BPD Diagnosis confusions - bpd/bipolar confused with ptsd - common?

[Maggiemay]

An interesting discussion! As someone with BPD, PTSD and now bipolar traits (apparently on the spectrum? :s ) I have a lot of overlap between each diagnosis...
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[Anna]

Like I said, borderline is an easy label for a lazy professional to slap on a person's file.

There are 9 criteria that have to be met for someone to be diagnosed with BPD. I prefer the term "emotional intensity disorder" myself.

Dendrite

People with borderline feel emotions longer than other people. They wear their heart on their sleeve, their emotions are more intense and extreme. Current research has shown people with BPD have different brain structures when it comes to feeling emotions. There is a whole load of new research being done on this illness which was ignored and stigmatised by health professionals for years.

I actually find it very upsetting that people treat mental illness in general as a taboo. You do not see people with physical ailments such as diabetes feeling ashamed of it.

In general though, it is very common to have more than one mental illness, or for them to coincide.
I myself have PTSD and BPD. I also suffer from OCD.

 

[Maggiemay]

Never hear it called 'emotional intensity disorder'... I'm strictly speaking diagnosed with 'emotionally unstable personality disorder' which is BPDs new name in UK.. Hate it even more than BPD name -- don't want to go round telling people I'm emotionally unstable, especially as I'm a teacher!! *sigh* although kept it hidden...

 

[Anna]

*Sigh*

It is terrible how there are all these labels :( Then they rename it to something else.
I am just me, and we are all individuals after all.
Why is it so bad to be sensitive? or emotional?

:(

 

[Maggiemay]

I second that @Anna !

 

[Caterpillar]

There are 9 criteria that have to be met for someone to be diagnosed with BPD. I prefer the term "emotional intensity disorder" myself.

I'd like to know how I ended up with the misdiagnosis then, since only four of those criteria apply to me and all of them are explained by PTSD or Bipolar Disorder. I'm actually getting married next month and am (and always have been) pretty stable in relationships for someone with several mental illnesses.

 

[Anna]

We do forget, that the people who diagnose are also human beings, noone is perfect, everyone makes mistakes.

 

[catjudo]

They would be less likely to make a mistake if someone who has only met and talked with you for 5 minutes didn't declare they knew with all degree of certainty that you had a particular illness and proceed to place it on your chart expecting all others in the future to follow without questioning.

 

[TimeToHeal]

@Anna, not to cause further confusion but, the DSM actually states you have to meet 5 of the 9 listed criteria to receive a diagnosis of BPD.

Just wanted to clarify. :)

 

[shimmerz]

For myself and with help from my t-doc we feel that the root of the problem is the trauma. The other diagnosis just get in the way as far as our way of treating me. So we look at the trauma and it seems to be helping with any other issues that overlap.

The SSRI's are dangerous for me. When I was put on them I had a unbelievably serious reaction. The more they changed the SSRI's the more I reacted. Due to these reactions I was given a diagnosis by one hospital of Bipolar (they said people with PTSd who responded to SSRI's the way I did have Bipolar). After having spoken to my friends that have known me for decades (as I was shaken by this), two of which have very intense experiences with people in their families with Bipolar - they absolutely stated that they saw absolutely none of that in me. There is a great video on Youtube that talks about the DSM and the dangers of getting multiple diagnosis based on the same information given to different doctors. It is called The DSM: Psychiatry's Deadliest Scam.

My thought is focus on the trauma first.

 

[Valentino]

Labels can be useful to help with identifying strategies for therapy, but at the same time they can be harmful if they're used primarily as something to blame, resist, or attack.

I think this is a pretty good video that shows what borderline personality disorder can feel like inside:

 

[Anna]

Indeed, I have experienced great hostility towards myself because of my illness. I keep it secret most of the time. It causes huge problems in my relationships with other people. What really pisses me off and makes me angry is when people say "get a thick skin", "why are you so easily offended?" I am sensitive, that is the way I am, and most people cannot accept that which is why I tend to dislike most people and see them as being cruel and evil.