Having dealt with therapists and therapy for quite a few years to get help with depression, I have heard this diagnosis more than once.

This one time, I went to a psychiatrist for meds and he kept me waiting more than 1 hour. When I finally got in the office, I complained. He said, "this is part of my method. You don't like it, go elsewhere." I said, "well that's a bit arrogant don't you think?" and he wrote something down on his pad. I said, "did you just write that down?" and he said, "I wrote down that you have borderline personality disorder!!!"

That... uh.... guy.. got sued recently for overprescribing adderal and other amphetamines, and I don't think he's in practice anymore though.

Another time, I got kept on a 72 hour hold for suicidal thoughts and had all these horrible conversations with a first-year med student about my supposed "narcissistic and borderline personality disorder." I have no idea where she got that idea I have NPD, as most of my therapy to date has focused around trying to make me more assertive and confident. I forgive her. But it freaked me out.

The third time I heard this diagnosis of "borderline traits" was recently from a qualified therapist, who is... guess what... an expert in BPD. I sought him out specifically to find out if there was ANY truth to this diagnosis, plus I'm willing to be open minded if it's true. He gave me a very scary diagnostic process that included cursing me out and saying angrily, "you have personality issues,' and based on my reactions to that, diagnosed me with "maybe borderline traits."

Honestly if you are of a certain age, category, and personality, and piss a mental health provider off, that is one way to getting that diagnosis.

The other route though is having issues with self injury, impulsive behavior, chronic suicidal thoughts, relationship problems, eating disorders or another issue, and working closely with a T/ pdoc to remedy that.

I hope you are able to follow path #2! This diagnosis might really apply to you, it might not, but please don't see it as something to label you. It is for your possible benefit, and yours only.