i've been diagnosed with a bunch of things and i'm honestly not sure which are accurate and which aren't. i end up reading this sub-forum the most because i relate the most here. i'm not sure when it comes to myself personally re bpd vs bp, but i have a couple of friends diagnosed with bipolar, and from my perspective i don't see the slower shifts between manic/depressed, but hourly/daily shifts that often seem triggered by interpersonal things. i think i read somewhere that with BPD, mood swings will always have a trigger, whereas with bipolar, it's not always a case of something sad happening triggering a major depression.

i sometimes (cynically) think that my friends present a different picture to their drs than they do at home. like, watching them is like watching a very clear picture of "i hate you, don't leave me". i think that there is more stigma about bpd than bp - among my friends, borderline seems to have the implications that you are always unstable, manipulative and unpredictable. bipolar has the implications that you are a victim of your brain chemistry.

obviously i'm not a dr, psychologist, or expert on anything, but in my circle of friends i think bipolar is a more "acceptable" diagnosis, because it implies that even when you're doing all you can to control your illness, you can still get really sick. "borderline" around here seems to imply that your illness is more about acting out.