Category Archives: Borderline PD

ADD/ADHD, Borderline PD, Scientific Papers

ADHD & BPD Cooccurrence

Common ground in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)–review of recent findings.

Click HERE for the original paper.

EXCERPTS FROM THE PAPER:

“… ADHD and BPD share some clinical features, particularly impulsivity and emotional instability. These disorders often co-occur. Patients with both diagnoses have more pronounced difficulties which are intertwined and often difficult to treat. In particular, impulsivity seems to be a severely impairing characteristic of patients suffering from both disorders. In BPD, impulsivity is primarily driven by affective and interpersonally sensitive aspects. In ADHD, deficits in attentional and cognitive processing account for behavior inhibition problems, referred to as impulsivity. …”

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Articles, Borderline PD

How to Heal from BPD Splitting

Note: You can read the original article HERE

EXCERPTS FROM THE ARTICLE

“ …

It’s a rigid way of perceiving things. It means someone always has to be “good” and another has to be “bad.”

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Learning to Cope with Black-and-White Thinking

Sometimes when I get into this mode of perception, I’ll write down my distorted thought and rewrite a different way of perceiving the situation. Here are some examples of reimagining these beliefs in a new way.

“I hate you, I love you” can be instead: “I love you and sometimes you really frustrate me. I dislike your behavior right now, it’s hurtful to me. I can be frustrated and dislike what you’re doing but still love you.” There’s room for all of this.

“You are perfect I must be evil” becomes: “No one is perfect. No one is evil. I’m doing my best and so are you. We’re having a disagreement right now and that’s okay. No one is ‘bad’ here. We’re just not seeing eye to eye right now and that’s part of life.”

The Angel vs Devil Complex: This is really just a twist on all things, situations, and people as either all good (perfect) or all bad (evil). My therapist always reminds me: “No one is all good or all bad. There’s no such thing. You have good parts and bad parts; you’re a human being.”

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Articles, Borderline PD, The Upside

Strengths and Qualities of BPD

NOTE: You can read the original article HERE

There are so many upsides of having Borderline PD. True, at times living with BPD can feel very debilitating, but a person with BPD must keep their perspective balanced and see the positive traits that they have. I always say that BPD is ‘Invalidated Sensitivity’. Having BPD means that you also have many great qualities. This article says it well.

EXCERPTS FROM THE ARTICLE

“ …

Here is a list on the upsides of BPD.

  • Resilience – Many people with BPD have battled struggles with drug and alcohol addictions, self-harm, suicidal behaviour, and eating disorders. Many are survivors of trauma and therefore the ability to manage the emotional dysregulations on a daily basis is nothing short of being warriors.
  • Empathy and compassion – People with BPD experience greater internal and external turmoil. However, this in turn allows for the ability to recognise and have greater insight for others in similar situations. Sharing stories of lived experience about emotional pain encourages others to open up and gives a sense of belonging and freedom from stigma. For instance, a study has shown that people with BPD are able to read facial expressions and emotions better than those without BPD.
  • Curiosity – Being extra sensitive and connection emotions, senses and surroundings allows for greater curiosity in the minds of those with BPD.
  • Bold – Impulsivity is a BPD trait that can be positively linked to being bold, courageous and having the ability to speak one’s mind.
  • Creative – The high intensity of emotions can be released into creative endeavours. Many people with BPD put their entire emotional expression into music, art, performance and writing.
  • Intuition – High sensitivity to surroundings learned from childhood means people with BPD are more aware of other people’s emotional states. Sometimes the intuition may be overwhelming but when managed, people with BPD can help others in distress rather than exacerbate the pain.
  • Passionate and emotional – When a person with BPD loves, the love is deep, highly committed and loyal to the relationship. Even though there may be struggles with attachment and fears of abandonment, these are ultimately manifestations of love. When the emotions are managed, liveliness and wittiness become the dominant qualities.
  • Protective – The care and intensity a person with BPD feels towards another person or situation may be translated into high aggression as a method of protecting others and the self.
  • Hope – The negative symptoms of BPD are indeed manageable with a combination of psychotherapy, a support network and long-term commitment. This is worth fighting for each day!

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Books, Borderline PD, Toward Understanding

A Letter from A Loved One with BPD

pic credit: beliefnet

To My Loved Ones:

I am writing this letter to help you understand what those of us with borderline personality disorder (BPD) go through. It is a severe mental illness, and yet describing it is often very difficult to put into words.

Studies have shown that people diagnosed with BPD actually have brains that differ from that of the general population. The part of our brain that deals with emotional responses is overactive, meaning that we are highly sensitive and our emotions are extremely intense and unstable. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that is responsible for reasoning and logic. It is this part of the brain that will stop people from behaving in a certain way due to consequences. In those of us with BPD, this part of our brain is underactive—meaning we are unable to think rationally and often act out without thinking of the consequences.

I feel this is important to tell you, as so many people are misinformed regarding this disorder, with a few questioning whether BPD is even a thing, due to the fact that you cannot “see” our mental health. If you were to see inside our brain, however, you would realize that BPD is there.

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