Newly Diagnosed

I was diagnosed as BP2 in October of 2012. I've just been diagnosed as BPD today. I'm 34. Where do I go from here?

Hi there.

Being diagnosed, in my experience, is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you can finally put a name to your condition, understand your symptoms, realize that you're not alone in your suffering, and find possible treatment options. On the other hand, one can become obsessed with labels and identify with them, which, in my experience, is not a good path to go down.

Long story short: Do read about your condition and understand the causes and the symptoms, but place more importance on the individual symptoms, triggers, and self-defeating behaviors that hurt you. And then, try to develop coping skills to tackle each one of those. Therapy helps some (esp. DBT), but it didn't do a thing for me. I learned how to cope just through very tough life experience, a lot of long hard contemplation ... really looking deep inside of myself to figure out what I was doing wrong ... and the acceptance that change is good, even necessary.

Please don't let the labels get you down. This is a growth opportunity. Keep us posted here, and don't hesitate to ask more questions.

Finally, about your age, it's never too late to start improving the quality of your life. I am 31, and I try to look on the bright side, that is, I still have some great years ahead, with the coping skills finally in my toolbox. It's never too late. Grab your life by the balls and do what it takes to make it better for yourself. No one else in this world can be relied on, again, in my experience.

The label is a shocker. For me it was tough because I worked on the other side of this diagnosis. I am still coming to grips with it and I am 42 and just diagnosed. I just take it one day at a time, go to therapy and am trying some self study of DBT until I find a BPD specialist. Good Luck whatever route you choose.

Hi momof2boys

Yeah I only got my diagnosis last year but the pieces of the puzzle all fell together.

It's not exactly the greatest of diagnosis for me to have received at the time but at least it meant I could start addressing aspects of BPD in therapy that were more suited to where I was at.

Honestly, I should have been diagnosed many years ago but the symptoms were always overlooked as something else.

Look after yourself.