BPD Ptsd and bpd - how can you tell if a person has both?

[Seeking_Nirvana]

I was wondering how one can figure out that a person has BPD when they have PTSD too. I actually went and looked BPD up again after Fin was banned, and I still don't understand it.

My doctor gave me that diagnosis about 6-8 months ago and I asked him to explain it to me and he said they automatically give it to those who have been molested or sexually assaulted as a child. (OK, Whatever)?

I asked him if I had the symptoms because I read about it and there were so many things/symptoms that my mind had a melt down. I noticed some symptoms were the same as the symptoms people with PTSD have.

He said I had a few that were minimal, but I'm able to control them by being self aware and working toward recovery with all my symptoms and didn't specifically tell me what they were.

But after Fin was banned I have to wonder if I'm next because I don't understand what part of the whole BPD I have. (If it's bad PM me)

The doctor I worked with for two years has graduated last June and I have a brand new doctor I've only seen twice, so he won't be able to tell me much about how it relates to me until he gets to know me better.

I had no idea Fin had BPD and I'm curious how one could tell just by reading their posts or what to look for? Would anyone here mind sharing how you can tell if a person has BPD just by reading their writing or even talking to them even when they have PTSD too. :poke:

Thanks
Tammy

 

[Kunoichi]

Seeking-Nirvana,

Not everyone that has been sexually molested or assaulted as a child has BPD. There are very distintive symptoms that charactize someone with Borderline Personality Disorder. I personally have Dissociative Identity Disorder, aka, Multiple Personality Disorder. However, my sister, who has been thru somewhat similar trauma, does not have DID or BPD or even PTSD. Sometimes there is pre-disposition to personality disorders similar to any other illness.

You can't always tell just by talking to someone if they are BPD or DID. I have some links on BPD that may be helpful if you want them. :)

Hope this helps ease your concern.

Take Care

 

[becvan]

Tammy, I do know that Complex PTSD and BPD share some symptoms. Just because we share symptoms does not mean we have BPD. Many mental health disorders have overlapping symptoms, it doesn't mean you automatically have all the disorders though!

From my experience (real life) people with BPD tend to be very manipulative. They have this all encompassing fear of rejection and abandonment that causes them to try to keep people close, no matter how they have to do it. It's exceptionally self destructive and they tend to drive everyone away from them, thereby repeating the cycle of rejection and abandonment. They can tend to be overly clingy, stalkerish or scarily manipulative. (I am greatly generalizing here.)

The biggest difference is the rejection/abandonment issues. They are HUGE with BPD. It is what drives most of the disorder. Survial is what drives PTSD.

Yes you can have both, but it is often over diagnosed with both. I'd really go and get a second opinion if I were you.

bec

 

[Seeking_Nirvana]

Hi Kunoichi, I'm not sure if the links will help me. I understand things better when they are explained to me in the way of the person's experience. For instance, if you gave me an example of what you do that makes you have DID. I've researched BPD and it seems that most of it has something to do with "thinking in black and white". IDK?

Hi Bec, I'm all over the survival issue so I know I have PTSD, but the fear of abandonment hasn't been a big concern of mine. It's usually the other way around unfortunately.

I've struggled to "want" to stay in relationships because I tend to throw people out of my life quickly when I get fed up. A lot of times I realize this is a problem for me and take people back, but not always.

To be blunt, I really don't want that many people in my life. It's a hassle because some call me all the time wanting things that I can't give. Those people stay at a very far distance because needy individuals bother me when they get to close. If my husband left me I would be upset but I wouldn't stalk him LOL, and I certainly don't sit around and worry about it.

What do you think? IDK, Maybe I just have a slight symptom of it, with tossing people quickly?

Thanks
Tammy

 

[midi]

Hey Tammy,

Dr. Ex was bipolar and was supposed to be on meds. He would use drugs and booze instead. He was extremely manipulative and had an extreme fear of rejection. He absolutely had to have 100% control over his environment and everybody in it. He also had extremely impulsive behaviors that cycled in highs and lows. I never understood the strange games and lies he'd create or why he thought it was all necessary. He also needed to either have people around him 100% of the time or be consuming tv/video games/studying/cheating. Even though he is a doctor, he moves from hospital to hospital because of his mental illness.

As a PTSDer, I don't think manipulating peeps is a priority - it's more about getting the hell away from people before they beat/rape/murder me. Just leave me alone. While I have a history of self-harming, I've always managed to pay the rent all these years as a sole-supporting parent, which is not typical of BPD.

I honestly thought that Fin was having a breakdown or that maybe there was a really bad situation going on. I dunno. But I didn't see all those moderated posts and often, what was posted was too much to sift through. It was confusing.

I don't remember being automatically labeled anything (other than crazy by my family) because I was sexually abused as a child. I spent years fearing I was insane (because my abusers told me I was). You have to be assessed first, no? How can you deal with your fear of having such a disorder? What can your medical peeps do to handle the fear?

 

[Deleted member 541]

I was actually told by a person that I work for, who is a child psychiatrist, that she felt I had BPD also. I have had 2 Psychiatrist that have diagnosed me with PTSD, that worked with me. I believe I have PTSD only...

I do have issues with rejection, but I think people in general don't really like to be rejected. I don't do the stalking, or manipulating crap, I just have a hard time with it.

There will always be symptoms that over lap, I believe with almost any diagnosis, so I wouldn't put to much into it.....

 

[Kunoichi]

Seeking Nirvana,

For me, the symptoms that I display with DID (altho I have it under control) is time loss, "switching - to where I will switch to an alter who speaks different, has a different way of viewing reality, different memories, different name - I will not remember the event or i will only gain snippets, These alters also will have different handwriting..however I will note that its not like the movie Sybil, where things are that extreme.

Even being DID, you can still be high functioning. I still go to school, manage my responsibilities, work, pay my bills, etc. There are those with DID who are low functioning and are unable to recognize the need for therapy or help.

Hope this clears it up a little. I'm also half awake at the moment lol

 

[Seeking_Nirvana]

I do understand loosing time and I went back into the archives and read something I posted over a year ago and I didn't believe that I posted it because I thought to myself, "I don't feel that way about that situation".

If it didn't have my user name on it and me ending it with my real name I would have thought someone else typed it. This has happened to me at jobs and when I've seen my signature I realized something is not right because I had to have typed it even though I have no memory of it. I change my POV on a whim like one of the other members stated they do. Maybe, that is what it is?

I'm going to talk to my new doctor and see if he can get my chart and find what the old doc said about it because it's bothering me now.

Tammy

 

[PerfectEmpire]

Bpd

The psychiatrist who referred me to my current therapist diagnosed me with a personality disorder. He said that my personality was "very much like Borderline but not quite the same" and said he was "unsure" of the exact disorder to diagnose me with.

He sent me to my current therapist because she administered Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) which is the best thing for BPD and similar personality disorders.

Long story short, I went from being obsessive, clingy, violent, and needy to calm, collected, thoughtful, and in control. It took about 6 months to notice a difference and by 2 years I was like a whole different person. I hardly ever scare people anymore! LOL

I could not tell from the posts that I saw whether or not Fin had BPD. I *could* tell that Fin was very much the way I used to be. I can read her diary and recall posting like that on other forums way back in the day.

Seeing that Fin is banned scares me because I am afraid that I will be next! But I don't think my posts are anything like hers. If they ever get that way, please PM me asap!

 

[anthony]

The DSM IV TR criterion. Tammy, your doctor is an idiot if they gave you this label for those reasons you stated. What a dead set twit. This is the problem with doctors thinking outside their realm of expertise... making shit up to suit themselves and to justify labelling and medication prescription.

Kunoichi said it extremely well IMHO. Not going to reinterate.

Don't believe everything a doctor tells you, because they are not always right, far from it. This is just another example of some of the idiots in this world who are in charge of our health... worse, mental health.

Like any disorder, there are also marked variances. For example, I know a few people here who have Borderline Personality Disorder, but they have it in control, they have a lesser variance of the disorder or they are medicated for it. Like PTSD, you can have it and work, you can have it and be dead in months, you can have it and never leave your house, etc. There are great variations in any disorder, they are not all equal on the symptom scale. They are equal on whether you have it or not though.

Your own upbringing and behaviours also reflect on how instable your personality overall will be. Some more than others, some just are quite normal with PTSD ups and downs, nothing more to it.

Don't worry Tammy, you have done nothing wrong nor do you show traits of such that I would even need to bother about. All normal from my perspective and nothing to worry about.

The problem with personality disorders vary, though the real issue is that whilst some have or are suspected to have one type, often they move between a range of them, paranoid personality disorder, schizoid traits, etc.

Diagnostic criteria for 301.83 Borderline Personality Disorder

A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

(1) frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.
Note: Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5.

(2) a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation

(3) identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self

(4) impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex, Substance Abuse, reckless driving, binge eating).
Note: Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5.

(5) recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior

(6) affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days)

(7) chronic feelings of emptiness

(8) inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights)

(9) transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms

 

[Nicolette]

I had no idea Fin had BPD and I'm curious how one could tell just by reading their posts or what to look for? Would anyone here mind sharing how you can tell if a person has BPD just by reading their writing or even talking to them even when they have PTSD too.

One simple thing I noticed Tammy was that Fin would actually talk to herself in the same posts as if she was talking to someone else and would answer her own posts too as if she was answering another member.

 

[kers]

I used to be really worried that I had BPD, since I read about the overlap with Complex PTSD. But after a lot of reading I could put my mind at ease. As I interpret the DSM criteria, what you'll see with BPD is a lot of instability.

Someone with BPD has moods that change on a dime; it's someone who will scream at you for a mistake and then, when you leave the room, they cry and beg you not to go and apologize. They manage their unstable feelings with impulsive and addictive behaviors, so you'll see someone who goes on a drinking binge when she fights with her boyfriend or takes an OD of pills when she's angry over a relatively minor incident.

There's a book called something like "Stop Walking on Eggshells" and that's supposed to be how people feel around a person with BPD, like they are always afraid of setting that person off one way or another.