Is BPD overdiagnosed?

I have the feeling I had been diagnosed with BPD a long time ago, all because of my fault, somehow, for not being clear, but I think also many times, nowadays, people receive the BPD label too quick and not for too strong reasons. Having a bad year is not BPD. A psychologist years ago told me I had BPD and I don't buy her diagnose, because I know how BPD feels like, I get a feeling when I read you guys, and although I usually got reached by your feelings, and I could understand them, I could not help but feeling I was not BPD. I never did none of the things BPD people do. I might have a few crazy years, I mean, difficult, wrong years for me, but that's doens't make me BPD. I think BPD needs a further explanation and explication tan simply put it when you don't know. I read about this in the Internet and I get that feeling too. It's like there was many faces of BPD out there. I think I have a dissociative disorder. And the worst was that I had a relationship with a man I adviced before everything I had BPD and it was like a kind of excuse for me to ruin it all all the way. Like, "I'm gonna hurt you, but I want to tell this as a disclaimer so my conscious won't treason me".

I agree with you to an extent. I was diagnosed with BPD and no one even bothered to tell me. I was in a mandatory 24 hour hold after an episode and the Dr who saw me wrote on my report that he was diagnosing me with BPD (after speaking with me for only 30 or so minutes) and sent the report with me without discussing it. I was adopted and had neglectful adoptive parents as well as having been molested by a family member as a child. A lot of trauma to work through.

After leaving there I began seeing a psychiatrist and he (as well as my therapist at the time) felt that women especially are commonly over diagnosed with BPD and they felt it was Complex-PTSD.

To be honest, I don't even know what it is, if it's one or the other. Like you, the idea of really having BPD scares me. I could deal with the C-PTSD diagnosis but with BPD (when my now ex and I both realized it was a possibility) turned into an excuse for me to act a certain way. After some EMDR and DBT things got better (until somewhat recently) and now all the old symptoms have returned including panic attacks.

I really like what you said about a bad year not being BPD. I have a feeling different forms of PTSD is often misdiagnosed as BPD - the symptoms are very similar and more often than not it sounds like people have dealt with some serious trauma.

Actually, for the most part, BPD is usually underdiagnosed. Most professionals are reluctant to dx someone with that, and if they do, its usually after theyve seen the client for a long time. Of course, there are exceptions to everything, and misdiagnoses are not uncommon.

(Warning for mention of suicide)

Where I am, it's definitely overdiagnosed but it's also not treated like a real diagnosis if that makes sense? I was talking to my psychiatrist awhile back and joking that every woman I know who's been through the mental health care system has been diagnosed with BPD at least once, and it's true! If you're a mentally ill woman, at least here, you're going to have it on your file at least once, especially if you overlap with some of the symptoms or challenge the doctors.

But often these woman aren't told they have BPD, or if they are it's basically almost used as a threat, ie, you challenged us therefore you have BPD. Many of the same professionals I've met seem really scornful about BPD and the incredible amount of dysfunction and pain it can create, not to mention the real danger of suicide. And so it's not really treated like a real diagnosis, just something to call mentally ill woman acting erratically or that doctors don't like, and those of us who really have it are completely dismissed a lot of the time.

Anyway, I really do have BPD, at least my diagnosis has been confirmed by numerous doctors, I have all the symptoms, and I definitely think that I have it given the criteria. I feel like I've been brushed off a lot because of it though, (I have other comorbid disorders too) and so it was surprising to me to read my files and see stuff like severe BPD and high suicide risk because I've always been kind of brushed off and treated like I need to just toughen up and get over it! I've even had well-meaning professionals tell me NOT to have it put on my file (not like I had a choice) because I'd be treated poorly because of it.

I'm sure this has a lot to do with where I live since I'm not american, but I think BPD is both overdiagnosed and possibly underdiagnosed as a seriously and legitimate disorder, not just an insult for your female clients!

my doctor or Pdoc didn't want me to be diagnosed with it said its difficult to treat and she I guess didn't want to treat me with it. But after all her colleagues agreed that I was BPD I got the diagnose. With depression...I think I am not better off with it I challenge the diagnose several times saying I gotta be something different. Maybe because I committed suicide one to many times. I am just reluctant some days to own the disorder.

but no I don't its readily diagnosed I think add/ahad and autism have become the new disorders on the agenda with most doctors.

Yes.* Sometimes, clinicians are too eager to diagnose a 'difficult' client with a PD. One who makes a diagnosis of a PD in 10 minutes is ****ing nuts. I would be very wary of them.

Right now, there doesn't seem to be a uniform definition for BPD. It is often to misused. Difficult to treat female clients are usually the target of this. Some are given the diagnosis even if they have global developmental delay disorder. This is wrong.

I was once diagnosed with BPD and could not relate to much of it. Most of the core features like emptiness, self-hatred, relationship instability and emotional regulation weren't an issue for me. The only trait, I had was intense anger, because of severe bullying.

Note: Autism spectrum disorder like BPD is often misdiagnosed and overused. I have Asperger's. No other diagnosis has described me so well and from childhood. No clinician doubts my diagnosis nor do I. This (BPD) forum helped me sort out my diagnosis.

*My opinion applies to Canada only.

I have to agree with being over-diagnosed. I feel it's like bipolar. I was diagnosed with bipolar in '06. I was in a treatment facility for 6 months and given several different medications to help me with the symptoms. Earlier this year I was told that I was misdiagnosed and now how BPD. I truly feel that I live out of only 4 of the characteristics of BPD. Some times I feel it doesn't matter if I have been diagnosed with BPD and other times I get really pissed off at the doctors and myself. I'm in DBT and I'm learning a lot but I still question if I have BPD and if I am being treated properly. Anyone can benefit from DBT even if you're not BPD. I kind of feel as though everyone can fit in the BPD category just like I was. Any way I'm kind of feeling pissed off today but thanks for bringing the subject up.

From: NIMH - Borderline Personality Disorder

Even with other mental disorders, most people I know with more chronic and severe mental illness have multiple comorbid disorders. It's a spectrum, and a lot of symptoms tend to overlap so disorders tend to overlap together as well.

Not to mention when you have comorbid illnesses when one flares up it can kisk the others up as well!

I think that bipolar disorder is diagnosed more often than BPD -- i always assumed that it was because BiPolar is something that is medicated (more cash flow for the drug companies) and Borderline is not a sentence for medication. When working for a dr, office years ago it seemed like everyone was suddenly diagnosed as BiPolar, and then as time passed, some of those were being re-addressed as BPD. My doctor said that BPD isnt a diagnosis anyone wants to receive when dealing with MI, soo... not sure.

Agree with this.

I also felt inclined to agree with this. I'm sure it's different everywhere you go, but this has been my experience. I feel that I absolutely qualify for the diagnosis, yet my T and doc cringe whenever I bring it up. She says that I am not "devious" enough. They dismiss it like it is a huge taboo. I meet all the criteria with the exception of suicide attempts. The only reason I care and want to talk about it is bc I want to try DBT instead of CBT. I think I will benefit loads from it.

I have read that they don't want to give us the diagnosis bc it can look so bad for us in the future, and can affect insurance. Also, it seems that giving us the BPD diagnosis and telling us that we have it can tend to make some of us feel that we have an excuse to act in certain ways, and that telling us that we have it can acutally perpetuate symptoms of the disorder. I don't feel this is the case for me. I truly want to get better.

I agree with this too.

Before I got my therapist through a charity (I'm from the UK) I did some searching on illnesses, as at this point things had got really bad, after speaking to a friend who works in mental health and searching, I went back and forth on my self-diagnosis of BPD. When I saw the psychiatrist (who shouldn't even be working in mental health because she's so rubbish) AT THE END, commented that I had traits of BPD but dismissed me anyway.

When I eventually aquired my therapist, at first she said it could be C-PTSD which I have heard is very similar to BPD. After months, I was kind of unoffically told it WAS borderline but the psychiatrist STILL discharged me. In my opinion, they are far too quick to diagnosis, especially since me and my therapist think there is more going on rather than just BPD.

Whatever you have been told, I would take into consideration, but from my experience trusting your gut is the best way to go. If the diagnosis doesn't feel quite right, push it and push hard. I've had a really tough time trying to get help from psychiatry in the UK, this is my third time trying to get more support this year.

As for over diagnosing, it's possible. However, as I'm sure yous are well aware there is a lot of stigma from professionals regarding borderline, so I'm not sure if they would want to diagnosis and "deal" with unnecessary cases if that makes sense?

Hope this helped x3

Committed suicide? Or attempted suicide?