I don't proofread my posts before I publish them... cause I keep my thoughts au naturale.

Monday, November 26, 2012

A Little Ditty About BPD

As many of my loyal followers know (I'm sure there are sooooo many of you- haha), I have bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder.  Well anyway, I think most people know what bipolar disorder (BD) is to some extent, but I don't think as many people are aware of what borderline personality disorder (BPD) really is.

I found this interesting article through some social media circles I follow and I wanted to share a tidbit out of it that I find to be a big aspect to my personality and my BPD.

Well, first of all, here's a bit about common "symptoms of BPD."

"Characteristics of Borderline Personality Disorder. Is there someone in your life who has five or more of the following characteristics?
  1. This person makes frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.
  2. Their life is filled with unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation.
  3. They have a persistently unstable self-image.
  4. They are impulsive in two of the following areas that are potentially self-damaging (spending, sex, substance abuse, shoplifting, binge eating, reckless driving)
  5. They threaten or make gestures toward suicidal behavior or self-mutilation (ex: cutting)
  6. Their moods tend to be reactive and include a mixture of depression, anxiety, rage and despair, lasting from a few hours to a few days.
  7. They have chronic feelings of emptiness
  8. They respond with intense anger which may manifest in physical fights
  9. They dissociate when under stress, which means they detach from a situation and don’t remember it later. Your memory of a particular incident may be very different than their memory of it.
Having five or more of these traits are indicators of a person whose personality fits the diagnostic criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). You may also see other attributes that are not part of the actual diagnostic code (DSM IV), but are common to the disorder. Many of these are related to sexual or physical abuse in early life. The person may suffer from deep shame which they are either consumed by or deny. Inside they feel worthless, isolated, empty, but will guard against exposing that inner truth to themselves or others"

First off, I want to point out that I was never abused in any way in early life, just wanted to clarify that!  Secondly, I only have 8 of these traits, so let's be thankful for that!  

Okay, so the main point I wanted to get to from the article, which I have found many similar studies on was about BPDs being able to "read people" very well.  I have always found that I had this knack, but never knew that it was so highly associated with BPD.  So here is the excerpt (from same article linked above) of interest on that: 

Some BPDs have an uncanny ability to read people so well that they can uncover the other person’s vulnerabilities. In Paul Mason’s book, “Stop Walking on Eggshells: Taking Your Life Back When Someone You Care About has Borderline Personality Disorder,” he describes this sensitivity as an “astute ability to identify and use social and nonverbal cues of others. BPDs can empathize well with others and often understand and respect how others feel, and they can use these skills to “see through others.” It is thought that many adults who were repeatedly physically and/or sexually abused as children developed these social and emotional antennae as a survival strategy. This helped them predict and therefore prepare themselves for what their abusers were about to do.”

I found this to be quite fascinating and I was so glad to have my feelings on this reaffirmed.  Isn't it an awesome feeling when you learn something is a well-known idea when you have had a hard time convincing people of it when they roll their eyes behind your back and think you're delusional?

Anyway, thank you for taking time to enlighten yourself on BPD.  I'd love to hear thoughts on this! 
 

4 comments:

  1. I'm obsessed with mental illnesses for obvious reason's, I have Bipolar Disorder as well. Plus I come from a family with TONS of mental illness disorders, including my mother who has BPD along with Bipolar. She was very manipulative, super dependent in relationships, and had serious anger issues. However, just because someone has BPD doesn't make them a horrible person. She is a wonderful person, just had to find the right meds and therapy to cope!
    My comment really provided nothing to your excellent post, I just wanted to add my experience with someone who had BPD.

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    1. Lol, thanks for the clarification! That is the one thing I have never had- a dependency on other people... I'm actually a very independent person and have never believed I needed to be in a relationship to be happy.

      I do think it would be nice if more people wouldn't place such stigmas, but I have actually never encountered anyone who has thought differently for it. Although it does make me mad when someone insinuates I'm over-reacting because of it... like I can't be frustrated because they are being wrong or annoying.

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