# Can someone with BPD describe their symptoms to me?



## Fluke93 (Nov 2, 2010)

Think i finally have a name for the feelings I have been experiencing. It makes total sense. I know 80% of girls have this, and only 20% of men, but i have done some research and it makes total sense to me. I have done about 5 questionares and they all point to borderline personality disorder. When i was younger i had no idea what a mental illness was, and i remember when i was 9 i said "mum i have a personality disorder". My unstable self image ive had for all my life. The idealization of others. I cant take critism. It makes me almost suicidal. Cant handle my anger. Cant handle my happiness. Get depressed for about 3 hours then it stops. I cant handle my mood. I space out, and feel empty most of the time. I can change my opnion on others in an instant. I go from happiness to self destruction with alcohol. It makes total sense to me. It really does.


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## Jamie780 (Nov 12, 2012)

I have all the symptoms you described extreme moodiness normally easily irratated . cloudy thinking not feeling one self strange vision which is mainly from DP , i also have some drinks because it makes me feel more happy but the next day is always really bad i get really depressed more than normal and my DP is way worse hope this helps


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## Cameron123 (Sep 6, 2012)

I wouldn't go about trying to diagnose yourself over the internet. I heard BPD can be really hard to diagnose, even for professionals.


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## drose (Dec 31, 2011)

Having known a couple people with BPD, it sounds just like what you've described. My only doubts would be from the fact that you are posting this here in the first place and you sought out answers yourself. I could be wrong, but I think personality disorder means the person "owns" their symptoms as a part of their personality and doesn't usually see anything wrong or denies that anything is wrong. Of course, that's not a strict thing. My ex-boyfriend would tell me things like he felt lost and didn't know who he was, like he was a ghost, but then if I mentioned it in a later conversation he would totally deny ever having said or felt anything of the sort. It was so frustrating.

Anyway, not here to complain about people with BPD. I think if you do have it, then your own awareness is probably a good sign that you can work through this. Not that it would be easy, but you're already miles ahead of most people with BPD (if that's what you have) just by being able to say something is wrong.

It could also be just a sort of random dissociative thing that's not specifically BPD, but on the same spectrum. Whatever you are dealing with, can I make a suggestion? I think that body/emotion awareness type therapy (not sure what the official name for it is) works amazingly well for dissociative disorders. It worked great for my DP/DR even though I only did it a few times, and I wish I could find another therapist who does it. At the time, my therapist was just learning about it. I also have a friend in another town who even has DID, and she found someone who specialized in this kind of therapy. It actually helped her to stop switching between alters! Which is incredible because she is in her late 30s, had DID since she was about three years old, and had like 9 different alters that she would switch to on a regular basis.

Good luck. I hope you can find some healing and comfort, whatever it is you are dealing with.


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## thedreamingtree (Oct 23, 2012)

Hi there,
For a long time now, I have wondered whether or not I truly suffer from BPD - perhaps a milder form. I personally do not like assigning "labels" to myself for what I feel, think, or experience - but I do meet many of the symptoms of someone suffering from BPD - I have not been clinically diagnosed, but I have done much research regarding BPD. I will share with you some things to be mindful of that are considered classic BPD symptoms.

People suffering from this have* extremely* unstable interpersonal relationships - most notable in relationships with significant others. This highly involves "splitting" - which is identified as thinking in very, very black-and-white terms - for example, one moment you may love and idealize someone, but the minute they do even the slightest thing you don't like or don't agree with your mindset changes - and suddenly you dislike them, and want nothing to do with them. This obviously is very problematic in romantic relationships and other close relationships, and has been something I personally struggle with (only in romantic relationships for me, though). Additionally, people with BPD also think in these split terms themselves. This splitting thinking brings on episodes of idealization and devaluation, as I just described. It causes chaos and instablity, and causes other people involved to really wonder WTF is going on, as one minute they feel loved, and the next hated.

Additionally, mood swings are very common. Very unstable and turbulent emotions are commonly involved - may go from a state of feeling okay or good, to intense irritability and anxiety that last a few hours typically, and then cycles again. BPD also presents problems with self image and idenity, and a disturbance with sense of self. This can lead to symptoms of dissociation (which may present as DP/DR).

Impulsivity is also a sign. Promiscuous sex, spending money, harming yourself, etc. Things like that seem to come along with BPD. I do not experience the impulsivity factor at all. I am a very non-impulsive person, so the fact I lack this symptom makes me question if BPD is actually the correct "label" to describe me.

Either way, in the end here, the labels don't truly matter. What matters is figuring out what's going on, and then managing it the best ways possible.

Hope this helped.


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