[PsychNitrous]

How did you come to know that you have BPD? I've started to see patterns in my behavior that, to me, look like BPD, but I'm trying not to self-diagnose. I do plan on talking with my therapist about this at our next session, but until then I feel completely lost. I feel like I'm finally waking up to realize that I'm not the person I always thought I was. So what was the process like for you? How did you come to know that this was your diagnosis, what signs led you and/or your therapist to it?

[Unrigged64072835]

I didn't know I had BPD until my pdoc pointed it out in 2013. But I knew something was wrong with me. Until recently I burned out relationships; I always went too fast. I had abandonment issues. I would put people on a pedestal and then knock them down. I had a very hard time managing my emotions. So I knew something was going on but I didn't have a name for it until a few years ago.

[Pastel Kitten]

I didn't really know what BPD was until I was diagnosed with it. I was originally diagnosed with Bipolar II but it didn't quite explain a lot of the emotional struggles I was/am going through, particularly my intense fear of abandonment (leading to VERY severe panic attacks), chronic emptiness, a lack of identity, and of course very very quick, drastic mood swings and emotional regulation problems. Like Fharraige, I "pedestal" people. She had actually suspected I was BPD on my first visit but took some time to evaluate me before diagnosing me, of course.

If you do tell your therapist your concerns about it please be warned that BPD has quite the stigma and do not get discouraged if she tells you "I don't really like that diagnosis" or "it's just your personality." A lot of therapists seem to discredit the severity of BPD in comparison to other mental illnesses...like bipolar, which I am starting to discover right now in therapy myself.

[leomama]

Originally Posted by PsychNitrous

How did you come to know that you have BPD? I've started to see patterns in my behavior that, to me, look like BPD, but I'm trying not to self-diagnose. I do plan on talking with my therapist about this at our next session, but until then I feel completely lost. I feel like I'm finally waking up to realize that I'm not the person I always thought I was. So what was the process like for you? How did you come to know that this was your diagnosis, what signs led you and/or your therapist to it?

I was in therapy for complex PTSD or I should say I sought out treatment for complex PTSD that was diagnosed by a p doc and then learned from my treatment plan from my t that I had PTSD and a PD NOS. my former t and I would talk about which traits were bpd and which traits were narc. Now I understand them to be fleas from my FOO however I think I will always be a highly sensitive/emotionally sensitive person. I don't think that "borderline" part of me will ever go away. Tbh a college teacher first identified me as HSP long before my c PTSD diagnosis. In high school a t identified me as having some kind of adolescent identity problem however that I believe was due to the neglect I suffered although it sure didn't help my developing personality! I hope that's useful.

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[MobiusPsyche]

I am the person I always thought I was...but since the BPD diagnosis, that person makes a lot more sense to me.

[jeremiahgirl]

I knew nothing of BPD, I was in a semi-hospital group, and was dx by a doctor. I was clueless until my T looked at what the doctor put as my dx. My T had to tell me all the signs.. And then all the 's rang!! Then I had an answer! For why I was so suicidal all the time.

After a period of time, I went into trauma treatment EMDR and I'm healed now. I occasionally get triggers, but I know how to manage that.

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[Lightrise]

I was in the hospital for the second time in less than a year, and after learning what triggered my stay the second time, my hospital psychiatrist told me firmly that he thought I had BPD. It wasn't the wishy-washy type of think either. More like "know, but can't actually diagnose you" kind of deal.

As soon as I got out I went online to find out more about BPD and reading the diagnostic criteria from the DSM there were just lights going off. I was scared at first because I'd taken abnormal psych in college ("textbook/stereotypical" BPD was what we watched a video on, and that's not how my BPD manifests itself), and the criteria sounded scary to me anyway. After talking with my therapist though we decided that I fit the DSM criteria. I've been trying to accept my diagnosis ever since. I pretty much there. I just sometimes don't want to admit to myself that it's essentially an illness to think the way I do.

I was diagnosed with bipolar at first. It was several years after when

Possible trigger:

i cut myself

that i started getting the BPD diagnosis. No one ever came out and said it to me. I read it in my medical records.

[lolarose]

I knew during my two year psychology course, and I realised that there was a name for everything that I was feeling and experiencing. I haven't been officially diagnosed and can't afford a therapist so i guess it's not "official", but I guess there was reassurance in knowing that I'm not crazy, and that what's going on with me is a real thing and is something that happens a lot to many people.

[PsychNitrous]

Thanks everyone. I have an appointment with my T tomorrow afternoon, and I'm planning on bringing up my suspicions with her then. Feeling pretty nervous about it, but hopefully she can help me figure things out.

[Damaged_soul]

How long does it take to come to a BPD diagnosis? I've been in and out of therapy for years and no one's ever told me what was wrong with me. Is there a special kind of therapist to see who can give some kind of test or is it all just figured out through talking?