The Cellar - Borderline Personality Disorder

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Borderline Personality Disorder

It's a condition we all know about. Maybe we know someone with it - or have privately 'diagnosed' a relation or colleague. Maybe we fall into the BPD category ourselves, or suspect that we might. It's a label that comes with many associations and connotations and none of them very nice. I admit I don't know nearly enough about it. I recall, some years ago, wondering if I might be in that category - Google-induced hypochondria - and read a little about the symptoms. I learned I wasn't, and I also learned that BPD sounds a scary and lonely place to be.

I read this anonymous submission in the Secret Teacher series, in the Guardian, and thought it offered a fasciating perspective on the condition. And on the burden of carrying such a label.

Quote:

You know me, you’ve seen me at parents’ evenings. I’m the teacher at the next desk – the popular one, the one you all want to teach your children because the progress made in my class is phenomenal. I’m a damn good teacher and everyone knows it.

What you don’t know is that I have a mental health problem. I was abused as a child and for years I endured appalling assaults – physical, mental and sexual – at the hands of several adults in my life. In these post-Savile days, you might wonder what happens to abused children. Well, we grow up – damaged and scarred, concealing our tragic backgrounds.

I have a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, a condition that can be linked to difficult childhood experiences. Thanks to people like Catherine Zeta Jones and Stephen Fry, we all know of bipolar disorder; borderline personality disorder (or emotional dysregulation disorder) is its lesser known cousin. You might not have heard of it, few have. On the rare occasions it’s discussed – in TV dramas, for example – we are presented as unsympathetic, desperate, out of control, suicidal and violent. The message given is that we are a danger to ourselves or others: avoid us – we are volatile and unpredictable.

But that’s not how it is. As with bipolar disorder, I have mood swings, but they are rapid. In the space of 15 minutes I can go from crying on the train because I see no point to my life, to entertaining large groups of trainee teachers with amusing anecdotes about the profession. My behaviour can be impulsive too; I spend thousands on my credit cards. Reckless, I suppose, but not dangerous, surely? And none of these have any impact whatsoever on my ability to teach.

But still, I do not dare tell anyone the truth at work. My psychiatrist warned me that the stigma associated with my condition is huge. It’s true. Even the name – borderline personality disorder – implies that there is something wrong with one’s identity, one’s personality.

It is much easier to hide under the “stress and anxiety” umbrella. Every teacher knows what that feels like. The problem there, of course, is that no one really believes I have different needs from others so I am not getting the right support. “Huh! We’re all stressed!” a colleague recently grumbled.

Read the rest here:

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-n...ality-disorder

Didn't Madonna do a music video about that?

Quote:

Unfortunately, BPD is too often misdiagnosed. Some people who have borderline personality disorder are misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder. There are important differences between these conditions but both involve unstable moods. For the person with bipolar disorder, the mood changes exist for weeks or even months. The mood changes in BPD are much shorter and are often within a day.
To be diagnosed with BPD, a person must experience at least five of the following symptoms:

Fear of abandonment
Unstable or changing relationships
Unstable self-image; struggles with identity or sense of self
Impulsive or self-damaging behaviors (e.g., excessive spending, unsafe sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating).
Suicidal behavior or self-injury
Varied or random mood swings
Constant feelings of worthlessness or sadness
Problems with anger, including frequent loss of temper or physical fights
Stress-related paranoia or loss of contact with reality

SAUCE

When I was trying to use match dot com to date, I had a very fun 3 day long chat/text/email conversation with a woman that lived locally to my work. We hit it off really well... She had sent a picture and she was very attractive. We arranged to meet on the crosswalk bridge that crosses rte 38 by the Mall here in Cherry Hill. She recognized me. I didn't recognize her. She was not heinous, or covered in sores, but not near the plain pretty face she had sent me. And I didn't like the way she smelled. Bad Pheromones.

The meeting was brief because I was caught off guard by the obvious lies she had told about herself. I did attempt to start over with her, but she soon revealed that she had BPD and was actually still married and just nuts. That was the end of that.

Are there different treatment options, I wonder, than there are for the other mentioned diagnoses? (I'm on my phone so if the answer exists in one of those links I apologize. )

Quote:

Co-morbidities

Borderline personality disorder often occurs with other illnesses. This can make it hard to diagnose, especially if symptoms of other illnesses overlap with the BPD symptoms
Women with BPD are more likely to have co-occurring disorders such as major depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse or eating disorders. In men, BPD is more likely to accompany disorders such as substance abuse or antisocial personality disorder.
According to the NIMH-funded National Comorbidity Survey Replication—the largest national study to date of mental disorders in U.S. adults—about 85 percent of people with BPD also suffer from another mental illness.5
Most of these are listed below, followed by the estimated percent of people with BPD who have them:

Major Depressive Disorder – 60%
Dysthymia (a chronic type of depression) – 70%
Substance abuse – 35%
Eating disorders (such as anorexia, bulimia, binge eating) – 25%
Bipolar disorder – 15%
Antisocial Personality Disorder – 25%
Narcissistic Personality Disorder – 25%
Self-Injury – 55%-85%

Quote:

Originally Posted by infinite monkey (Post 947429)

Are there different treatment options, I wonder, than there are for the other mentioned diagnoses? (I'm on my phone so if the answer exists in one of those links I apologize. )

Quote:

There are several treatments that are most often used to manage BPD:
1. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) focuses on the concept of mindfulness, or paying attention to the present emotion. DBT teaches skills to control intense emotions, reduce self-destructive behavior, manage distress, and improve relationships. It seeks a balance between accepting and changing behaviors. This proactive, problem-solving approach was designed specifically to treat BPD. Treatment includes individual therapy sessions, skills training in a group setting, and phone coaching as needed. DBT is the most studied treatment for BPD and the one shown to be most effective.
2. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) can help people with BPD recognize and change both their beliefs and the ways they act that reflect inaccurate or negative opinions of themselves and others. This therapy can help people see difficult situations and relationships more clearly and find better ways to deal with them. CBT has been shown to be effective in lessening mood and anxiety symptoms and self-harm.
3. Mentalization-based therapy (MBT) is a talk therapy that helps people identify and understand what others might be thinking and feeling.
4. Transference-focused therapy (TFP) is designed to help patients understand their emotions and interpersonal problems through the relationship between the patient and therapist. Patients then apply the insights they learn to other situations.
5. Medications cannot cure BPD but can help treat other conditions that often accompany BPD such as depression, impulsivity, and anxiety. Often patients are treated with several medications, but there is little evidence that this approach is necessary or effective. People with BPD are encouraged to talk with their prescribing doctor about what to expect from each medication and its side effects. Omega-3 Fatty Acids, often called fish oils, have efficacy in relieving symptoms for certain mental illnesses, but their effectiveness in BPD is less clear. One study of 30 women with BPD showed that omega-3 fatty acids might help reduce symptoms of depression and aggression. 1
6. Self-Care activities include: regular exercise, good sleep habits, a nutritious diet, taking medications as prescribed, and healthy stress management. Good self-care can help to reduce common symptoms of BPD such as mood changes, impulsive behavior, and irritability.

Well, this is worrisome. I just took a test and got these results: "You have reported 7 symptom(s) of BPD at a moderate to severe degree. This suggests that you have one or more traits of BPD, which may be so disruptive to your life that it is worth obtaining a professional opinion to determine if you could be benefitted by treatment."

Was that a magazine or online test?

You've been seeing a therapist though, have you not? Seems like they would have picked up on that. Consider the source of that test before you jump to any conclusions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lumberjim (Post 947514)

You've been seeing a therapist though, have you not? Seems like they would have picked up on that. Consider the source of that test before you jump to any conclusions.

Not for about a year. I only went for anxiety. And only saw her about 5 times.

@Bruce - online test

back of a cereal box? Free online test are bollocks. Without exception. Even if they mean well.

As far as I recall, Psychiatry is one of the few medical areas AI has been unable to outperform human professionals in diagnosis. (Although super-helpful in flagging potential misdiagnoses and as a second opinion).

Only slightly more inaccurate are self-diagnoses from online DSMV ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by monster (Post 947522)

Thanks :) Although, a lot of the symptoms sound very familiar. The only thing worse than being your own lawyer is being your own doctor, right?? :D

Take a few other tests and see how many things you DONT come away with.... generally helps to put things in perspective ;)

What LJ said. Your professional would've/should've picked up on it, and if they didn't... then it's clearly not a major issue for you even if you do have it

....plus... not every mental disorder/condition requires professional intervention. Oftentimes sufferers figure out their own way forward quite successfully. And (sadly) not every person needing a little help checks all the boxes for an official diagnosis. Sadly because insurance often won't cover help without a diagnosis code.

If you feel you're drowning, please ask for a lifebelt. It doesn't matter if you snuck in over the wall rather than signing in at the desk, or if the one who throws the belt is just another patron, not the lifeguard on duty -as long as you are able to get back to the side, that's all that matters. No-one wants to find you floating face-down

Every time I take one of those multiple choice tests, whether it's for political persuasion, or best matched soap, the answers I would give if the asked the question never match the choice of answers they give me to choose from. That forces me into a slot I'm not entirely comfortable with.

If you want to say you have a disease to get out of doing something or going somewhere, but are not comfortable lying. Just read the symptoms for Lyme disease, I guarantee you'll have 'em. You just can't know without serious professional testing, for any condition, physical or mental.

This is America, damn it, you're mentally stable until proven nuts. :flycatch: