are found in other countries of South Asia, in Southeast Asia, in the Caribbean, Gulf states, North America, Europe, Oceania, Africa, and other regions.


title: Hinduism

text: The word "Hindū" is derived from Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit root "Sindhu", believed to be the name of the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent.


title: Hinduism

text: The Proto-Iranian sound change "*s" > "h" occurred between 850 and 600 BCE, according to Asko Parpola. According to Gavin Flood, "The actual term "Hindu" first occurs as a Persian geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus (Sanskrit: "Sindhu")", more specifically in the 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I (550–486 BCE). The term "Hindu" in these ancient records is a geographical term and did not refer to a religion. Thapar states that the word "Hindu" is found as "heptahindu" in Avesta – equivalent to Rigvedic "sapta sindhu", while "hndstn" (pronounced "Hindustan") is found in a Sasanian inscription from the 3rd century CE, both of which refer to parts of northwestern South Asia. In Arabic texts, "al-Hind" referred to the land beyond the Indus and therefore, all the people in that land were Hindus. This Arabic term was itself taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term "Hindū". By the 13th century, "Hindustan" emerged as a popular alternative name of India, meaning the "land of Hindus".


title: Hinduism

text: Among the earliest known records of 'Hindu' with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text "Record of the Western Regions" by Xuanzang, and 14th-century Persian text "Futuhu's-salatin" by 'Abd al-Malik Isami. Some 16-18th century Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava texts mention "Hindu" and "Hindu dharma" to distinguish from Muslims without positively defining these terms. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The use of the English term "Hinduism" to describe a collection of practices and beliefs is a fairly recent construction. According to Singh, it was first used by Raja Ram Mohan Roy in 1816–17. According to other authors, the term "Hinduism" was coined in around 1830, and appropriated by those Indians who opposed British colonialism, and who wanted to distinguish themselves from Muslims and Christians. Before the British began to categorise communities strictly by religion, Indians generally did not define themselves exclusively through their religious beliefs; instead identities were largely segmented on the basis of locality, language, varṇa, jāti, occupation, and sect. This the British colonisers did roughly in the 19th century to evolve a common law to facilitate governance.


title: Hinduism

text: Hinduism includes a diversity of ideas on spirituality and traditions, but has no ecclesiastical order, no unquestionable religious authorities, no governing body, no prophet(s) nor any binding holy book; Hindus can choose to be polytheistic, pantheistic, panentheistic, pandeistic, henotheistic, monotheistic, monistic, agnostic, atheistic or humanist. According to Doniger, "ideas about all the major issues of faith and lifestyle – vegetarianism, nonviolence, belief in rebirth, even caste – are subjects of debate, not dogma."


title: Hinduism

text: Because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion "defies our desire to define and categorize it". Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and "a way of life". From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion. In India, the term "dharma" is preferred, which is broader than the Western term "religion".


title: Hinduism

text: The study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of "Hinduism", has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, and have also been taken over by critics of the Western view on India.


title: Hinduism

text: Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents. Of the historical division into six darsanas (philosophies), two schools, Vedanta and Yoga, are currently the most prominent. Classified by primary deity or deities, four major Hinduism modern currents are Shaivism (Shiva), Vaishnavism (Vishnu), Shaktism (Devi) and Smartism (five deities treated as equals). Hinduism also accepts numerous divine beings, with many Hindus considering the deities to be aspects or manifestations of a single impersonal absolute or ultimate reality or God, while some Hindus maintain that a specific deity represents the supreme and various deities are lower manifestations of this supreme. Other notable characteristics include a belief in the existence of ātman (Self), reincarnation of one's ātman, and karma as well as a belief in dharma (duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and right way of living), although variation exists, with some not following these beliefs.


title: Hinduism

text: McDaniel (2007) classifies Hinduism into six major kinds and numerous minor kinds, in order to understand the expression of emotions among the Hindus. The major kinds, according to McDaniel are Folk Hinduism, based on local traditions and cults of local deities and is the oldest, non-literate system; Vedic Hinduism based on the earliest layers of the Vedas traceable to 2nd millennium BCE; Vedantic Hinduism based on the philosophy of the Upanishads, including Advaita Vedanta, emphasizing knowledge and wisdom; Yogic Hinduism, following the text of Yoga Sutras of Patanjali emphasizing introspective awareness; Dharmic Hinduism or "daily morality", which McDaniel states is stereotyped in some books as the "only form of Hindu religion with a belief in karma, cows and caste"; and bhakti or devotional Hinduism, where intense emotions are elaborately incorporated in the pursuit of the spiritual.


title: Hinduism

text: Michaels distinguishes three Hindu religions and four forms of Hindu religiosity. The three Hindu religions are "Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism", "folk religions and tribal religions", and "founded religions". The four forms of Hindu religiosity are the classical "karma-marga", jnana-marga, bhakti-marga, and "heroism", which is rooted in militaristic traditions. These militaristic traditions include Ramaism (the worship of a hero of epic literature, Rama, believing him to be an incarnation of Vishnu) and parts of political Hinduism. "Heroism" is also called virya-marga. According to Michaels, one out of nine Hindu belongs by birth to one or both of the Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism and Folk religion typology, whether practicing or non-practicing. He classifies most Hindus as belonging by choice to one of the "founded religions" such as Vaishnavism and Shaivism that are moksha-focussed and often de-emphasize Brahman priestly authority yet incorporate ritual grammar of Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism. He includes among "founded religions" Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism that are now distinct religions, syncretic movements such as Brahmo Samaj and the Theosophical Society, as well as various "Guru-isms" and new religious movements such as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and ISKCON.


title: Hinduism

text: Inden states that the attempt to classify Hinduism by typology started in the imperial times, when proselytizing missionaries and colonial officials sought to understand and portray Hinduism from their interests. Hinduism was construed as emanating not from a reason of spirit but fantasy and creative imagination, not conceptual but symbolical, not ethical but emotive, not rational or spiritual but of cognitive mysticism. This stereotype followed and fit, states Inden, with the imperial imperatives of the era, providing the moral justification for the colonial project. From tribal Animism to Buddhism, everything was subsumed as part of Hinduism. The early reports set the tradition and scholarly premises for the typology of Hinduism, as well as the major assumptions and flawed presuppositions that have been at the foundation of Indology. Hinduism, according to Inden, has been neither what imperial religionists stereotyped it to be, nor is it appropriate to equate Hinduism to be merely the monist pantheism and philosophical idealism of Advaita Vedanta.


title: Hinduism

text: To its adherents, Hinduism is a traditional way of life. Many practitioners refer to the "orthodox" form of Hinduism as "", "the eternal law" or the "eternal way". Hindus regard Hinduism to be thousands of years old. The Puranic chronology, the timeline of events in ancient Indian history as narrated in the Mahabaratha, the Ramayana, and the Puranas, envisions a chronology of events related to Hinduism starting well before 3000 BCE. The Sanskrit word "dharma" has a much broader meaning than "religion" and is not its equivalent. All aspects of a Hindu life, namely acquiring wealth (artha), fulfillment of desires (kama), and attaining liberation (moksha), are part of dharma, which encapsulates the "right way of living" and eternal harmonious principles in their fulfillment.


title: Hinduism

text: According to the editors of the Encyclopædia Britannica, "" historically referred to the "eternal" duties religiously ordained in Hinduism, duties such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings ("ahiṃsā"), purity, goodwill, mercy, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, generosity, and asceticism. These duties applied regardless of a Hindu's class, caste, or sect, and they contrasted with svadharma, one's "own duty", in accordance with one's class or caste (varṇa) and stage in life (puruṣārtha). In recent years, the term has been used by Hindu leaders, reformers, and nationalists to refer to Hinduism. Sanatana dharma has become a synonym for the "eternal" truth and teachings of Hinduism, that transcend history and are "unchanging, indivisible and ultimately nonsectarian".


title: Hinduism

text: According to other scholars such as Kim Knott and Brian Hatcher, Sanātana Dharma refers to "timeless, eternal set of truths" and this is how Hindus view the origins of their religion. It is viewed as those eternal truths and tradition with origins beyond human history, truths divinely revealed (Shruti) in the Vedas – the most ancient of the world's scriptures. To many Hindus, the Western term "religion" to the extent it means "dogma and an institution traceable to a single founder" is inappropriate for their tradition, states Hatcher. Hinduism, to them, is a tradition that can be traced at least to the ancient Vedic era.


title: Hinduism

text: Some have referred to Hinduism as the "Vaidika dharma". The word 'Vaidika' in Sanskrit means 'derived from or conformable to the Veda' or 'relating to the Veda'. Traditional scholars employed the terms Vaidika and Avaidika, those who accept the Vedas as a source of authoritative knowledge and those who do not, to differentiate various Indian schools from Jainism, Buddhism and Charvaka. According to Klaus Klostermaier, the term Vaidika dharma is the earliest self-designation of Hinduism. According to Arvind Sharma, the historical evidence suggests that "the Hindus were referring to their religion by the term "vaidika dharma" or a variant thereof" by the 4th-century CE. According to Brian K. Smith, "[i]t is 'debatable at the very least' as to whether the term "Vaidika Dharma" cannot, with the proper concessions to historical, cultural, and ideological specificity, be comparable to and translated as 'Hinduism' or 'Hindu religion'."


title: Hinduism

text: Whatever the case, many Hindu religious sources see persons or groups which they consider as non-Vedic (and which reject Vedic varṇāśrama - 'caste and life stage' orthodoxy) as being heretics (pāṣaṇḍa/pākhaṇḍa). For example, the "Bhāgavata Purāṇa," an extremely influential Hindu Puranic source, considers Buddhists, Jains as well as some Shaiva groups like the Paśupatas and Kāpālins to be pāṣaṇḍas (heretics).


title: Hinduism

text: According to Alexis Sanderson, the early Sanskrit texts differentiate between Vaidika, Vaishnava, Shaiva, Shakta, Saura, Buddhist and Jaina traditions. However, the late 1st-millennium CE Indic consensus had "indeed come to conceptualize a complex entity corresponding to Hinduism as opposed to Buddhism and Jainism excluding only certain forms of antinomian Shakta-Shaiva" from its fold. Some in the Mimamsa school of Hindu philosophy considered the "Agamas" such as the Pancaratrika to be invalid because it did not conform to the Vedas. Some Kashmiri scholars rejected the esoteric tantric traditions to be a part of Vaidika dharma. The Atimarga Shaivism ascetic tradition, datable to about 500 CE, challenged the Vaidika frame and insisted that their Agamas and practices were not only valid, they were superior than those of the Vaidikas. However, adds Sanderson, this Shaiva ascetic tradition viewed themselves as being genuinely true to the Vedic tradition and "held unanimously that the Śruti and Smṛti of Brahmanism are universally and uniquely valid in their own sphere, [...] and that as such they [Vedas] are man's sole means of valid knowledge [...]".


title: Hinduism

text: The term Vaidika dharma means a code of practice that is "based on the Vedas", but it is unclear what "based on the Vedas" really implies, states Julius Lipner. The Vaidika dharma or "Vedic way of life", states Lipner, does not mean "Hinduism is necessarily religious" or that Hindus have a universally accepted "conventional or institutional meaning" for that term. To many, it is as much a cultural term. Many Hindus do not have a copy of the Vedas nor have they ever seen or personally read parts of a Veda, like a Christian, might relate to the Bible or a Muslim might to the Quran. Yet, states Lipner, "this does not mean that their [Hindus] whole life's orientation cannot be traced to the Vedas or that it does not in some way derive from it".


title: Hinduism

text: Though many religious Hindus implicitly acknowledge the authority of the Vedas, this acknowledgment is often "no more than a declaration that someone considers himself [or herself] a Hindu," and "most Indians today pay lip service to the Veda and have no regard for the contents of the text." Some Hindus challenge the authority of the Vedas, thereby implicitly acknowledging its importance to the history of Hinduism, states Lipner.


title: Hinduism

text: Beginning in the 19th century, Indian modernists re-asserted Hinduism as a major asset of Indian civilisation, meanwhile "purifying" Hinduism from its Tantric elements and elevating the Vedic elements. Western stereotypes were reversed, emphasizing the universal aspects, and introducing modern approaches of social problems. This approach had a great appeal, not only in India, but also in the west. Major representatives of "Hindu modernism" are Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Mahatma Gandhi.


title: Hinduism

text: Raja Rammohan Roy is known as the father of the Hindu Renaissance. He was a major influence on Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902), who, according to Flood, was "a figure of great importance in the development of a modern Hindu self-understanding and in formulating the West's view of Hinduism". Central to his philosophy is the idea that the divine exists in all beings, that all human beings can achieve union with this "innate divinity", and that seeing this divine as the essence of others will further love and social harmony. According to Vivekananda, there is an essential unity to Hinduism, which underlies the diversity of its many forms. According to Flood, Vivekananda's vision of Hinduism "is one generally accepted by most English-speaking middle-class Hindus today". Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan sought to reconcile western rationalism with Hinduism, "presenting Hinduism as an essentially rationalistic and humanistic religious experience".


title: Hinduism

text: This "Global Hinduism" has a worldwide appeal, transcending national boundaries and, according to Flood, "becoming a world religion alongside Christianity, Islam and Buddhism", both for the Hindu diaspora communities and for westerners who are attracted to non-western cultures and religions. It emphasizes universal spiritual values such as social justice, peace and "the spiritual transformation of humanity". It has developed partly due to "re-enculturation", or the Pizza effect, in which elements of Hindu culture have been exported to the West, gaining popularity there, and as a consequence also gained greater popularity in India. This globalization of Hindu culture brought "to the West teachings which have become an important cultural force in western societies, and which in turn have become an important cultural force in India, their place of origin".


title: Hinduism

text: The definition of Hinduism in Indian Law is: "Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence; recognition of the fact that the means or ways to Moksha are diverse; and realization of the truth that the number of gods to be worshipped is large".