Question about BPD

Borderline Personality Disorder... what is it a borderline of? Does it mean that it's nearly a personality disorder... but not quite? Or does it mean something totally different? And why are so many self-harmers given a dx of BPD, when self-harm can mean so many other things, not just be ONE symptom of BPD?

i dunno. i si and my first pysch thought i could be borderline. now someone else is leaning towards bipolar or ADD.

The term Borderline was coined before they actually understood it to be an illness all of its own. They thought it was bordering...hmm what were the two? psychosis and nourosis? I guess I need to look it up again. Anyway, since way back in the 50's and 60's they have discovered that Borderline Personality Disorder is neither of those but an illness all of its own and needs to be treated differently then either of the two things I can't remember the names of. Unfortunately the term "borderline" stuck which has lead to a lot of confusion.

A lot of people with BPD do self injure. It is interesting though to see how many other people with other illnesses to self injure. I think that they get lumped into borderline because the illness itself is so...fuzzy. It manifests itself in so many different ways. No borderline patient is the same and so many of the symptoms readily cross over into other illnesses. For instance I went to a bi-polar support group for a year and fit in perfectly. The only difference was that their illness could be managed with medicine and mine could not. Yes, medication can manage many of the symptoms but you will never convince me that they can fix the problem. When I got off meds I found that I couldn't continue with the bi-polar group because meds are essential to them and the meds work. I didn't feel like I could share my experience of getting off meds so I felt outcast and that isn't good for someone with bpd.

Anyway, there is a lot of good information out there on BPD. In fact Doc John has a discription of it on this site that says everything that you might find elsewhere on the web. There are a lot of good books too. Start with Lost in the Mirror. My favorite book is New Hope for Borderline Personality Disorder. It is talks alot about our wellness rather then how sick we are. That is important.
Carrie

I am also diagnosed with BPD, and I believe that I received the dx because of self harm, although my pdoc didn't say that was why. He says that it's a combination of problems that I have, such as anxiety, depression, fear of abandonment, dissociation, as well as the si.

At first, I was offended by the dx and tried to get him to take it back, but I've come to accept it now.

I si and I'm afraid of telling my T for a variety of reasons, one of them being I'm scared of being diagnosed as Borderline simply because of SI itself. That would really bother me. So, silver_queen to answer your question, I have no idea. Why label someone for life just cause they SI, when it could mean so many different things?

If you go to Google and write in Borderline Personality Disorder you'll find a million and 3 things. Good luck.

Yes zen you were right it's the border of neurosis and psychosis.

The term "borderline" is a misnomer. These patients were first described sixty years ago by psychoanalysts who noted they did poorly in treatment, and therefore theorized that this is a form of pathology lying on the border between psychosis and neurosis.

Here's the link to that article.
http://www.jwoodphd.com/borderline_p...y_disorder.htm

Hi silver...from what I understand SI is just one issue that ppl with BPD may face.

Other symptoms that ppl with BPD suffer with are:

Fears of abandonment ..real or imagined.

I know that mood swings are an issue, but very rapid within minutes.

Identity disturbances.. with sense of self or unstable self image.

implusivity such as sex, substance abuse, reckless driving.

recurrent suicidal behavior, threats or gestures or si

anxiety

chronic feelings of emptiness

innappropriate, intense anger that's constant.

stress related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms.

I started this with some of my own issues, but then used the site for some help b/c of my own memory issues.

If you look on the site here it explains it real well.

Hope that helped



Take care
Eva

Halliebeth, I'm glad that time is being spent on you to work out the correct dx to give you. Having the right dx is so important. It can lead to months of misunderstandings and mistreatment otherwise.

Zen, you wrote a lot of interesting information there. Thanks for sharing it .

somebodyelse...

i'm glad you've come to terms with your dx. Sometimes it is easier to live with denial than accept that we have to change our lifestyles/ fix our problems in order to move forward.

yesitsme... using google is a good suggestion . sometimes though, it's better just to ask the people who may be experiencing the problem. descriptions of symptoms only mean so much. they're not personal experiences and so have limitations. thanks, though .

90mph... I had a look at the site you gave the link to. It's interesting, thanks for posting it!

Eva... thanks for taking the time to post the symptoms of BPD. It's useful, thanks .