Do I have HPD?

Hello,

I recently diagnosed myself with BPD. I was told by a professional that I have enough of the traits, to be diagnosed.
I have come across HPD just recently and have a strong feeling that this may be what my real condition is. The reason i have this feeling is because of something i read here regarding someone's understanding of one of the differences between the two disorders: that HPD is mainly about needing attention whereas BPD is mainly about abandonment issues.

I am highly dramatic. I'm highly intense emotionally, prone to depression/dysphoria, always looking for my next kick. I live in the moment, follow no one's rules but my own. I'm chronically bored and gravitate towards fun, crazy, intense people like myself, most other people bore me to tears.

I love, need and crave attention, but i am very sensitive to the slightest criticism, even if only i perceive it as a criticism. If i am not centre of attention i switch off and get frustrated. I am obviously insecure in certain ways, and very confident and self-assured in others.
I have short relationships that i get into fast and furious. Men want to be with me and i say, 'oh, ok, why not?' I can see why men would find my casual, nonchalant attitude appealing. But the thing is, I become very attached to people once i'm with them, even if i didn't care much for them. It takes me a while to adjust to being single again even if i've been dating a guy for two or three weeks.
I'm sometimes promiscuous and will actively try to break the habit, but i fail to. I will sleep with men who have girlfriends and don't care a jot, just about being found out. I flirt with people a lot.
I have no boundaries, people who've known me for ten minutes say they feel they've known me for ten years.
I am not the jealous type, i give men their space, and expect to have mine. But when i fall in love i fall hard, and idolise the person. I hate rejection so i dump a guy if i think they are gonna do it first.

I am an all or nothing person, either totally self-controlled to an unhealthy extreme, or totally impulsive. I have an eating disorder and depression, which ebbs and flows but is always there unless i'm in love! I have an obsessive personality, going from one obsession to another.

To put it plainly, if i don't have attention, i feel like i'm not really alive. I need constant stimulation or i get depressed. I knew for years that someone like me belongs on stage, cos real life is just too damn small a stage. I am greedy and insatiable when it comes to men and everything else. i know this sounds so unattractive, but it's true.
I have strong empathy for others, I am very very sensitive, and kind, but sometimes i just behave self-servingly, which is natural.
So, what i want to know is this, have i got this right? Even if you can't tell me based on my description if i do have HPD, could you at least explain to me the main important differences between BPD and HPD?

thank you people. sorry it's long, i tried to cut it down.

talula wrote:explain to me the main important differences between BPD and HPD?

The movement afoot right now among the pros is to consolidate HPD under the expanded term Borderline Type. Looks like that will be the case under DSM 5. http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/P ... spx?rid=17

DSM 5 Draft in process wrote:The work group is recommending that this disorder be reformulated as the Borderline Type.

Individuals who match this personality disorder type have an extremely fragile self-concept that is easily disrupted and fragmented under stress and results in the experience of a lack of identity or chronic feelings of emptiness. As a result, they have an impoverished and/or unstable self structure and difficulty maintaining enduring intimate relationships. Self-appraisal is often associated with self-loathing, rage, and despondency. Individuals with this disorder experience rapidly changing, intense, unpredictable, and reactive emotions and can become extremely anxious or depressed. They may also become angry or hostile, and feel misunderstood, mistreated, or victimized. They may engage in verbal or physical acts of aggression when angry. Emotional reactions are typically in response to negative interpersonal events involving loss or disappointment.

Relationships are based on the fantasy of the need for others for survival, excessive dependency, and a fear of rejection and/or abandonment. Dependency involves both insecure attachment, expressed as difficulty tolerating aloneness; intense fear of loss, abandonment, or rejection by significant others; and urgent need for contact with significant others when stressed or distressed, accompanied sometimes by highly submissive, subservient behavior. At the same time, intense, intimate involvement with another person often leads to a fear of loss of an identity as an individual. Thus, interpersonal relationships are highly unstable and alternate between excessive dependency and flight from involvement. Empathy for others is severely impaired.

Core emotional traits and interpersonal behaviors may be associated with cognitive dysregulation, i.e., cognitive functions may become impaired at times of interpersonal stress leading to information processing in a concrete, black-and white, all-or-nothing manner. Quasi-psychotic reactions, including paranoia and dissociation, may progress to transient psychosis. Individuals with this type are characteristically impulsive, acting on the spur of the moment, and frequently engage in activities with potentially negative consequences. Deliberate acts of self-harm (e.g., cutting, burning), suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts typically occur in the context of intense distress and dysphoria, particularly in the context of feelings of abandonment when an important relationship is disrupted. Intense distress may also lead to other risky behaviors, including substance misuse, reckless driving, binge eating, or promiscuous sex.

Really, the sexual aspects / mate choices features are what seems to differentiate HPD (a DSM 4 disorder) from BT (a DSM 5 disorder). As you can see from the above they are considered really only a minor "foot note" .

That may or may not be true. HPD seems very distinct and important "all on its own" to many professionals. One guy, Bollas, wrote specifically about the distinction between HPD and BPD. I must say its pretty fascinating reading. See Re: Addicted to an HPD?

Personality Disorders Institute / Otto Kernberg would likely opt DSM 5 is correct, "its all just BT", only slightly different "flavors". Kernberg gets my vote as the foremost expert in this entire area.

Lastly there is movement afoot at National Institute of Mental Health to redefine all PDs to be consistent with merging neurology studies (especially brain imaging studies), and genetic mapping (the genome project). That is likely to be a wholesale revamping of the ENTIRE DSM and not just minor change (as in DSM 5). It's virtually certain that effort will wipe out the axis distinctions maintained in DSM 4 and 5 for a much higher level, much more individualistic data model. However that is probably more of "academic / scientific" interest at the present - very much "bleeding edge."

Practically speaking, for now, DSM 4 is fine and DSM 5 is very good too. The implication of DSM 5 for right now is, if you conclude you have HPD, by all means search through BPD for possible symptoms and treatments too.

hi

thank you. you have been very helpful. that Bollas article was very interesting.
I have read a lot about BPD and some traits apply to me, whilst some do not.
I think i am such a mish-mash. But HPD resonates strongly with me.

I guess these cluster b disorders can really bleed into each other sometimes.
I would love to know if my therapist looked forward to seeing me or not! lol.

Hi Talula:
I think only a qualified therapist can tell you if you are HP, and also what type as there are sub-types. Wikipedia provides you with lists of the main characteristics that you can compare high level, it is probably the easist place to work from to start if you wish to continue a self assessment. If you are convinced that you do have a HP, and want to learn more, then i recommend "Hysteria, The Elusive Neurosis by Alan Krohn". Its not an easy read, but if you have the time and the patience, and really wish to learn, it might help.

Regards,
Musician

thanks Musician.