Borderline Personality: Possible to have a normal life?

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I diagnosed myself Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Its something i've had since i was a kid but i couldn't put a name on it, as it didn't match with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or any other common mental illnesses. As a med student as soon as i got classes about the illness and read about it i realized it was a 100% match.

Life has been very hard for me because of this, and now that i know the name of the problem, that i know it does happen to more people, and that it has treatment, i will look for specific psychiatric treatment and psychotherapy.

Looking at the studies of the illness, it usually has good prognosis after years of therapy, but the way i feel now it seems like something impossible, or extremely hard to fix.

So i wanted to ask if there is anybody else with this disorder that is currently going through treatment to tell me if its really true i can stop being this way 100%? Or if it really helps considerably in reducing symptoms? Has anyone had any bad experiences of getting hospitalized against will for having a severe form of this disorder? I'd like to get treatment but i don't want to cut my whole life because of it. Plus its going to be way harder for me to become a doctor if i have a history of being hospitalized because of psychiatric treatment.

the only time you'd be hospitalized would be if you're imminently suicidal or homicidal. you can be treated without hospitalization. my sister has BPD (she's 55) and has never been hospitalized. a therapist who specializes in dialectical behavioral therapy may be of great benefit to you.

I do have frequent suicide thoughts, and the only reason i don't do it is because i fear the pain typical easy suicide methods involve. If there was an easy pain-free method i would have probably done it by now. I also have a small hope inside that there is light after the tunnel, which might help in controling suicide attempts. But i have seriously considered it many times. Does that count as imminently suicidal? I also fought with my mum yesterday and in the anger of the moment i thought of killing her but i was able to control myself and think it through. Is that imminently homicidal?

thinking about doing something is not imminently. having a plan, the necessary materials, and intending to carry out the plan is imminently.

And did your sister get better? I know its not cuantifiable, but if you had to give an estimated percentage of recovery, what would it be?

And did your sister get better? I know its not cuantifiable, but if you had to give an estimated percentage of recovery, what would it be?

My psychiatrist believes that no one can analyse oneself. I believe there is some truth to it.
I was once miss-dx with ADHD because I talked for months about issues being able concentrating especially while reading and in the end it came out that I've a problem with my eyes.

So if you think you have something it's best to talk with a psychiatrist about it.

Its different than your situation. You diagnosed yourself with ADHD because you knew the stereotype of the illness, a commonly known thing. Most people say ok problems with concentration -> ADHD. In med school they don't teach us stereotypes, they teach us to diagnose the same way a real doctor does, so even though it is possible i'm wrong (as nobody is an expert at diagnosing just after learning an illness), the chances are smaller as i know the illness in depth. I even know how its classified in subtypes and i also fit in a specific subtype. Its a 100% match.
I will still go to the psychiatrist for the therapy so if i'm mistaken he will correct me.

First of all a psychiatrist dx me after telling him my symptoms, but I had a wrong view, that was the problem in the first place. So I didn't self-dx and I never claimed that I did and second of all my father was a psychotherapist and I read a lot about psychiatry. I find your answer rather disturbing without knowing the exact facts and assuming things I never said in the first place.

I guess it is possible to live a normal life with BPD. I have a friend with it and while I know she takes medicine and has been hospitalized, she's quite high functioning and is very self aware of her issues. I think that its important to have a support network, even if its just friends, but then I don't know much about the clingy side of BPD. DBT is often recommended, with I think id a combination of CBT and counselling or group therapy or whatever. Again, I'm no expert.

I guess it really depends on how well you respond to therapy, but it's possible to live with this and have a relatively stable and happy life.

I assumed you self diagnosed because you told me to talk to a psychiatrist to avoid miss-dx. Then you tell me its your psychiatrist is the one that miss-dx you, then whats the point of your first statement that there is truth to one not being able to analyse oneself and what is the backup of your argument?

I don't think your father being a psychotherapist and you reading a lot of psychiatry has to do with the argument, considering you are now telling me it wasn't you who diagnosed yourself, correct me if im wrong. Sorry if my statement seemed offensive.

Anyways, it is possible to analyse oneself in certain situations, like obvious behaviours and feelings. You more than anyone else will know what you feel/do. Maybe if the problem is in the subconscious or if it affects cognition you might need help in analysing yourself, but BPD is not the case. In fact, the traditional way to diagnose BPD is ask the patient what he feels/does and see if he meets the criteria, something i can do myself alone.

Sorry, i think i miss explained myself. I do know BPD people can be high functioning and be self aware of issues: Myself i have very good grades, compete in sports in international level, and i'm aware of my issues. I am able to get a girlfriend, family, job, etc. But no matter what i do i still have extreme emotions towards people (either obsessive love or irrational hatred), fear of abandonment and have an inner feeling of emptiness no matter what i accomplish. My question was aimed at if it was possible to diminish the inner feelings, otherwise i might have something people could consider a great life, but without being happy with it. (Yes, i'm in the "discouraged" subtype of BPD, which shares some attributes with depression, but lacks slow thinking/operating, sleep problems, etc).

TLDR: Do you know if your friend is happy? Functionality isn't what i was asking for.

I didn't backup anything. Plz don't over interpreting or overanalyse things. This makes me confused. Like I said my personal opinion is that a person is not really able to analyse oneself. It always remains subjective and for a best possible dx you need in my opinion a view from the inside and the outside, so patient and psychiatrist have to work together. To make a correct dx is not easy and only possible when many circumstances meet together and of course one of them is that you tell the correct symptoms what I didn't do because I thought I'm having trouble with my concentration what was a matter of not being able to analyse oneself. Than there must be a good psychiatrist who listens and has time and many other factors.



Well you told me that our situation is different because you told me that I used "stereotypes" without knowing any detailed information about my case. I know that not being able to concentrate is not the only symptom of ADHD, but still it's a main-symptom. I didn't want to argue about that, I just don't understand why it should have to do with stereotypes? My opinion is that no one is really able to analyse oneself and this has nothing to do with you or me having a lot of knowledge about psychiatry. But still dx in psychiatry remain vague even if you go to a psychiatrist, I'm aware of that, but it's a lot more vague in my opinion if it's just a self-dx. Even well trained experts can miss things, of course they can, but my personal opinion is that a correct self-dx is possible, but a lot of more vague than talking to an expert. I'm not interested in arguing with you about anything and I'm also not interested in convincing you in anything, it's your life in the end. I'm not even interested in backing up anything. I just told you my opinion, that's all and it's entirely up to you, what you make out of it. And if you wanna go to a psychiatrist or don't wanna go or whatever that's fine. We don't need to have the same opinion, of course not. All I'm saying is my personal view on things and I'm not even claiming that it must be a 100% correct, but I still don't need to adopt any other view, neither do you. So there is no need for any argument in the first place. I just wanted to clarify that.

I wouldn't know for certain because I'm not her. However she is still young and still figuring herself out, so she has quite a journey ahead of her as well, so she may even be in your position. Thing is, she's been doing a lot better at recognising her thoughts patterns, so maybe she is beginning to feel"happy".(whatever such a notion means).

Personally, I can't for the life of me define happiness.

I'm sorry I can't be more useful.

There's another form of therapy that has been effective in treating BPD. It's called "Schema".

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-02-t ... ctive.html

From people I have interacted with, it is possible to live a relatively normal life with BPD. Among other things, it sometimes becomes less severe as you get older. Plus access to treatment such as DBT.