New to BPD

Hello @rubber_wheelz and welcome to the forums community.

I'm curious, is this something that you have brought up to your current therapist?

We do have a number of members on here who has lived experience of BPD and may be able to give you some guidance based on their lived experience. If you'd like you can read through and gain some insight in threads like this one

@rubber_wheelz . It sounds like you're ready to find out whether you've got BPD or not now. You can go back to your previous psychiatrist and ask for an assessment. Or you can find a new psychiatrist to do the assessment with. You will have to stick it out with them so that they can spend some time with you and get to know you more so that they don't misdiagnose you. Unfortunately I don't know of any low cost way of doing this. Someone else might.

Hey @rubber_wheelz ,

I've had BPD for many many years now and have done the rounds. I was diagnosed in my early 20s whilst in hospital. Long story short, over a decade later, I was accepted into an outpatient MBT clinic where I received twice weekly therapy.

Things couldn't be better now. I feel that once you move past that critical stage with BPD, it is unlikely you'll regress.

You may be interested in these psychoeducation classes here https://www.spectrumbpd.com.au/education-training/training-for-the-community

Hi @rubber_wheelz,

I was diagnosed with BPD a year ago in Queensland. I was already on antidepressant medications for depression and anxiety, so I went to my GP and inquired about achieving an BPD diagnosis (I had limited financial resources). My GP completed a referral for my to go through the hospital/government funded psychiatrist, my doctor claiming she wanted a diagnosis clarification to make sure I was on the right medication.

The downside is that it takes a bit of time for them to contact and arrange the appointment, and you have no control on the psychiatrist you see. However, I did achieve the BPD assessment and diagnosis in one session, without having to pay a single dollar or having to spends lots going to a Private Psychiatrist.

While BPD is a complex mental health condition, and the psychiatrist I had was not empathic or the most helpful, I have found it helpful achieving a diagnosis. It help provide a reason for my experiences and explains the high rate of the comorbidity (I experience allot of mental illnesses which is a common factor with BPD. It also meant my therapist was able to do a different type of treatment more aligned for patients with BPD (Dialectical Behavior Therapy).

I hope this provides some insight or can be helpful 🙂

Hi @SillyGoose22 @rubber_wheelz @Cleo2 !

How are you all going?

@tyme @rubber_wheelz @SillyGoose22 @Ru-bee . My life is like a roller coaster and I don't even leave the house. 🙂

Awwww hun @Cleo2 ,

I'm thinking of you.

I hear you said you don't leave the house. Is it because you just prefer not to?

I know with my BPD (and depression), I think I stayed inside most of the time... for 10 years... even basic self-care was such an effort.

How are you today anyway?

I'm missing our live chats. You are totally amazing on the live chats. I hope we can get them up and running soon so that we can glean from your words of wisdom.

Aww thanks @tyme . I'm missing the chats too. It gave me a chance to be a bit silly and a bit spontaneous.

I can't complain about how I am atm. It's not great but I'm not at rock bottom like I used to be in physical and mental health. The paranoia is keeping me at home at the moment. Need to maintain my health issues so I'm not young anymore. Ha.

How are you?

Sounds hard @Cleo2 .

Maybe distraction here will help?

@tyme . I just have to be more on top of self-maintenance than before, that's all. Distraction is usually a great help. The Sane Forums are a great distraction for me because I get to hear other people's problems and POVs. I'm also doing one of the programs from here too. It helps most of the time. How do you find being a Community Lead on Sane? Compassion burnout?

I'm also becoming aware of a new bad habit I've picked up this year. I think it's called doom scrolling? Most of the time the short videos I watch are harmless, but sometimes I want to watch something dark and afterwards I wish I hadn't. Last night I watched a 'most disturbing movie' video, and the movie was a no nonsense view on what would happen if there had been nuclear war in England in about 1984. The few clips I saw really bothered me afterwards. I really need to give this habit up. 🙂