BPD Questioning BPD diagnosis

[hypervigilant]

Have you looked at the diagnosis criteria online, it's broad, but might help you lock down some core examples as to why you feel the diagnosis is incorrect. It might not be formal (I really, really hope it's not formal) if it's one triage nurses opinion it's easier for it to be questioned and thought through more.

Thanks for your insight Midnight Moon.
I don't drink much, don't touch drugs, been married and settled for 23 years, don't self harm and I'm pretty balanced most of the time. I know I have adhd and I have the classic Cptsd. There was nothing other than childhood neglect and abuse that could lead the triage to a BPD diagnosis. My current counsellor suggested going to the first group session and talk to the counsellor direct. I have been asking for help since I first had the flashbacks 7 years ago, there was 3 rounds if self esteem courses and numerous meds offered which didn't work or zoned me out too much and I at last got referred for something more meaty but my point is if I don't have BPD it's not going to help and is just another waste of my time. The UK system seems to just keep going around in circles. If this 12 session DBT doesn't work first time I can go back another 2 times before they will move me to something else.

 

[Ecdysis]

Personally I think DBT can be a brilliantly helpful therapy for PTSD and cPTSD too. I think it's important to get the diagnosis corrected, but DBT could definitely be worth a try...?

 

[Midnightmoon]

My current counsellor suggested going to the first group session and talk to the counsellor direct.

I'm a group setting I'd say you'd realise pretty quickly if you feel what they are offering is something that's of use. From what you've said here, and my knowledge of NHS 12 week DBT groups (as a professional rather than a participant at that stage) if you don't struggle with self harm/ drink and drug use repeat attempts of suicide, escalating services (high user of emergency services etc), chaotic relationship etc etc then it's hard to see what that sort of setting could offer you.... DBT can be very very helpful for complex trauma but more so when stability is a real issue. (Also, DBT done properly is a good 6 months plus programme with 1-1 support too, not a 12 week NHS style tick that box malarkey)

As with everything in the NHS, if you decline, they then argue that you have refused/ disengaged and your likelihood for getting the right treatment is reduced even more.

Maybe attend and say what you've shared here, that you don't struggle with any of the typical things that they tend to focus on, and see what they suggest? It's exhausting, and you shouldn't have to, but I know unfortunately the system is so stuck you have to jump the hoops to have any chance of getting to the correct support. Private help is likely the best bet but not very accessible for the majority of people

 

[hypervigilant]

You see the system clearly Midnight Moon.
If I could afford it I would pay for a psychiatrist and a proper evaluation but funds don't allow so I'm on the wheel. Maybe I'm asking too much for wanting answers of a system that is just a tricky box exercise. Even my GP is frustrated with the system.

 

[Midnightmoon]

Maybe I'm asking too much for wanting answers of a system that is just a tricky box exercise. Even my GP is frustrated with the system.

You're not at all. Its a rubbish set of circumstances to be in.

As a side note, still expensive but clinical psychologists can assess, formulate and diagnose in the UK and are about half the cost privately of a psychiatrist. I had my diagnosis done that way, they did an initial conversation just about the difficulties, two appointments with the actual assessment content in them, then a handover of their assessment/ formulation, they spoke to and emailed my therapist at the time too and looked at my NHS records that I had access to. That was a couple of hundred pounds, still a huge amount (I saved my PIP payments) but helped me understand what the difficulties were and might be more achievable than a psychiatrist.

 

[hypervigilant]

Thankyou. I will look into that in the new year.
It's good to have somewhere to discuss the frustrations

 

[sidptitala]

after a 25 minute call decided I have BPD

I've done some homework and feel that very little in my symptoms that line up with BPD and it can often be over diagnosed in women

My mood doesn't swing from minute to minute, I'm certainly not a risk taker and I'm rarely angry.
I have terrifying flashbacks and very low self esteem and boundaries.

that rash jump to BPD angered me. I'm not impulsive or self harming, I'm quite logical, high functioning and not in any way fit the profile and felt totally unheard amd unseen again.

I don't drink much, don't touch drugs, been married and settled for 23 years, don't self harm and I'm pretty balanced most of the time.

There was nothing other than childhood neglect and abuse that could lead the triage to a BPD diagnosis

This happened to me, too. And I relate to all the quotes here above too. I managed to escape bpd diagnosis as far as I know - but I was told I almost certainly had it by the first psychiatrist I saw after getting a PTSD diagnosis elsewhere. It was brought up only because I have a history of child abuse- and once the doctor hear this- he went straight to it. An abuse victim almost certainly has bpd because they were abused, according to that psychiatrist. He didn't actually ask me any of the diagnostic questions.

I recently told this to a counsellor I am seeing who deals mostly with abuse and she said she doesn´t think she has ever had a client where that isn´t written about them somewhere.

You're right that it's bullshit! @Midnightmoon knows the system in the UK far better than me, but I would also say that if it's anything like the system in my country it can be something like when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. E.g. in my county psychological treatment is generally not available so most things are 'depression' so that they can be treated with SSRIs or 'personality disorder' if SSRIs don't work so that the health system can explain why the depression didn't respond to SSRIs. So for you it could be like, we have DBT and she needs help- what do we diagnose her with so she can take our limited help?

Either way, this is something that happens to so many women. I understand the symptoms of bpd as stigmatised female behaviour- things that 'bad girls' do that people use to justify their abuse of them. For me and you, and I guess many others, we didn't need to display any of that behaviour to be accused of it and found guilty.

 

[hypervigilant]

Sidptitala. Yes exactly that's exactly how I feel. This is the therapy we have, you must fit the criteria as we have no other option. Thankyou for your insight.
I too felt it's like this bad girl label that I have been fighting against my whole life. As a child I didn’t fit because of what I know now is adhd. But even as a teenager I didn't sleep around or take risks sexually I was actually quite the opposite as my mother was quite the sexual vamp sleeping with whoever she could for money, jewelery or just to get one up on their wives.
I had hoped at one point a therapist might want to help me find me but they are just another system that needs to bend me to fit their needs.
There is never a point that I can let my guard down and get the help I need.

 

[sidptitala]

I too felt it's like this bad girl label that I have been fighting against my whole life

There is never a point that I can let my guard down and get the help I need

Yes 100% this. I feel this so keenly myself.

I try to take comfort in the fact that it happens to so many people that surely that diagnosis must be taken with a huge pinch of salt, by at least by some people.

 

[Friday]

I'm curious how everyone in this thread, who agrees that BPD is wildly over-diagnosed and often confused for other conditions like PTSD, ADHD, Autism, etc...

BPD symptoms have. to. have. been. present. since. childhood.

It’s not simply enough that there was childhood trauma, significant enough to cause a personality disorder; the symptoms of BPD ITSELF have to be “enduring & persistent”. EVEN TEXTBOOK BPD showing up for the very first time at 60yo? Rules out BPD. AND introduces a helluva lotta other possible disorders & conditions that ONLY show up post-menopausal, as well as a few hundred that are entirely unrelated to hormones or aging.

Only the laaaaaziest of the LAZY diagnosticians would “assume” what they’re seeing, in this moment, have always been present.

 

[hypervigilant]

Yes wouldn't I be presenting issues throughout my life, issues with troubled relationships etc.

 

[Hopemeanslife]

I think diagnosis are very complicated. When I was 18/19 about 11 years ago they gave me many diagnosis from depression all the way up to bpd, I didn’t feel like they knew what way they could help me, just tell me to sit with a psychologist or take medication was mainly my options then, I smoke substances instead of taking medication so in the end I stopped going went to a group therapy. Then a couple of months ago I was on the phone to a mental health from nhs and they decided I have ptsd and put me on the wait list for ptsd treatment. So I’m not really sure what’s going on. I’m not convinced it’s as straight forward as this. I’m currently waiting to be assessed properly by a psychiatrist or psychologist depending on what they decide. Bpd or ptsd problem is they have very similar symptoms so they could also overlap. Both disorders definitely overlap with others