was diagnosed BPD yesterday

I had been seeing a certain psychologist for about 2-3 months now. Yesterday she said she thinks i fulfill the dx criteria for borderline personality disorder. She has a masters degree but i do not know if she is qualified to dx personality disorders , so i take it as in informal diagnosis . She also agrees with bi polar diagnosis so she thinks i am comborbid BPD and bi polar 1

What would you say are the defining elements of a BPD? And what would you look for exactly to affirm if you have the full personality? I definitely do not agree with the dx, but i am looking into it to see if my psychologist is correct in her assessment

if there any questions you guys have about my interior world and exterior behavior that can help seeing if i am truly borderline, i will answer.

My most defining BPD qualities are black/white thinking, abandonment issues and self harm. and mood swings. and splitting. and the idolization/devaluation cycle. and self destructive impulsive behaviours.

This sounds bizzare because I once was diagnosed BPD, thought I was BPD, and in a sense highly identified with it. But now, a little under a year later, I'm not so sure. And to be frank, I don't think diagnoses matter at all really. Unless you plan to be medicated for the rest of your life (which I ruled out as an option) really what matters is identifying all the issues which are troublesome to your day to day functioning, identifying goals for yourself, what you want from life and what your values are. Trying to address it as an individual with individual issues and tackling those issues according to the values and goals you have will probably serve you better than viewing yourself as a person rubber stamped as a such-and-such and having a cookie cutter approach to how to improve your quality of life.

Just my two cents though, and I'm sure many here won't agree with me.

thank you 2

Well. if anyone can get a handle on it, you can BPM. You don't run from this stuff, if anything you run right into it it and get busy...which is cool.

How are your relationships?

My most BPD behaviors are chaotic relationships (and splitting), mood swings, impulsive behavior, empty feeling, and unstable identity (always changing goals and plans). It manifests a little differently in each person but there are a few defining traits I guess.

Master's level therapists are qualified to diagnose personality disorders btw.

I can tell you this... People with "true" BPD are very often unable to form meaningful friendships, and this includes relationships with the opposite sex (or the same sex, I suppose, if you're gay).

This is one very important defining trait...

-- Mon Nov 17, 2014 1:40 am --

Also, there will always be some self-destructive behavior present. Most likely in the form of some drug or alcohol abuse.

Being able to keep relationships in general (with both genders, and my family) without chaotic behavior was one of the reasons why i didnt fit a BPD dx anymore. Like the others, i think this factor plays a big part.