borderline personality vs bipolar disorder

luvinmomofone1 wrote:i have been diagnosed and treated for bipolar disorder for like 12 years and now they are saying i may have bpd. i am not sure how to cope with this diagnosis but from what they explained to me about it it sure sounds like me!! i have rapid mood swings like up and down in a day in hours even but mostly i am depressed and suicidal, i cut myself in high school and wanna cut myself now..instead i hurt myself in other ways, i am paranoid sometimes to the extent that i feel that ppl are out to get me. i have really bad anxiety disorder and panic attacks. now at this time mostly everything has been under control wiht meds. i take lamicktal and geodon and clonipin for my anxiety lately he has added wellbutrin because of major depression that is personally goin on my life at this time. but usually i do well without it. most of my problems that they say bring out the symptoms of bpd is the way i fight with my son and the way i deal with stress.and the way i deal with ppl in everyday situations and relationships. the way i see things different then they really are. i am still not sure what this bpd is and how much it is diffent then bipolar but to me its kinda the same thing just different..i dont know how to explain it.

I love Lamictal, it is the only medication I have tried (after 10+ med failures) which not only feels like it works, but has NO side effects for me. My case was strange due to bio-polar + obsessive compulsive, so the doc decided to add some Paroxetine to the mix. The side effects of that anti depressant were awful but now its much better. Be careful not to let the doc over due the meds! Occasionally mine would want me on 3 or 4 at once, which makes it too difficult to distinguish between the symptoms, plus I felt like a train wreck. Hope ya work things out!

OH NO i wont let my doc put me on too many meds..been there done that and got out of the way..lol. my medical doc took over from my psyche doc cause the pdoc was making me a physical trainwreck and i have diabetes and he was putting me on things like zyprexa which made me gain over 50 pounds and all kinds of other stuff and took me OFF my clonipin cause they were taking EVERONE in the clinic off them and i was a spaz in like 5 months. so my med. doc took over my medications and put me back on my clonipin which is the only thing i have found that works for my anxiety and panic disorder. the lamicktal is great and so is the geodon , he just recently added wellbutrin to the mix cause of some personall issues that got me all messed up and crying daily and depressed and suicidal but he says not for too long..we have a good thing going with the mix i am on and we dont wanna mess it up with the wellbutrin. so far the meds i am on work really well together AND i am finally starting to LOSE WEIGHT...instead of gaining it. my med doc wants to treat my whole self, diabetes and psyche. he says too many docs just write scripts and dont deal with the other parts of a persons life like th weight gain and being diabetic and making it worse because of thier scripts. so i really like my med doc and hes got me doign just fine. i also see a therapist once a week on fridays and she does home visits so now i dont have to go to the over populated mental health clinic that i cant stand but works on a sliding scale fee cause i dont get my meds there anymore. i hated my counselor there..she accused me of drug seeking cause i was spazin out without my clonipin for like 5 months...i will state this now..i have been clean for over 20 years and i plan to stay that way and she can kiss my a**. i hate holier then tho therapists that think they know every thing and you know nothing about a disease you have had most of your life and she only sees you once a month for a year and knows you like a book...yea right. but i am doing ok..just confused about the bpd and bipolar thing

After several hospitalizations and thorough psych testing over the past few years, all the doctors I see now agree that I have both borderline personality disorder and Bipolar I disorder. (I also have Narcissistic PD but will not get into that). The bipolar I is easy to identify because I have serious manias with psychosis and "black" depressions. I have to deal with this on top of my everyday moodiness, overreactions, split thinking patterns, binging/purging, OCD, and self-harm behavior. It sucks. Dialectical Behavior Therapy has made me much more aware of my behavior, however, and heavy doses of Depakote have attenuated my bipolar ups and downs and mellowed my everyday life out--my family is particularly greatful for this.

It's not to say that life is now perfectly easy, but I've learned to make the most of the good times.

Anyway, my point is that the two DX's are distinct and can simultaneously afflict a person.

Tri-polar wrote:To summarize the difference between the two disorders...

People with Bi-polar disorder, don't "compulsively lie" as where many people with BPD do...

People with Bi-polar disorder are NOT prone to abusing others, where as people with BPD are prone to the abuse of others...

People with Bi-polar disorder do not stalk people, where as people with BPD often do....

and most importantly...People with Bi-polar disorder, are way, way more inclined to get help, where as people with BPD are not...

I'm going to jump on these and say in no way do I "compulsively lie" I am probably one of the most honest people I know!!

And with abusing others... umm no I think i've had enough of that in my own life to not want to treat others that way.

Stalking people? Nope

And i've always gone and got help. I was recently diagnosed BPD and i'm certainly not in the category you're pointing out.

It is way too much of a generalization to say that all people with BPD are this way. I've known Bi Polar's that are fine, and some completely.. well... not.

My two cents.

I have to agree that some of the things Tri-Polar mentioned seem true, but there are some things I disagree with, and I think it's b/c without having the disorder, it's easy to categorize people. For example, I have met quite a few liars in my time but I don't believe any of them have BPD, whereas I, with BPD, am one of the most honest people you'll ever meet. Behaviors vary from person to person, no matter the disorder.

I also have to point out that rapid-cycling bipolar is easily confused with BPD, since the highs aren't as high as Types I and II and the lows aren't as low. I believe that I have BPD but sometimes wonder if I actually have a rapid-cycling form of bipolar.

The lines seem to be blurred between these two disorders, and like the previous poster pointed out, there are many advocates of BPD actually being a subset of bipolar. Since psychology is not a hard science, we may never truly know.

The major difference, in my opinion, lies in the treatment options. While medication may be effective in treating some of the "side effects" of BPD (i.e., depression, panic attacks, anxiety), BPD itself is not easily treated with medication. Therapy is the preferred treatment option. For those with bipolar, drugs seem to work very well, with therapy being adjunct.

Just my two cents.

Sorry if this is irrelevant to the previous comments but I have been very curious about this disorder and I came across the term "quasipsychosis" as one of the symptoms. I've searched all over the net for a true definition but I cannot seem to find one and I was wondering if anybody here could enlighten me on the subject.

Thanks.

I agree with those who are sick and tired of people (like myself) who are diagnosed as Bipolar being lumped in with people who are truely Borderline. As we all know, or should know, psychology and psychiatry are extremely subjective. After being diagnosed Bipolar for 5 years officially(they wouldnt diagnose me as a child, but they had suspicions), to this very day, i could go and see 10 different psychologists and come out with 3 or 4 different diagnoses. Same with Psychiatrists.Its extremely pathetic, and though i was a psychology major, and have done extensive research on abnormal psych, i believe fully there is a significant difference in Borderlines and Bipolars. Also, we must not forget that Bipolar Disorder has two seperate types. One of them focuses more on the person becoming manic(not hypomanic), the other tends to show more of a depressive aspect along with hypomanic or mixed episodes.
Ive come across all kinds of people with different diagnoses, and within meeting them and speaking with them for 10 minutes or so, i can almost always tell if that person is borderline.
Ive never met a bipolar who had the manipulative and delusional tendencies that borderline people tend to exhibit on a pretty regular basis.
though the two are similar, they are not the same. I understand why there has been such a hard time and big debate in differentiating between the two, but all that means is that the Psych field needs to be better funded to research more about these mental illnesses.Sad that i have to say it, but how many billions of dollars go into cancer research, and how come getting funding for mental illnesses is so much more difficult.In all reality, mental illness is just that, an illness that needs to be learned about and hopefully one day have a cure found, or at least more suitable treatment options.The fact of the matter is that almost as many people die due to their mental illness as do cancer patients and people with other physical illnesses.
Its a sad world we live in where, here in america, the percent of people who are diagnosed with a legitimate mental illness and are seeking treatment for it is rising every day. The last stat i read was a couple years ago and it said that over 50% of americans suffer from a mental illness.So, why isnt there more research being done to solve these issues?
Psychology is not BS like alot of people think, i believe that people feel that way about it because it is not a cut and dried science like standard medicine. The brain and *gasp* the mind are very complex and seperate entities.Its about time people started accepting the fact that mental illness is real,legitimate and truely an illness.
I always have a difficult time telling people about my diagnoses because of the fear of them either telling me that i am faking it, or running away because it scares them to be with someone who is potentially unstable.It took me a few years, but i am stable, but who would believe me? Im mentally Ill, sick in the head, right? Wrong. Im alot more intelligent than i put out,but people dont stick around long enough to notice.
There needs to be a huge re-vamp of the DSM criteria for diagnosing people, and i believe that if someone suspects mental illness, they should always be put through legitimate psychological testing by a trained professional.Too many doctors and therapists have selective hearing and decide your diagnosis from the first sentence you speak to them.I know this from experience.
Didnt mean to go off on a tangent,but this has been bugging me for a very long time, but as a young female who had to drop out of college due to medication errors,i do not have much standing, so this is really the only place i can voice my opinion and research findings.

well said jillibean and tripolar. i don't have much to add other than agreeing that, in my experience, there has been a significant difference between the two. i know people who are diagnosed as bipolar, and i know people who exhibit the symptoms of BPD. what stands out the most, in my opinion, is the consistent interpersonal carnage left in the wake of the borderline. bipolars are prone to do damage in relationships (okay, i admit i'm bipolar), but many will acknowledge the damage and work toward making ammends. the borderlines tend to be blameshifters, and receiving a sincere apology for the reckless hours of verbal abuse, has rarely been an experience of mine. once one has been on the receiving end of a two day dissociative rage, it's quite possible one might think differently about the comparison. maybe i'm just being sensitive. please note that i'm not speaking in universals, but from my experience, and i mean no offense to anyone.

I'm also a person who was diagnosed as bipolar before being diagnosed with BPD.

I think there are definitely similarities which might confuse the diagnostician if he/she doesn't take a deeper look. Which happens a lot, since the tendency amongst doctors is to neatly diagnose someone with a problem that will neatly respond to medication alone. Especially here in the US, where "managed care" typically limits in-patient treatment to 2 weeks maximum, if you're lucky enough to have any coverage at all.

Maybe people with BPD are just extreme bi-polars. The main difference, I believe, is the response to there feelings, how fast the feelings usually transition, the identity problems, and how one associates themselves to the feelings and behavior.
I didn't read the whole article, so I could have missed out on information, but have there ever been comparison studies in brain activity? Have doctors ever tried putting BPDs on medication bi-polars are usually put on, to see if there are similar effects?

It would be an interesting study, if proved that they are in fact close enough to be considered the same, BPD could just be a sub-type or a Bipolar attachment style.