Topic Tuesday Tonight **closed** - BPD: Debunking the myths

@Shadow

Hi Shadow, there are a lot of people who are now talking the BPD language to professionals and clinicians and slowly this is starting to filter down to them. The greatest stigma is at emergency departments where people with BPD are treated as attention seekers and time wasters. Project Air Strategy has an education programme in place to talk to ED staff and explain to the what BPD is and the best way to treat people at the ED level.

@Raven

Yes misdiagnosis is not uncommon. Bipolar and BPD are similar. The difference seems to be in the abandonment issues, that does not occur in Bipolar. Usually there is a relationship crisis that precipitates when someone gets into a devastating emotional headspace where they can't deal with things. With bipolar you have the highs and the lows and this tends to cycle three or four times a year, whereas with BPD the emotions cycle every other minute and we can have several crises in one day, which makes it very exhausting.

yes i was treated 2 years ago by two mental health professionals a psycologist and psyciatrist, both of them treaated me like i was "putting it on" and it made me feel like i was wasting their time and others. the rolling eyes, and being spoken down to because i am unable to work because i am so dibilitated by mental health issues.

i only went to one session each and never went back

I have seen psych sites online where you can do tests with multiple choice quetions to see if you have BPD.

@Crazy_Bug_Lady

There are nine criteria for the diagnosis of BPD and you need five in order to get a diagnosis. This equates to 256 different types of presentations. Some people tend to have the more behavioural aspects of BPD, and others tend to focus inwards. Some are very high functioning, clinical psychologists and psychiatrists can have BPD and still function well in their job and hide their condition. Others have not been employed for years and are on disability. BPD presents differenly for all people but of course there are lots of commonalities as well.