I know the proper people to ask would be professionals, but I'm wondering if anyone knows if Borderline Personality Disorder is something which is easily misdiagnosed based upon just a checklist of classic symptoms? (In other words, are there other simiar disorders?) My husband went undiagnosed and untreated, and naturally I've been reading up on what might have been going on, but it's not a field where I know enough to know if something that seems like a bullseye could just as easily be something else.
I read the following (bolded what was relevant):
I will ask a professional when I have the chance, but for now do the bolded passages seem like I'm on the right track? Or are those issues pretty generic to any number of diagnosis. The only thing I would have to add that's not included above is a tendency toward psychogenic nonepileptic seizures as a means of coping with anger in addition to self-injurous aggression.
I read the following (bolded what was relevant):
Quote:
| While a person with depression or bipolar disorder typically endures the same mood for weeks, a person with BPD may experience intense bouts of anger, depression, and anxiety that may last only hours, or at most a day. These may be associated with episodes of impulsive aggression, self-injury, and drug or alcohol abuse. Distortions in cognition and sense of self can lead to frequent changes in long-term goals, career plans, jobs, friendships, gender identity, and values. Sometimes people with BPD view themselves as fundamentally bad, or unworthy. They may feel unfairly misunderstood or mistreated, bored, empty, and have little idea who they are. Such symptoms are most acute when people with BPD feel isolated and lacking in social support, and may result in frantic efforts to avoid being alone. People with BPD often have highly unstable patterns of social relationships. While they can develop intense but stormy attachments, their attitudes towards family, friends, and loved ones may suddenly shift from idealization (great admiration and love) to devaluation (intense anger and dislike). Thus, they may form an immediate attachment and idealize the other person, but when a slight separation or conflict occurs, they switch unexpectedly to the other extreme and angrily accuse the other person of not caring for them at all. Even with family members, individuals with BPD are highly sensitive to rejection, reacting with anger and distress to such mild separations as a vacation, a business trip, or a sudden change in plans. These fears of abandonment seem to be related to difficulties feeling emotionally connected to important persons when they are physically absent, leaving the individual with BPD feeling lost and perhaps worthless. Suicide threats and attempts may occur along with anger at perceived abandonment and disappointments. People with BPD exhibit other impulsive behaviors, such as excessive spending, binge eating and risky sex. BPD often occurs together with other psychiatric problems, particularly bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and other personality disorders. |
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