[ava1enzue1a]

"I think people with Borderline Personality Disorder are compassionate, beautiful souls who have been through too much trauma and have lost faith in themselves and forgot what it's like to be happy." - Anonymous

[Perna]

From the 1999 movie, "Girl, Interrupted":

[ava1enzue1a]

You could be missing the point of my post

Anyway, as far as said viewpoint though, yes - virtually everyone could be susceptible to having BPD. I've heard it being described as: "we shouldn't look as though we are diagnosed with a disorder, we are just in a different place on the spectrum, and that we have the ability to slide to another place on that spectrum."

However, as tara4bpd.org puts, it IS when stuff becomes too "extreme":

"Personality includes those aspects of a person's thinking, moods and behavior which affect his or her relationship with others. Differences in personality style (traits) add color and variety to relationships but may become too extreme, inflexible or maladaptive. These traits can significantly impair a person's ability to function. When a person is not able to deal with people or problems constructively or not able to adapt to changing demands of the environment, he or she is said to have a Personality Disorder."

(And yes, the typical wonder of "What is 'normal' anyway?")

I hope that could clear things up

[hanners]

Originally Posted by ava1enzue1a

"I think people with Borderline Personality Disorder are compassionate, beautiful souls who have been through too much trauma and have lost faith in themselves and forgot what it's like to be happy." - Anonymous

My partner has BPD, and that's exactly what she is like. Her compassion for everybody around her is one of the things about her that I love so much.

[nicoleb2]

Originally Posted by ava1enzue1a

"I think people with Borderline Personality Disorder are compassionate, beautiful souls who have been through too much trauma and have lost faith in themselves and forgot what it's like to be happy." - Anonymous

I haven't been through any trauma though. I had a relatively normal childhood, I mean, my parents got divorced and my dad died when I was 16, but if all it took was that for someone to end up with BPD, I think there'd be a lot more of us!

[ChaoticSymphony]

Hey Nichole, I think bpd comes from invalidation....you just invalidated your traumas by saying that "I think there'd be a lot more of us"! It is something genetic. Something in our environment triggered us to be what we are. Those are some pretty huge things to go on in a child's life. Loss of a parent is huge. Our minds develop fully when we are adults. Our minds are not readily capable to handle huge things such as divorce, death, abuse, ect. ect. Kids are resilient yes, but you take someone who has mental illness in their genetic pool and throw a trauma on it you are bound to see issues. Validation is crucial in being ok with ones self. I know we have this facade of not caring what other thing, march to the beat of our own drum but in reality...well reality ****ing sucked.

[ava1enzue1a]

Originally Posted by nicoleb2

I haven't been through any trauma though. I had a relatively normal childhood, I mean, my parents got divorced and my dad died when I was 16, but if all it took was that for someone to end up with BPD, I think there'd be a lot more of us!

I used to think the same thing... I don't think I've had a "traumatic" upbringing, so how in the world did I happen to develop BPD!?

However, if you read this article, you could begin to understand how BPD could develop out of a seemingly ordinary childhood. In particular:

"Trauma does not necessarily need to be acute (sudden/intense). It can be chronic (long-lasting) and might be relatively undramatic. This is the case with the Invalidating Environment that Marsha Linehan identified."

Also, this site provides a few clues as well:

"An invalidating environment is not the same thing as an abusive environment, although abusive relationships are certainly invalidating. Invalidation can be quite subtle and may reflect a general way of interacting."

Finally, it does also reside within a person's perception:

"It is important to remember that people tend to experience relationships and interactions differently. This means that what one person experiences as an invalidating environment is not necessarily experienced as such by another. It is possible that individual temperaments affect a person's general sensitivity to invalidation, but everyone has times when they are more vulnerable or sensitive.

It is important to note, however, that invalidation - as it relates to the development of borderline personality disorder - is not a periodic experience, but a pervasive one."

Hope this helps!

I think you are right Ava,they are beautiful souls,who interpret life more deeply and through pain colored lenses.Some ,being unaware of the dynamics involved,or,even the outline,are stuck in patterns simply due to the fact that they don't know what they need to in order to have the tools to change.I am coined a quiet borderline,and if that in itself is so awful,(cause to me it is painful") then I couldn't bear being a typical type in bpd spectrum.