Other Personality Disorders

Hi my brother is likely suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder, is it possible that he is suffering from other PDs also? He is showing traits of other PDs and I'm just wondering what other PDs commonly co-occur with BPD.

Thanks.

Hi there

People can suffer from more than one personality disorder. They can also have one personality disorder and have traits of another- the traits just meaning the person's symptoms aren't strong/severe enough to warrant the full diagnosis. It doesn't mean that those traits don't interfere negatively with their life though. I believe Cluster A and other Cluster B diagnoses are more commonly co-occuring.

Only a professional can provide a diagnosis though. What looks like one thing may actually be another. For example, I have AvPD and Dependent PD with BPD traits. I can look at the symptoms for schizoid PD and say- "hey, half of those fit me too", but my therapist has told me that I am clearly not schizoid, and those things are much better accounted for by my AvPD issues. Just something to be mindful of with searching around for labels.

Is your brother getting some help with his problems?

lilyfairy wrote:Hi there

People can suffer from more than one personality disorder. They can also have one personality disorder and have traits of another- the traits just meaning the person's symptoms aren't strong/severe enough to warrant the full diagnosis. It doesn't mean that those traits don't interfere negatively with their life though. I believe Cluster A and other Cluster B diagnoses are more commonly co-occuring.

Only a professional can provide a diagnosis though. What looks like one thing may actually be another. For example, I have AvPD and Dependent PD with BPD traits. I can look at the symptoms for schizoid PD and say- "hey, half of those fit me too", but my therapist has told me that I am clearly not schizoid, and those things are much better accounted for by my AvPD issues. Just something to be mindful of with searching around for labels.

Is your brother getting some help with his problems?

Thank you for the reply, the information you have provided is really helpful to both me and my brother.

He is seeing a new psychotherapist at the moment, who seems to be quite skilled.

Hi,
What other PD(s) does he exhibit traits of? Also, it can be quite difficult to determine the skill of a psychotherapis based on family sessions alone. That comes with either training or 1000s of hours of experience in therapy and several dozen hours with the clinician in question.

BPD is the most complex personality disorder.

Someone with BPD is likely to show behaviours of most if not every other personality disorder. I dont think multiple diagnoses are really useful. The only useful thing I find is Millon taxonomy.

I guess most people here, have being diagnosed with other problems, such as bipolar, depression, other PDs, and with BPD only after years of therapy.