Hey Moth-fly,

What I write below is not meant to hurt your feelings. I just want to plant seeds in your head now that you are on a new road to recovery.

I am glad you are self-aware enough to realize the tendency to self-diagnose. Just remember that we are not our illness. Borderline Personality Disorder is merely a description of symptomatology and therefore, only useful as an effective blueprint for prognosis and or choosing effective treatment options / modalities. Unfortunately a lot of ignorant types like to think of mental illness as a branding that never goes away - which unfortunately leads to stigma and terrible atrocities of injustice. For the sake of sparing yourself potential harm from professionals, family, friends and love ones: come to understand that you are simply an individual who experiences a set of criteria listed in Borderline Personality Disorder. You are not intrinsically Borderline Personality Disorder... Remember that.

Try not to attach yourself to the illness. We humans like to attach to whatever is comfortable and make sense... Although the diagnosis fits and we can make sense of our past and current behavior - we must not befuddle our ability to remain a human being outside the confines of the illness at hand.

A lot of people with Borderline Personality Disorder struggle with issues of identity. Sometimes our need for an identity is so strong that it can manifest itself as an unhealthy admiration and attachment to the Borderline diagnosis because it matches so closely to what we believe is our identity. We can honestly tell ourselves that we are, "undeniably Borderline," and we often spend years searching and getting misdiagnosed before finally ending up with a diagnosis that we feel fits. While it is okay to rest in this diagnosis for the sake of self-awareness, gaining insight into our afflictions and learning about it, meeting fellow sufferers and creating a sense of community, we must remember that it is only a list of criteria that bends, shifts and changes over time. We WANT it to change. We don't WANT to be Borderline. Remember that.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
HD7970ghz