[Aracnae]

I went to a psychiatrist recently, and when he asked me to describe my symptoms, he said it might be borderline personality disorder. I was diagnosed with schizo-affective more than 10 years ago, and every doctor before him agreed. When I talked this through with him, he said that PTSD can also mimic the symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder too.
I was just wondering if anyone else has ever been told that. I really don't think I'm borderline, since I don't fit all that much of the criteria, but I don't know what the think anymore.

Originally Posted by Aracnae

I went to a psychiatrist recently, and when he asked me to describe my symptoms, he said it might be borderline personality disorder. I was diagnosed with schizo-affective more than 10 years ago, and every doctor before him agreed. When I talked this through with him, he said that PTSD can also mimic the symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder too.
I was just wondering if anyone else has ever been told that. I really don't think I'm borderline, since I don't fit all that much of the criteria, but I don't know what the think anymore.

I'm sorry your doctors are confusing you.

I've had multiple diagnoses. I don't think any of my doctors misdiagnosed me; I think my mental health has changed over time.

I currently have diagnoses of schizophrenia and PTSD.

Yeah, I wish mental health was a mathematical equation. It's frustrating.

[Skeezyks]

Hello Aracnae: Every mental health professional the Skeezyks has ever seen has had a little different take with regard to what's going on with him. In the end, it's all just labels... in the Skeezyk's humble opinion...

[btladtf9890]

My latest doc has mentioned the same to me; I might have borderline personality disorder. This is the second doctor that has mentioned it. Along with the myriad other diagnoses, including once schizophrenia. I've done some reading on BPD, but I'm still a bit lost on it. I think that sometimes people's mental health does change, but I also think understanding yourself and your symptoms, which sometimes occurs over years, allows a more accurate educated guess.

[Rose76]

One of the problems is that these "conditions" aren't actual, proven entities, in the same sense that osteoarthritis or tuberculosis are real, proven diseases. These categories of psychiatric disorder exist in the minds and intellectual culture of mental health professionals. They may correspond to real conditions in actual people, or not. Very possibly, they may only loosely correspond to actual conditions that exist in people.

For example, at one time, people were often admitted to the hospital because they "had" neurasthenia, a weakening of the nervous system that produced symptoms of fatigue and a generalised difficulty coping with life. No one gets admitted for that anymore. Nowadays, you can't find a doctor to say you have, or don't have, neurasthenia because doctors don't believe there is, or ever was, such a condition. They used to believe in it, just like they used to believe in a variety of mental and physical conditions that no one believes in anymore. Doctors used to diagnose some people as having the psychological illness of melancholia, which meant that there was an excess of black bile circulating in a person's system causing the person to be gloomy and grouchy. That diagnosis doesn't exist anymore.

People still come to doctors with problems of fatigue, inadequate coping, gloominess and grouchiness. But doctors have new ways of thinking about those problems and of tracing to the origins of those problems. One hundred years from now, doctors may use a system of diagnoses that doesn't include some of the diagnoses we hear a lot about today.

When a doctor gives you a psychiatric diagnosis, it may, or may not, show that the doctor has actually figured anything out. The things to look at, IMHO, are: What are your problems? What are your symptoms? What sort of difficulty in life may have contributed to developing those issues. What are some ways of getting a handle on these challenges. What medication, if any, has proven helpful to other people with similar difficulties?

If a pdoc tells me I'm depressed because I have a depressive disorder, that doctor hasn't actually told me a blessed thing.

Aracnae - you may keep getting different diagnoses from different doctors. That has happened to me and continues to happen. A useful diagnosis is one that helps you to predict future difficulties. If you read up on a diagnosis and you don't see where it fits you very well, then I wouldn't take it too seriously. It is totally false that you need to know what psychiatric disorder you have, before you or your doctor can do anything about it. And that's really what matters.

[Travelinglady]

Check the list of characteristics for borderline: http://forums.psychcentral.com/borde...scription.html. I had that, but am now "just" bipolar. Borderlines have a lot of rage related to perceived rejection, for one thing. You're a person regardless.

[Aracnae]

Originally Posted by Travelinglady

Check the list of characteristics for borderline: http://forums.psychcentral.com/borde...scription.html. I had that, but am now "just" bipolar. Borderlines have a lot of rage related to perceived rejection, for one thing. You're a person regardless.

Thank you! I don't think I have BPD. I read the information in the link as well as the link provided in the post, and some other things in my own research as well, and it does not fit me all that much. The suicidal behaviors is about the only thing. I have good relationships, I don't fear abandonment whatsoever, I don't get angry when I think I've been rejected, ect ect. I can see why my therapist may have thought so, however, BPD sufferers have mood swings and that's supposed to be a part of my original diagnosis. I'm actually a pretty emotionally stable person (even if that stability is at a flat-line of general depression), and I think that's why I felt kind of annoyed with him, since I know he thinks I'm not. Otherwise, why would I need help, right? I've read other things about BPD too, but most things I read about it kind of seemed to denigrate sufferers as immature and terrible people, which didn't help. Sorry, didn't mean to go on a rant, I really do appreciate the extra info.

[eskielover]

Not only do symptoms change over time, but for me the past has become more & more clear as the years have gone by & I have been able to read more & that triggers memories that I have finally been able to recall though they were there all the time, the actual memories & putting them together with experience & feelings have really enlightened ME which has given me the chance to enlighten my psychologist.

Little bits & pieces of what other psychologists in the past have given me the pieces to research & to finally pull the picture together MYSELF. I know personally that DBT has been a great help in opening up my understanding & giving me words to put to what I had experienced. Not labels, but the words to describe it.

When I first lost my career & started attempting suicide, they seriously thought BPD so they (my insurance) sent me to UCLA's psych hospital for a Dx. They had no idea what in the world was going on with me because honestly I didn't fall into any REAL category. Finally I ended up with Major Depression recurrent & major anxiety. It probably fit the best in reality......but they had no idea the cause & always thought that JUST loosing my career, I was overreacting.

This in reality WAS TRUE....but at the time, I knew I was in a bad marriage, but the H was always there & seemed supportive. What they missed was the lack of emotional connection....all thought it was ME that was the problem. Turned out with research, I found out what was really going on with my H & why he wasn't capable of emotionally connecting....that research came 6 years after I finally left him & my life started coming back together & the depression started to leave & I found out that I could very easily emotionally connect with the people around me. That caused me to look back at my childhood & realized that all through my life, there was emotional neglect because my parents along with my H were all totally dysfunctional & I learned my own dysfunctional ways of dealing with it......no one caught that I was trapped in the marriage & couldn't get out. It was like a battle I was silently fighting & no one knew us other than my subconscious self which was where the suicide attempts were coming from.

Wow, what an eye opener the future has for us as we learn so much more about ourselves.

Given that, I don't hold much value at all to many of the more subtle Dx's because there can be so many causes that make things look different than they REALLY are.

One T actually suggested that I went through a series of trauma's that I didn't even recognize as trauma's because they just seemed a NORMAL part of my life & normal things to deal with. You will find that as you learn more about yourself & your own life that it will shed a very different light on it than possibly any of the psychologists or pdocs are able to see.

I surely understand your frustrations though.....but there is hope in the future.....that I can attest to.