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I was once looking at Google for "personality disorders", as my daughter has serious issues. And it's obvious she has ADD, ADHD/Bipolar, ODD, Borderline and who knows what else. She has the most volatile personality I've ever seen and is simply impossible to live with. She goes from one bad relationship to another bad relationship with thieves, druggies and people with long criminal records.
My observations are that people with serious personality issues often have a little of one, and a little more of another. They seldom have just one problem/issue.
I do remember reading that the majority of people incarcerated have Borderline Personality Disorders. Borderlines don't admit that they have a problem, and it's very difficult to get them to a psychiatrist. If you can get them to take meds for their problem, they're very quick to sell them for spending money. They're often unemployed, homeless and without health insurance of any kind.
But the thing that stuck in my mind is that Borderline individuals have a very poor chance of getting better. It takes constant and intense therapy to minimize their disorder-which few are willing to do.
Borderline people will often be into shooting up illegal drugs, like meth and heroin. They think they can do it part time, and no one knows they're doing it. And they think they can function in life like this without affecting their families and friends. They don't care if self medicating is wrong and illegal.
Our immediate area has no high quality mental health professionals. Our local psychiatrists often move from place to place--not lifetime citizens in our community. They often sell their souls to the devil when 50 people will be in their offices at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday nights in line for their 30 second "office visits" where they get their prescriptions--cash or credit card only accepted.
Our 32 year old daughter has been couch surfing for the last 3 years, and she's got no transportation in order to "get a job." Every car she's ever had has been wrecked. We are retired and finding ourselves permanently raising an 8 year old girl. We finally had to move to another city to get away from our daughter and her "friends". I continue to pay for her healthcare insurance, which we cannot get her to use often.
We've undergone therapy and been to ALANON trying to learn how to deal with her Borderline personality. But she continues to keep our family in an uproar--with little signs of improvements. While we have not given up on our daughter, we place raising a little girl as our priority in life and she's doing great.
It was not too bad overall. One of my best hospitalizations, as odd as that sounds. The group therapy sessions were really good, especially music therapy. Most of the fellow patients seemed OK and the staff was fantastic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jencam
Have you had hypomanic episodes?
What I call my manic episodes aren't as manic as some people. I get goofy more than anything. Goofy and i am wide awake for three days sleeping onky an hour here or there. My depression is way lower than what I perceive as typical for most people. It can last for months sometimes.
It was not too bad overall. One of my best hospitalizations, as odd as that sounds. The group therapy sessions were really good, especially music therapy. Most of the fellow patients seemed OK and the staff was fantastic.
What I call my manic episodes aren't as manic as some people. I get goofy more than anything. Goofy and i am wide awake for three days sleeping onky an hour here or there. My depression is way lower than what I perceive as typical for most people. It can last for months sometimes.
I'm so glad it was a positive experience!
What you say could be hypomania, yes, which is important to know for treatment.
You should go to a day program. For the group therapy and other activities. A dr. sees you twice a week.
Depression like that takes work to get out of. I have a friend with BPII and she is on a regime of meds, exercise, therapy, diet, all the things. There isn't a pill that will just fix it by itself, unfortunately.
Depression like that takes work to get out of. I have a friend with BPII and she is on a regime of meds, exercise, therapy, diet, all the things. There isn't a pill that will just fix it by itself, unfortunately.
Yeah, I wish there was a magic pill that cured this thing without weight gain! But that's not going to happen! I am interested to see where this goes. I am not saying I am bi polar 2. That diagnosis is way behind my expertise, but it is worth considering.
The problem is BiPolar and Borderline disorder share almost exactly the same symptoms. They are only differentiated by several difference the greatest being duration of symptoms and timeframe.
For Borderline Personality Disorder drugs dont work as well as Bipolar. Lithium is bad, try Lamotrigine.
But this is the primary treatment for BPD.
"Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy tries to identify and change negative thinking patterns and pushes for positive behavioral changes. DBT may be used to treat suicidal and other self-destructive behaviors."
Both have certain behaviors and symptoms in common, such as anxiety and suicidal behavior. But there are major differences.
People with Bipolar Disorder will spend significant periods of time (weeks, sometimes months) in the same mood, whether manic or depressive, before changing over to the other mood. You may have been confused because there is a variant called "rapid cycling" Bipolar. But the definition of "rapid cycling" is someone who has four distinct episodes of mania or depression over the course of a year. Bipolar is primarily a mood disorder.
People with Borderline Personality Disorder (also known as Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder) can change their moods without any warning, and can have changing, multiple intense moods over the course of a day. They have severe issues with impulsivity/impulse control, and are quick to anger with very little provocation. People with Borderline are prone to swing between love and hate, friend and enemy, good and bad - they don't see things in shades of grey. They are prone to self-harm (for example, cutting) and are terrified of what they perceive as abandonment, even though their criteria is often irrational. They don't have a stable sense of self and have great difficulty with interpersonal relationships as a result. Borderline is primarily a personality disorder.
The above posting is it in a nutshell. Very seldom is a person with personality disorders just one problem. The Bipolar people will also have high anxiety. They may also be Obsessive Compulsive and have other issues like Oppositional Defiant Disorder.
While no one is a completely lost cause, those that are Borderline seldom improve. They're simply a$$holes for life. Those with personality disorders don't admit they have a problem. And they're certainly unwilling to put time in long term therapy and take meds that level out their personalities. Quality mental health care is very, very rare--as are high quality psychiatrists and therapists. If you can find one, they're treating patients for illegal drugs rather than behavioral disorders.
I've read that as many as 2/3 of those in prison have Borderline Personalities. And most are there for downright stupid minute to minute decisions--not planned criminal activities.
We have a ADHD/Bipolar daughter that's Borderline, OCD and seriously Oppositional Defiant Disorder. She is simply unemployable because she's a bad communicator and has a terrible personality. And no governmental help is available as she's never worked 40 quarters required for SS Disability. Any meds she's ever had were sold for spending money. She's a couch surfer--sleeping anywhere anyone will allow. And most of her friends are drug dealers, professional thieves/burglars and other chronically unemployed like herself. She's on ankle express--and uses that crutch to not even look for a job. She lives 10 miles from town and avoids the city because the police constantly hound her--over her friends. And since she refuses to pay court fees, she's often got warrants out for her arrest.
But the worst part about behavioral disorders is 100% bad judgement. Our daughter presented us with a 12 year old son that at least has a father taking care of him. But her 8 year old daughter is in our custody permanently. We'll be 80 when she gets out of high school. We were looking forward to retirement--not starting over with a 3rd set of kids.
The problem is BiPolar and Borderline disorder share almost exactly the same symptoms. They are only differentiated by several difference the greatest being duration of symptoms and timeframe.
For Borderline Personality Disorder drugs dont work as well as Bipolar. Lithium is bad, try Lamotrigine.
But this is the primary treatment for BPD.
"Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy tries to identify and change negative thinking patterns and pushes for positive behavioral changes. DBT may be used to treat suicidal and other self-destructive behaviors."
Borderline personality and bipolar both have the same symptoms but they are different disorders with different treatments.
For bipolar disorder, most people require a lifetime treatment so that they can manage their mood and they are mostly dependent on mood stabilizers and antidepressants. Whereas for Borderline Personality Disorder dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is used.
I mean, I guess if you were making some kind of a list on paper of symptoms of Bipolar, and Borderline Personality Disorder, there may be significant overlap. But when you actually encounter them, they look very different.
To jencam I believe, who said that external events can trigger bipolar mood shifts... Yes, but that's not what moongirl was really trying to explain. Sure, you can have a breakup that throws you into a depression. But you're in this whole depressive state, for some period of time, and it becomes something that is more like a storm inside your own head, than it is focused on the everyday interactions between you and other people, or another specific person. For the most part, bipolar is about your internal world, and borderline personality disorder is about your engagement with the external world...in how it manifests.
And even the manic phase of a bipolar shift does not always mean joy and elation. It might just mean that suddenly you have a ton of drive and energy, it might in fact be stressful as hell because suddenly you feel like you've got to work yourself half to death. You could go from sleeping all the time in a depressive phase, to running yourself ragged and possibly going with no sleep, maybe indulging in drug or alcohol benders on top of that because you are got-damn invincible and nothing can stop you. It's the kind of activity level that will burn you up and leave you spent. For my bipolar friend, she'd do that and she'd often make lots of friends during those phases because they would include a certain amount of partying and getting all involved in stuff... Then she'd rage out and push away those close to her, and sink into a depression and disappear. These phases would last weeks or months usually. But if she stays on her meds, it does seem to even out and make her more generally functional. Also, she had to quit drugs and drinking, which just...makes everything so much worse no matter what your issue is.
The Borderline Personality Disorder person... Might have spastic manic behavior, might also have self destructive, depressive signs, but is more apt to show you this stuff ALL IN THE SAME DAY. Especially if it might influence what you are saying and doing with regard to them. While the truly personality disordered are not very likely to get any meaningful help, the one I know has adopted many psychiatric labels which she uses to excuse her bad behavior, as some weird way to tell people that she is quirky/seriously unique/"cool?"/dangerous...she wears them like shiny stickers. She is forever hungrily looking at your face to see what you're thinking, how you're reacting to her. If you are calm, she'll do something to rile you up, if you're feeling one way, she'll try to make you feel another. It's like she has to be generating reactions from others, to her behavior AT ALL TIMES. She will seek out abusive partners, for the rush of finding someone else to "rescue" her from drama of her own making. It is always. something. with. her. Every day. All the time. She is exhausting to know. And absolutely she started this fairly young, and she was a victim of abandonment, abuse, and childhood sexual abuse. She once told me that the only time she ever felt truly loved, was when her Mom visited her in a mental hospital. She works to create situations where her issues require the full attention of others and drastic action, so that she can feel loved. A more normal level of attention and interaction, feels like abandonment to her.
So my reaction to someone with bipolar, is similar to my reaction to someone with depression or anxiety... I can love them, their issue does not define them, and with an appropriate amount of support, therapy, meds, their condition is definitely manageable, and there is a good chance that they can seek and get what they need from others. I feel very, "You are a wonderful person who is going through hard things" about someone dealing with bipolar.
My reaction to someone with Borderline Personality Disorder, much like other Personality Disorders like Narcissism or Sociopathy, is that they are such a non-stop drama bomb that they are harmful and dangerous to have around. There is no amount of support or help I can afford to give, that will ever make a meaningful difference in their lives, and having them close to me is going to hurt me more than it will ever help them. To be honest, I think that's one reason that it's hard for someone with a Personality Disorder to be helped by therapy, meds, etc. Any kind of relationship with them is a struggle for anyone to maintain for any amount of time. I might feel sympathy for them, for what they've gone through in life...but I can't save them, and I'm not gonna martyr myself trying.
Whats sad is the number of people who refuse to accept they can get well and recover.
They don't want to get well because they would have to change.
I didn't go to see a psychiatrist because I wanted to be medicated my whole lifetime and feel sorry for those who do.
I recovered.
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