[radioactivegirl]

I don't know if I've had a real, definitive answer for this. I saw some things online about how it may be due to the fact that doctors thought it was on the borderline of schizophrenia. My neighbor swears it's because we don't have 'borders' or boundaries (which, btw, I don't agree with that blanket statement). I think that the term borderline confuses people and just makes things more complicated when the situation is complicated enough! So, does anyone have any idea why it's called 'borderline' personality disorder? I'd appreciate it.

Originally Posted by radioactivegirl

I don't know if I've had a real, definitive answer for this. I saw some things online about how it may be due to the fact that doctors thought it was on the borderline of schizophrenia. My neighbor swears it's because we don't have 'borders' or boundaries (which, btw, I don't agree with that blanket statement). I think that the term borderline confuses people and just makes things more complicated when the situation is complicated enough! So, does anyone have any idea why it's called 'borderline' personality disorder? I'd appreciate it.

I found this on About.com.. now mind you, I dont' typically rely on About but since I know I've read the same description elsewhere I think it's accurate.

The term "borderline" was first used by early psychiatrists to describe people who were thought to be on the "border" between diagnoses. At the time, the system for diagnosing mental illness was far less sophisticated than it is today, and "borderline" referred to individuals who did not fit neatly into the two broad categories of mental disorder: psychosis or neurosis.

When borderline was first named back in the 1940's I believe, it was believed to be on the border between psychosis and neurosis, like S4 said. They have come to realize since then that that is not true and there has been a lot of people wanting to change it to something more accurate but so far it has stuck. Plus "borderline" has a bad connotation with a lot of people. We're kind of the "black sheep" of the MH family. Until DBT came out, we were looked upon as being completely incurable and a lot of people in the mental health field haven't really changed their minds. Meds don't work on us. When people with BPD have over-the-top depression, anxiety, etc, they are sometimes given meds to help with those symptoms, but unlike most mental health disorders, our issues are not based on chemical imbalance or what have you. They are learned. There's no easy fix. Yay us!

I think that it is partially learned behavior but could stem from other things, like one t told me at one point that it is theorized that those with emotional dysregulation from childhood could end up with BPD later in life. Since the emotional dysregulation kind of sets us off into extremely emotional states.. This is speculation, of course but is plausible.

[shezbut]

"...one t told me at one point that it is theorized that those with emotional dysregulation from childhood could end up with BPD later in life."

That's the way that I look at BPD, personally. It makes sense to me!

Originally Posted by shezbut

"...one t told me at one point that it is theorized that those with emotional dysregulation from childhood could end up with BPD later in life."

That's the way that I look at BPD, personally. It makes sense to me!

I know I've always been overly emotional. but not necessarily borderline.

[Girl_Interrupted]

What Maranara said. We were thought to be on the borderline between neurosis and psychosis.

Regardless of how it's caused, it's something within us; something that must be worked out the same way. That's what makes it hard. It's not an easy one to fix. We could be borderline between crazy and sane, though that wouldn't be anything clinical. Crazy enough to SI and have suicidal thoughts; constantly be thinking and brooding and putting ourselves down, constantly on the never-ending roller coaster, but sane enough that most of us can fake it most of the time. People don't necessarily know about it until we're close to the breaking point, and then they won't believe us because we've seemed so "normal" in their eyes all along. At least that's what I've experienced.

Originally Posted by s4ndm4n2006

I know I've always been overly emotional. but not necessarily borderline.

I believe that I have always been borderline but how much it shows or comes out is dependant on what life throws at me. When things are calm, no new relationships, etc, I've gone years with things more or less under control. Bad periods, bad days, definitely but I can cope and most people are none the wiser. When I'd get emotional, I'd isolate myself until it passed. But throw trama, new relationships, stress, family problems, or work issues at me and all the traits I've had in careful check come back with a vengeance. And TA-DA, I'm hear because of it, trying once again to put everything in check and finding it very hard this time.

it seems there are physical differences between people with and without BPD in the brain, found in recent brain imaging studies.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1863557/

While it's still in research, it's not completely definitive yet but still very intriguing.

[radioactivegirl]

Originally Posted by Maranara

People don't necessarily know about it until we're close to the breaking point, and then they won't believe us because we've seemed so "normal" in their eyes all along. At least that's what I've experienced.

So true. It's almost like people were completely dismissing me up until the point I snapped about a month ago and tried to OD on Ambien. Even now, my family says I "keep it together so well" or something along those lines. I just never want to worry anyone. But I feel like I'm teetering on the edge quite often.

Originally Posted by radioactivegirl

So true. It's almost like people were completely dismissing me up until the point I snapped about a month ago and tried to OD on Ambien. Even now, my family says I "keep it together so well" or something along those lines. I just never want to worry anyone. But I feel like I'm teetering on the edge quite often.

I was taught that you don't show and talk about your emotions regardless of how bad things get so instead I learned to hold everything in and disassociate instead. I wouldn't recommend it and I didn't realize it was what I was doing until recently, but I've done it my whole life.

My world fell out from under me in July. I was crying all the time, drinking, SI, suicidal, a total mess. Not the first time this had happened but the first time in a very long time. I had to tell my husband something; I wasn't holding it in anymore. When I told my husband about it, tried to explain BPD, showed him the traits....I actually went through each trait individually and gave specific examples of how it pertained to me, all he could do was poo-poo the whole idea. He told me anyone could have BPD depending on how you interpret the traits. I felt so invalidated. I haven't talked to him about it since, nor has he asked. Once or twice when I was really upset he's asked me what was wrong and I mentioned that talk and that we never really talked. His answer: "But that was three months ago." I guess, to him, it just disappeared.

The term "borderline" was first used by Adolph Stern in 1938 to describe a group of patients who had characteristics of both psychotic and neurotic disorders.

In 1975, Otto Kernberg described "borderline personality organization" and its main features: a consist pattern of behavior and functioning characterized by instability that reflected a poorly integrated personality.

The present day characteristics that define borderline personality disorder were first described by J. Gunderson and J. Kolb in 1978.

Source: Borderline Personality Disorder: The NICE Guideline on Treatment and Management

[BrokenNBeautiful]

Originally Posted by radioactivegirl

I don't know if I've had a real, definitive answer for this. I saw some things online about how it may be due to the fact that doctors thought it was on the borderline of schizophrenia. My neighbor swears it's because we don't have 'borders' or boundaries (which, btw, I don't agree with that blanket statement). I think that the term borderline confuses people and just makes things more complicated when the situation is complicated enough! So, does anyone have any idea why it's called 'borderline' personality disorder? I'd appreciate it.

My pdoc who diagnosed me in 2001 said "borderline psychotic".

Today I call it borderline sane. lol

Good question.

Carol