Is bpd like autism?

I have bpd because of my childhood satanic ritual abuses:( just saw on Google irs almost like autism? Spectrum?

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I'm sorry to hear that you've been through so much.

They are two very distinct disorders, but I think there are a number of things that can and do overlap. In reading through the symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (which now includes both Autism and Aspergers), do you feel things resonate with you? It is possible to have both- I have come across other people who do have both BPD and Autism.

Do you have a therapist and have you thought about asking them their thoughts on whether you might just be dealing with BPD or ASD as well? I am autistic, but it wasn't picked up on until much later in my therapy journey- specifically when I was failing to make any meaningful progress with things, and the autism would also appear to be playing a part in a lot of my everyday dissociation I have going on. Once that was identified, a lot of things about me made a lot more sense.

For my two cents, it contrasts greatly with autism, my parents are autistic and crushed me because they found me too ‘enthusiastic’. Borderlines can be exceeding empathetic, whereas a lot of autistic people, like my parents, don’t have affective empathy. They may have cognitive empathy, they recognise you’re feeling pain, but they don’t feel it themselves. I feel other peoples pain acutely and move mountains to soothe it, because it distresses me as well.

Hey,

I'm going to go ahead and assume you've been diagnosed by a therapist. It's a shame the therapist apparently didn't give you a clear explanation.

Short answer: no, borderline personality disorder and autism are definitely not the same.

For the long answer:
First of, autism used to be referred to as "pervasive development disorder not otherwise specified".
Secondly, you can't technically be diagnosed with more than one personality disorder. You can only be classified as having more disorders. See, the DSM is meant to classify disorders. In simplified terms, the DSM describes symptoms you can match and puts a label on them to categorise them. A specialist then diagnoses you with what fits best so they can formulate a plan to treat you.

Now autism doesn't fall under personality disorders. It's a development disorder.
Borderline is considered a personality disorder.
So there's your first distinct difference. If you find you show symptoms of autism alongside borderline, you can therefore have both.

Onward to symptoms:
Autism is particularly well known to cause struggles with reading body language, identifying facial expressions and emotions, recognising cues in conversations, and a lack of interest in human interaction.
Borderline is particularly well known to cause a fear for real and/or imagined abandonment, mood-swings, sensitivity, impulsive and reckless behaviour (often self-damaging, risky behaviour), unstable sense of self, and rocky relationships.

So you can already see they are almost entirely opposite from each other. A doesn't want contact and is bad at it, B craves connection and fears losing it.

There's more to it, but no need to make this needlessly complicated. I hope this clears things up for you.

~ Grey