An interesting statistic

If there are 300,000,000 people in America and 2.5% of them are BPD and 10% of BPD people commit suicide. . . .

300,000,000 (people)
x .025 (percentage borderline)
x .1 (percentage borderline who commit suicide)
/ 70 (average life expentency of a borderline *my estimate, but has to be close*)

We get a total of 10,715 borderline suicides completed per year. 30,600 were committed last year.


Our 2.5% of the population accounts for 35% of completed suicides. That's 3,500 times more likely than the average person. And that's not fake attempts, jokes, manipulation and what not. That's people who are stone cold dead.

tee-hee-hee, we make such quirky personality choices, don't we? Especially the borderlines who were never abused and grew up in normal homes with normal siblings. These people are just cold manipulators, exaggerating their pain, right to their grave.

Now, when people think we're faking, manipulating, exaggerating, do you think maybe we really are as miserable as it seems, we just can't express it directly because it's not validated or accepted? I do.

If this stat doesn't give perspective to the suffering of a person with borderline personality disorder, I don't know what will.

I tend to look upon these studies with caution, as they in no way could have surveyed the entire population. They might have been biased in the people whose lives they studied. I believe, however, that anyone who kills themself is bound to have exhibited the symptoms of one personality disorder or another. I fact, I believe that the majority of people in the world could be diagnosed with a mental 'disorder'... there are just so many listed/described in the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual, and - lets' face it - no-one lives a truly perfect life... ...everyone has problems.

Well, borderlines sure do take their attention seeking ways pretty far. Right to the grave seems about as serious of an attention grabber as you can get.

Or maybe people with BPD really are suffering.

MrEmMak wrote:Well, borderlines sure do take their attention seeking ways pretty far. Right to the grave seems about as serious of an attention grabber as you can get.

Or maybe people with BPD really are suffering.

I can understand acting suicidal for attention, but if I ever actually kill myself for the sake of getting attention that's going off the deep end. All kinds of people do really dumb things for attention, whether the attention is positive or negative. At least then people are acknowledging your existence and you don't feel like a ghost anymore.

I don't believe people with BPD intentionally kill themselves ... I believe they kill themselves accidently.

That is worrying and I truly believe that my daughter will be one of those statistics one day.. albeit in the U.K.

miss_understood wrote:I don't believe people with BPD intentionally kill themselves ... I believe they kill themselves accidently.

That is worrying and I truly believe that my daughter will be one of those statistics one day.. albeit in the U.K.

If I ever killed myself, it would be very much intentional. I tried once before and didn't plan on telling anyone, but I always keep promises, so I fulfilled the promise I made to a friend to tell them so he could say "goodbye." Only, he called an ambulance instead of saying bye. I am very grateful for him.

Squeekerz wrote:
If I ever killed myself, it would be very much intentional. I tried once before and didn't plan on telling anyone, but I always keep promises, so I fulfilled the promise I made to a friend to tell them so he could say "goodbye." Only, he called an ambulance instead of saying bye. I am very grateful for him.

So, IF there is a 'next time', (hopefully NOT, of course) will you be saying ''goodbye'' to this friend again?

Of course you won't... not if you truly intend to kill yourself.

You must've known that your friend wouldn't just say ''goodbye'', put the 'phone down and go back to bed, surely?

That's a lot of deaths. Life is hard to deal wtih. Especially when you're not good at dealing with things.

MrEmMak wrote:Well, borderlines sure do take their attention seeking ways pretty far. Right to the grave seems about as serious of an attention grabber as you can get.

Or maybe people with BPD really are suffering.

Why can't both be true simultaneously?

That makes sense platypus. Being a person with BPD, I look at the attention seeking (exaggerating suffering in other areas, suicide threats, constant negative attitude) as ways to express to people how they really feel inside. I also think because people with BPD have what I call permanent depression, they're hard to be around and hard to communicate with (not even feeling/thinking on the same level) so they get constantly pushed away. The one saving grace we have is that we feel pain. That pain gives us a connection with people (mostly because they relate to us in a feel bad sort of way) and that's the thing about us that best connects to people. After so long though, it's just draining and people just have to get away.

I completely get what you're saying about it being both, yeah it is, but if you look a little deeper than just the behavior, I think a little different picture is shown. I think people with BPD are intolerable to the people around them mostly and at some point their intolerable to themselves (whether they finish the job or not

It seems about 90% of people fall into a normal range of emotions. Emotions drive thinking and behavior. So many are on the same page, when one person isn't and is throwing the positivity out of whack, the natural thing is to assume they have the same feeling set, don't care, and deserve whatever demise they get. Or really, whatever the other person may have, they don't like it, don't think about it and they just get away. The crappy thing is, that's what just about everyone does to us and until we really take a deep look, we just don't get it. We're living in world where most people have been so validated in their feelings/thinking that they accept it as utter truth, an identity even. They share a similar identity with many, many people. They feel good about it, are proud of who they are. Not only are we a drain to be around, but we're also evidence that not all people are good, like them, and their identity. It seems to me nons enjoy seeing BPD's suffer for more than just justice, it's further confirmation they are good (because we are bad.)

I think the deep core of a borderline is depression (hard to find reward in conversation, socialization, long-term accomplishment), pain (hating one-self, fear, emptiness) and impulsiveness (getting short lived bursts of positive feeling from trying something new or meeting an old friend. But those feelings wear off quickly.) It's a very miserable, unfulfilling life. That's why they act the way they do.

I guess more what I would look for is validation. Not an agreement that the behavior is fair or right to the people around me, but an understanding that life is so miserable for me that it's understandable I'm well below average in those certain areas.