Advantages to having a borderline personality

Since what doesn't kill us makes us stronger and when one door closes another opens. There have got to be some advantages to this, at least I feel like their are. As despite the complications of being me I wouldn't trade to be someone else. I feel like a wild artist that gets inspiration from these bouts of passion. Although it's a heavy burden to experience the chaos of BPD, lets focus on the positive aspects of having such a complicated disposition.

1. We are emotionally connected and intuitive which leads us to be very compassionate. I have dedicated my life to making a difference because I'm so strongly guided my my emotional conscience although I have often defied my own value systems mostly on impulse.

2. I should have elaborated more on the first one so that it spilled over to a second reason:) I can't think of number 2 right now cause I'm going brain dead.

If you have thoughts about ways BPD has made you a better person, chime in:)

I don't see the compassion as an advantage, because we usually go overboard with it.

An advantage is the hate/splitting black. I like that I can just cut someone from my life so easily, and it doesn't phase me.

Yeah i thank you for your post but so far the compassion has not given me an advantage.
Cutting people out i have done that to but i feel guilty at times for the person I am & karma hits back and i lose people too.

I mean, i don't see advantages in BPD or any illness that puts a hold on someones life, makes them need medication etc and all that because of all the struggles and problems we go through and with keeping interpersonal relationships and goals.

The only advantages I've found with BPD are that my friends all say I'm fiercely loyal (don't want to give them any reason to abandon me) and I find I'm very good at reading people.

yes I've been told i was loyal to mates too

Well I dont know if this is related to having BPD or not but I find that my ability to analyse things to no end comes in handy when using it with my work/research (scientific) and at uni .. if something doesnt go right and i have to figure out why or if i have to find a solution to something i can generally explore every avenue and consequence relatively easily, i'm also very critical and can point out flaws etc in other peoples work that they might not see and play devils advocate well

In respect to advantages socially/when dealing with people I would agree with JB in that i read people well - sometimes get it wrong if im being paranoid but most of the time im right, especially if its someone im not necessarily attached to .. i've had a lot of "i told you so" situations regarding people

re compassion im not sure because in some ways im not as compassionate as others with bpd because i have traits of other things but i guess in close relationships it may be a disadvantage as youre putting yourself out there to possibly get exploited

loyalty i also agree with until the person goes and pisses me off.. im not one to cross

I personally do not think there are any 'advantages.' No advantages, yet,.. unique peculiarities perhaps. However, take all of those more benign peculiarities and amass them all, and still the negatives outweigh it all 10fold.

I don't mean to be negative here, I simply think it's important to keep perspective. The reality is that without BPD most --if not all-- of those afflicted with it would be living a much better life.

Madrabbit, you're right. If none of us had BPD, I'm sure we'd all be a lot happier overall. I think the point of this thread is to basically say, yes, we'd be better if we didn't have it, but we DO have it, so let's try and make the best and find some shining point to all of this.

I'm going to say there are a few, though I would definitely live without the rest of it.

One is my ability to multitask. Because my thoughts jump all over the place, I can have a lot of things all happening at once. Really helpful at work at times- I can have orders I'm putting together, invoices I'm writing, letters I'm typing, I can be labelling stock, dealing with a customer and answering phones, and I can switch between all of them in the space of about ten minutes. Sure, it takes me ages to get some jobs finished because I'm so all over the place, but I do have them happening together. While I was on a mood stabiliser for a week (I reacted badly), my ability to multitask disappeared because my thoughts no longer raced. My head felt so empty with just one thought at a time. I just wish the moods didn't jump all over the place too, and the downside to it is that when I want to achieve/complete something, it borders on impossible because I can't stay focussed long enough.

I am picky and pedantic and a stickler for rules, so give me a job to do, and I'll be perfectionistic about it. I might also not get it finished either for that matter because I'm only aiming for perfect. But I have high standards and like to do things properly. I get in trouble sometimes when I'm editing something for someone, because I tend to pick holes in it- not out of rudeness, but just wanting to do it properly.

I pick up on subtle clues about how someone, esp someone I know well, is feeling. Others miss the meaning of their sentence, but I can pick up on it quite often.

Hyper sensitive, loyal, care about people, notice things other people don't, persistent, non-conformist, leader not a follower, unpredictable (LOL), passionate, creative, outspoken, quick to act before others, can be extremely happy at times, can love intensely (OK, that can be bad), fun, unpretensious, open, giving, crazy!!! (again, can be very bad), compassionate, see things in a different way...etc

Right, shall i list the bad now??? Cos, there are many on the flipside of all the above. LOL.