Diagnosis: BPD

[NYC refugee]

Originally Posted by jencam

Right. And they also have mal-adaptive behaviors that were created as ADAPTIVE behaviors to their environment. So they need to see that they don't need to do that anymore, and un-learn them. Learn healthy ways to be adaptive to the current environment.

I like some things that my Aunt says, who studies psychology but doesn't get into terminology very much. She isn't trying to be clinical in what she says. She said (regarding her narcissistic mother) that she was 'fighting for her right to exist' and I think that is true. This feeling of needing to began with being in an orphanage following her mother's death, imo.

Anyway, a friend was recently diagnosed with BPD. And I can see where some of her lying and manipulating came from as a survival tool in an insane household that she was brought up in. She isn't very serious about her therapy. She no longer speaks to me because she asked me to 'hold her accountable' and I did.

I said 'You're doing it again. You are reaching to find the negative and have been talking about that, dramatizing it blow by blow in excruciating detail for 1/2 of an hour, and you'd go on for 4 if I let you.'. She hasn't spoken to me since. /shrug

People who have BPD, rather than some of the symptoms of it, usually don't gain much from therapy, or from being held accountable. Considering the background that usually goes with the disorder, you have to feel sorry for these people, which is how they get through life, wearing out one person after another. I find it very sad.

The OP seemed to understand that therapy was the way out of all those symptoms and he was on board from day 1. He will end up a happier person with a better life.

Your friend, and my friend of a friend, I hope they find a way to help them some day.

[Javier77]

Originally Posted by ItsRick24

I've been seeing a therapist for my past anger issues and also have explained other things that have happened both recently as well as in my distant past...
I'm diagnosed with mild Borderline Personality Disorder. Symptoms including, but not limited to:

-Extreme anger/short temper
-Feelings of sadness/despair
-Feelings of loneliness/abandonment, and/or fear of same
-Feelings of low self-worth and/or inferiority

I'm sure there are a couple of others, but I can't think of them at the moment. But I do know too well about my anger problems; for years - decades at that - my anger masqueraded fear. As a kid, I guess I understood my deep fears. But now, as a 50+ adult, I'm slowly, ever slowly, conquering my fears one by one.

I used to think, "Only crazy people see shrinks!" But when I realized the many celebrities and other people of fame - past and present - who see shrinks, that in itself boosted my confidence.

Just curious:

- When you read The catcher in the rye (if you read it) did you feel related in an spiritual way to Holden Caulfield?

- Have you ever tried to imitate somebody you admired...to the point of thinking you are that person, and there is no longer a "you"?

-When you are in a relaxed, positive state of mind, do you regard yourself as having an above average IQ which allows you to go much deeper in certain subjects that other people just touch superficially, or just joining the dots in a much more creative way?

- When you are interested in some person of the opposite sex, do you end up scaring that person away because of your intensity?

- Does small talk with neighbours or casual aquaintances make you feel sick?