Borderline Personality Disorder and Me

Did you know that Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) affects between 1% and 2% of the Canadian population. It is usually diagnosed in a person's 20s but can also be diagnosed later on. Previously it was thought that BPD affected women more than men, however in recent studies it has been found that there are similar numbers of both men and women living with the disorder.

A 2008 study of nearly 35,000 adults in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that 5.9% — which would translate into 18 million Americans — had been given a BPD diagnosis. As recently as 2000, the American Psychiatric Association believed that only 2% had BPD - http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1870491,00.html

So, why is BPD diagnosis on the increase?

In order to come to a conclusion I think we need to look at what exactly Borderline Personality Disorder is.

Borderline Personality Disorder is made up of five groups of symptoms:

Unstable behaviour means that you often act on impulses or urges, even when they hurt you or other people.

Unstable emotions mean that your moods can be extreme and change very quickly.

Unstable relationships mean that you have a hard time maintaining relationships with other people.

Unstable sense of identity means that you don’t have a good sense of who you are as a person.

Awareness problems mean that, from time to time only and often in response to a stressful event, you experience sensations or feelings that aren’t based in reality.

But what exactly is Borderline Personality Disorder?

BPD is a mental illness that affects the way you relate to other people and the way you relate to yourself. It is a distorted way of thinking where you may feel like there is something fundamentally wrong with yourself. Your moods may be extreme or feel like they change all the time.

For me; Borderline Personality Disorder looks like extreme mood swings. One minute I can feel like the world is ending from the smallest thing and the next I can be on the highest high. It means I don't know who I am, what I want to be, how I feel. It means I can be impulsive, especially when it comes to spending money I don't have! For me BPD is part of who I am, but it doesn't define me. I don't let it.

So again I ask, why is Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis on the rise?

The official answer: The surge comes as the counseling profession recalibrates its approach to defining personality disorders, thanks in large part to the alternative diagnostic landscape laid out in updates to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) - https://ct.counseling.org/2013/11/facing-a-rising-tide-of-personality-disorders/#

A popular school of thought hinges on the millennial generation’s endemic sense of entitlement that, taken to an extreme, burgeons into full-fledged traits of a personality disorder. The advent and explosion of social media — Facebook, Twitter and the like — has also drawn scorn for its impact on the way children and teens invest their formative years online, often at the expense of engaging in genuine, real-world relationships.

And whilst that may be true, my opinion is something else, controversial even.

The mental health system is under funded and over populated with people needing help. Especially Psychiatric inpatient facilities. So what if there was a way that health professionals could limit the number of people that needed long term hospitalizations? What if they could give a diagnosis that wouldn't be helped by medication and therefore a hospital stay wouldn't be worth it? What if BPD was an easy way out for the doctors? What if this is the reason that the diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder is on the rise? This, of course, is my opinion and it could be completely wrong. It is even likely that it is wrong, but I can't help feeling the BPD is a cop out for doctors because ultimately, there's very little they can do to help. This I know from experience, after 6 different hospitalizations in the span of 18 months, as well as knowing others struggling with this illness. So what can we do if hospitalizations aren't the answer? Let's look at how I manage my BPD.

I go to therapy, often. Usually on a weekly basis. You may or may not know that medication is usually not a method of treatment for BPD. There are infact no medications that are specified as being suitable treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder. Whilst medications can help manage things like the unstable emotions or mood swings, there isn't a magic pill to cure or manage BPD as a whole.

Therapy teaches me the tools needed to manage relationships, emotions and behaviour through methods such as DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy), by changing the way I react to thoughts and feelings.

DBT is a modified form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that was developed in the late 1980s to treat people with Borderline Personality Disorder and chronically suicidal individuals. DBT combines standard cognitive-behavioral techniques for emotion regulation and reality-testing with concepts of distress tolerance, acceptance, and mindful awareness largely derived from contemplative meditative practice.

For me personally, therapy has given me an outlet, a safe space to talk about how things are bothering me and come up with constructive strategies to help manage those feelings. For example; I was dealing with someone at work that was constantly negative. This was bringing me down and making it hard for me to be affective at my job. My therapist helped me reframe this and better understand the person I was working with, which helped me become better at my job. What if their negativity actually comes from a place of unmet need? That got me thinking, it changed the way I saw the negative comments, which in turn changed the way I reacted to it internally.

I also meditate. Daily. I use an app that teaches daily meditations. I've discovered it's a lot of breathing, concentrating on the breath and trying to calm the mind. I've found meditation to be challenging since I find my mind is always busy, but practicing meditation has helped me manage to find calm in my day, every day, for at least 10 minutes. Using meditation techniques also help me to sleep by focusing on my breath in order to relax and quieten my mind.

That is just 2 of the ways I manage my Borderline Personality Disorder. There are tons of other ways which I plan to explore and share at later dates.

I hope this post has given you plenty to think about. Whether it's questions or reasons for the rising number of people diagnosed with BPD or information on the tools used to help people with Borderline Personality Disorder recover because it is possible to recover! Or even if it's just educated you, I hope you read more of my posts. Even if sometimes I say controversial things!

If you have anything you'd like to share or for me to comment on, please send me an email at onestepatatime.mhrn@gmail.com