Do you have (or suspect you have) a personality disorder along with your BP?

I suspect I have some borderline traits, but definitely not the full disorder. I never had a therapist or pdoc note any borderline patterns in me either, but the traits I share: impulsivity, getting involved in self-damaging activities, feelings of emptiness when depressed, obviously shifts in mood (but mine is more of a rapid cycling pattern, and more so with age it's getting that way) self-medicating from time to time.

I think my psych doctors pretty much believe these things stem from the Bipolar more than anything else though. It's interesting the overlap between BP and BPD.

I have a few traits of BPD, a IP Pdoc tagged me once. My T and Pdoc dismissed it.

I think most every Bipolar has a trait or 2 .

Having a solid BPD with BP takes huge amounts of work in DBT to help manage things, I know a few people that if they had not told me I would have not known they have BPD.

This assumption (yes probably on the majority) is what was frustrating to me about getting my BPD dx.

Pdoc basically laughed at me for suggesting I have BPD (due to the reasons you mentioned above) and I got pissed off at him.

Just because Im intelligent and self aware, I nearly did not get the help I desperately needed, and that's basically what I said to asshole pdoc.

All water under the bridge now though, he realized I was right and he was wrong, and he referred me out to a specialist clinic where they offer DBT.

hmmmm... I never thought of this... but a mixed state is where I do show these borderline traits. When I'm mixed I fly off the handle over trivial matters. I've been really depressed for the last several weeks and noticed that my reaction to similar stuff is so muted. Mostly I cause I just don't care I suppose.

That is not necessarily true. I definately have BPD and have thought I did for 8 years before they diagnosed me. I reflect on things a lot, so I come to understand things about myself and why I do things sometimes. I've had depression symptoms since I was a preteen, and I didn't want to suffer anymore. This led me to seeking help at 18. I didn't completely know what was wrong, but I knew I didn't like how I felt. I've also heard it said that ppl with BPD don't empathise or care about anyone, which is so far from the truth. There are 9 different criteria for BPD, and someone only has to meet 5 in order to be diagnosed. This means that people's symptoms have a wide range and they don't necessarily display the same symptoms. It also depends on how severe their BPD is, and I do believe personal personality traits to effect things as well. There are A Lot of professionals that stigmatize and judge BPD because they do not understand it. People with BPD get a bad rap, but we are just trying to do everything we can to get what we feel we need, because most likely, we didn't get it as a child.

This was my frustration as well. I'm very insightful and always have been. One of my old therapists 5 years ago said she didn't think I had it because I wasn't hateful and difficult to deal with. She instead said I was easy to care about. The thing is I'm very introverted, so most stuff I keep to myself, and a lot of things I've had to learn to keep quiet. I had to go to treatment for an eating disorder in May, and after a few months, my therapist brought up BPD up. We went through the DSM 5, and I fit 7 of the criteria out of 9. She told me people don't understand it, even professionals. She said that because there are 9 different criteria, and only 5 have to be met, people with BPD don't always display the same symptoms.

The biggest thing that jumps out at me about this is how similar it is to the nonsense popular notion "if you think you're crazy, you can't be crazy because crazy people don't know they're crazy". Operates on the assumption that mental health is binary ("crazy"/ not "crazy") and that there is no such thing as insight. Which is pretty sad for a professional.

At the same time, I get what she's saying. Still, I think it'd more be the case for NPD and ASPD (narcissistic and anti-social) personality disorders. There's a sense that they'd feel their disorders were "working for them", so where's the problem?

Whereas folks with BPD experience a lot of pain and anguish. Even if they resist the diagnosis, it wouldn't seem a matter of "not recognizing". To me it would seem that they would perhaps sense/know there was in fact a problem, but have a problem with understanding that it stemmed not from "everyone else", but from their own maladaptive thought processes. (Because who wants to hear THAT?!)

That hurdle overcome, I should think the motivation would be pretty high to accept -- because even though it takes a lot of dedication (like DBT), there IS a way out of that pain! (Btw, kudos to those who've done the work -- you're a big inspiration!)

Anyhow, here's hoping it was an overly-simplified explanation on her part, because while over-thinking self- dx / over-pathologizing IS a problem (especially with internet) it's also a disservice to assert that we have no insight or self-awareness at all.

Not accepting you have a problem is not the same as not knowing you have a problem. If others tell you you have a problem, you have one and you truly believe you don't, it's psychotic. If others make you feel like you have a problem and others pointing out problematic behavior gives you the urge to hurt others or yourself, it might be BPD. Since the problem is rooted in something you can't see or express and others can't see either, it's only natural that you don't accept that your behaviour is a problem because it's both a problem and a solution to a problem. Not addressing the root cause but just labelling the behaviour as a problem solves nothing. It only makes it worse.

BPD is more psychotic than much what nowadays seen as bipolar disorder. It's just very short-lived, very changeable and mild. It's also more personal than normal psychosis.