Omg I DO NOT have BDP..

If one more doctor tells me I have BPD not DID, I'm going to kick them in the balls.

What am I saying wrong? Why don't they understand that these states have nothing to do with emotions? In fact they can all show varying emotions.. the are different people trapped in one body. They keep trying to tell me that the solution is for me to build better skills. Doesn't Matter what "I" DO, it doesn't help "them" I'm so sick of being dismissed!

Doctors are often very skeptical of DID. I blame Hollywood, honestly. Movies and TV hype DID and make it look silly and cartoonish. That's no excuse for a medical backlash/ignoring of real DID, but there you have it.

My experience, at least. Do you think your doctors are skeptical?

I know how you feel about being dismissed about something you take very seriously. I'm sorry that the doctors aren't helping you the way they should. I took a psych class last year and when we got to mental disorders, the professor explained that most doctors don't believe in personality disorders, all of them not just DID, and that whole chapter on personality disorders was being considered being removed from the DSM entirely because so many medical people are skeptical that personality disorders can exist, that someone's personality can become fragmented or warped by trauma.

DID is not a personality disorder.

Una+ wrote:DID is not a personality disorder.

Well yeah it's now a dissociative disorder, but it was called Multiple Personality Disorder at one point and when it was taught in that class, it was labeled as MPD. I know people on other sites that claim to have this disorder who still refer to it as MPD or Split Personality Disorder.

Violarules wrote:

Una+ wrote:DID is not a personality disorder.

Well yeah it's now a dissociative disorder, but it was called Multiple Personality Disorder at one point and when it was taught in that class, it was labeled as MPD. I know people on other sites that claim to have this disorder who still refer to it as MPD or Split Personality Disorder.

Even with that name, DID/MPD is not and never was classified among the personality disorders.

The ICD still uses the name Multiple Personality Disorder, but classifies it among the conversion disorders.

In any event, brockovich4321, it may not be anything you are saying or not saying. To figure this out you need more information about what the doctor is thinking. So to start, every time this comes up, ask the doctor how they make the differential diagnosis between PBD and DID.

I had this situation come up with a very serious medical problem in my family. We had a tentative diagnosis of either X or Y and needed a differential diagnosis. We went to a specialist, who quickly told us the diagnosis was X, not Y, and right in front of us dictated a letter to that effect. When asked how he knew, he said because X was far more likely than Y. Full stop. That was diagnosis by the book alone, with total disregard for any information about the patient's actual problem. Anyone could make such a "diagnosis" without knowing anything about it! Which is exactly what the specialist tried to do. He had no clue if what he was looking at was X or Y, so his only appropriate response was to tell us that and refer us to another specialist. But he tried to conceal his ignorance and he guessed it was the less rare condition. My asking how he made the diagnosis revealed this blatant malpractice. The letter we received was not the letter he dictated.

Bottom line: if a doctor says something that doesn't make sense to you, ask for an explanation.

it is kind of difficult. i actually have diagnoses of BPD, DID, and PTSD. but i wasn't diagnosed with DID until a few years after being diagnosed with BPD. they can co-exist and overlap, and unless you see a professional who knows the differences and can separate out what is what, they are more likely to diagnose BPD than anything else.

i still deny i have BPD even though i do have the other diagnoses. that one just really irks me. and i have no idea how my therapist knows the difference in what is that and what is the DID because i'm certain that the diagnosis was just based on certain symptoms they saw when some was actually related to the dissociation and certain parts.

it IS frustrating when it's what some professionals focus on when it could be that but also other things that overlap with it.

Thank you all for your advice and support.

Trying to get assistance is exhausting. My doctor is a believer and believes i have it. Maybe he himself has DID.. because his advice vary's greatly. Sometimes he wont even let me talk about the DID, other times he sits and listens to the littles cry. He says hes met 8 of my personalities. but yesterday he tells me I need to get a grip, implies the host needs to get stronger and the others need to die off. He thinks this is the best way to 'fix' me, is to disconnect my knowledge of DID, convince me I have BPD, and try to stabilize it was best we can.. I should call him out on this $#%^. Maybe I do have both, that is quite possible, but dissmissing the DID is like treating 1/16 of me. I cant see how it will ever help long term.


Borderline personality disorder
-Impulsive and risky behavior, such as having unsafe sex, gambling or binge eating
Emma is an impulsive shopper, Rowe can be a risky driver, I however am good with both. I haevnt had a sexual relationship in years, I dont gamble & I love food but I don't binge eat because this behaviour would trigger Stephs anorexia.. but i do feel like binge eating at times.
-Unstable or fragile self-image
My self image is definatly unstable but I wouldnt classify it as fragile.
-Unstable and intense relationships
This does not apply to me
-Up and down moods, often as a reaction to interpersonal stress
this does apply to me
-Suicidal behavior or threats of self-injury
I think about it often because life is ######6 hard, but i dont make threats of self-harm. In the past Steph has self-harmed
-Intense fear of being alone or abandoned
Does not apply to me one little bit. I want to be alone. I hate noise. I cant be myself of think while in the company of others. I dislike people in general/hold them at arms length until I know how much i can trust them.
-Ongoing feelings of emptiness
I do feel like a shell. the alters are the personalities.
-Frequent, intense displays of anger
I have frequnent and intense feelings of anger but these are situation when im having trouble being understood or if I dont get enough alone time. however asile refuses to let the feelings out. On the surface i appear cool as a cucumber (thanks asile) while gerogie is waiting in the wings to kill someone..
-Stress-related paranoia that comes and goes
This, definatly. Mostly associated with Georie and flasgbacks.

Some Dissassociative Symptoms
-Memory loss (amnesia) of certain time periods, events, people and personal information
I have this, so much so that i dont know what is real and what isn't.
-A sense of being detached from yourself and your emotions
There is always a disconnect
-A perception of the people and things around you as distorted and unreal
Daily
-A blurred sense of identity
No, not really, I feel like I know who most of us are.
-Significant stress or problems in your relationships, work or other important areas of your life
Yes and no, depends who is fronting
-Inability to cope well with emotional or professional stress
Internally yes, externally I dont think so.
-Mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors
yes, yes and yes.
Memory loss that's more severe than normal forgetfulness and that can't be explained by a medical condition.
So far, yes.
You can't recall information about yourself or events and people in your life, especially from a traumatic time.
See above.. the memories i can recall feel so unreal i dont know if they are or not
You may feel the presence of two or more people talking or living inside your head, and you may feel as though you're possessed by other identities.
Ahh YES.. This is a pretty ovious one NOT covered by BPD
Each identity may have a unique name, personal history and characteristics, including obvious differences in voice, gender, mannerisms and even such physical qualities as the need for eyeglasses.
YES, yes and yes..

There were more symptoms but I've gotten bored with doing this. Some of this stuff may be bpd, but some of it isn't, and if its not DID, whatis it? If im crazy i wish someone would tell me.

Hi

I was talking with my T about this yesterday. I asked him how he could believe my SO had DID, as does her private psychiatrist and psychologist, but as soon as she was placed in a full-time therapeutic environment, the specialists there all diagnosed Adult Behavior Disorder, and PTSD?

His reply was: exposure. He doubted any of the clinicians had every spent any real time with a DID patient. M**** private practitioners had all spent years - and collated piles of notes - on her behavior. Even my T said he couldn't be sure, but he could infer by the weekly visits and the effects her behavior were having on me and the family. These effects where not the same as BPD, or any form of addiction.

The classification of BPD (as previously identified in DSM-IV): impulse and risky behavior, unstable and fragile ego, unstable and intense relationships, depressive and manic episodes, self-injury and suicide ideation, serious abandonment issues, stress paranoia, can be made relatively easily and the skills are very good Western interpertrations of personal introspection and cultivation that Western psychotherapist and Eastern personal cultivation recommends.

To diagnose DID, the T really needs to firmly believe that the actions they are seeing, or hearing about relate to one of more distinct personality types. Combined with amnesia, you have a pretty water-tight case.

More often than not the BPD is used by the patient as an unconscious mast to lead people away from the DID.

I to share your frustration. We have a brain; We have been living with internal conflict and external dysfunction for years. We know that it it not BPD. I soon as someone hits me with the BPD 2x4 I'd also like to return the favor to their testicles.

Take care... Brett

LearnToLoveTheRide wrote:
The classification of BPD (as previously identified in DSM-IV): impulse and risky behavior, unstable and fragile ego, unstable and intense relationships, depressive and manic episodes, self-injury and suicide ideation, serious abandonment issues, stress paranoia, can be made relatively easily and the skills are very good Western interpertrations of personal introspection and cultivation that Western psychotherapist and Eastern personal cultivation recommends.

More often than not the BPD is used by the patient as an unconscious mast to lead people away from the DID.

my psychiatrist explained to me that BPD is on a spectrum and differs from person to person and that it is a developmental based disorder like DID and is often developed out of the same types of traumas, abuse, etc. but it also does take a knowledgeable (and open minded) professional to be able to see what is what whether a person does have the potential overlap of both BPD and DID or whether it's one or the other. i think that is why it gets so confusing, the similarities.

i would think the BIGGEST thing in sorting what is actually DID is knowing or being told you have other parts whether you have memory or loss or not. but it also gets confusing because the dissociation types that exist outside of DID also can have the memory distortion/time loss aspect, including the type that is in BPD as it disrupts the brain in the same way when stressed where a person isn't able to recall that episode. so yeah, the biggest part would be...having parts and being told about or knowing about them. that to me would be one of the bigger indicators, and if a professional can't understand that is what differs between BPD and DID, they need more education.