Critique of Borderline Personality Disorder by a Former Psychotherapist

[Tobacco]

I'm not diagnosed with BPD but I relate a lot to what this man is saying. He says people with BPD go through many losses in their life and they should start a process of grieving. I was denied this and I lost some important stuff. My anger grew so big that I ended up hospitalized.

 

[BrainSplatter]

Do you suspect you have BPD or you relate to experiences of loss? I'm not disregarding you but him saying that mental illnesses doesn't exist seems invalidating to all that suffer whilst there's no simple test to prove it they've been studying the brains of people with BPD for over 20 years now and there's measurable biological and neurochemical difference. He is just generalising all of us the same on his personal experience but in reality that's not true there's 4 subtypes of BPD and many combinations of symptoms it is one of the most misunderstood mental illnesses in the whole of psychiatry even with the immense research that's been done. I've attached some videos of a BPD bran scan comparison to a 'normal' brain and over 580 interviews of both professionals and patients discussing it, what you've watched is just one individuals opinion. You can watch here - BorderlineNotes

 

[Dejected 55]

In the facility I was recently in... "Borderline Personality Disorder" seemed to be a go-to diagnosis. The psychiatrist wasn't spending hardly any time with patients, and therapists were hit or miss... but upon discharging patients from the facility, including me, many of us saw on our discharge papers this diagnosis... BUT it was literally the first time any of us saw this or heard about it from the doctors or anyone. So, basically they were checking a box when they discharged patients without regard to actually trying to figure out what might be wrong or even talking about it with patients.

 

[BrainSplatter]

In the facility I was recently in... "Borderline Personality Disorder" seemed to be a go-to diagnosis. The psychiatrist wasn't spending hardly any time with patients, and therapists were hit or miss... but upon discharging patients from the facility, including me, many of us saw on our discharge papers this diagnosis... BUT it was literally the first time any of us saw this or heard about it from the doctors or anyone. So, basically they were checking a box when they discharged patients without regard to actually trying to figure out what might be wrong or even talking about it with patients.

Yeah that seems obviously wrong?? Psychiatrists should be thoroughly assessing for an accurate diagnosis. How long was your stay? It's not like someone can just meet you for 10 minutes and obviously diagnose you they'd have to look at your history and symptoms. It's not something that obviously changes or improves quickly. If you weren't showing obvious symptoms of any other diagnosis, maybe they were puzzled and didn't want to investigate further and chose BPD because of overlapping traits. It sounds like they just took the easy route obviously checking a box I'd definitely get a second opinion if I were you I was told from 17 I had symptoms of an emerging personality disorder but in the UK you aren't allowed to be formally diagnosed until 18 that's when I found out I had BPD I've had 3 separate psychiatrists confirm it, including one who's been practicing for over 30 years. I obviously trust her input since she was working when BPD was finally recognized as a diagnosis and added to the DSM V.

 

[Tobacco]

Do you suspect you have BPD or you relate to experiences of loss? I'm not disregarding you but him saying that mental illnesses doesn't exist seems invalidating to all that suffer whilst there's no simple test to prove it they've been studying the brains of people with BPD for over 20 years now and there's measurable biological and neurochemical difference. He is just generalising all of us the same on his personal experience but in reality that's not true there's 4 subtypes of BPD and many combinations of symptoms it is one of the most misunderstood mental illnesses in the whole of psychiatry even with the immense research that's been done. I've attached some videos of a BPD bran scan comparison to a 'normal' brain and over 580 interviews of both professionals and patients discussing it, what you've watched is just one individuals opinion. You can watch here - BorderlineNotes

I relate to the Significant Losses part.

Also, thank you for the resources. I want to be more informed. After some testing in a public clinic in my developing country the psychologist wrote among other things "unspecified personality disorder."

 

[Hollowman]

Yeah that seems obviously wrong?? Psychiatrists should be thoroughly assessing for an accurate diagnosis. How long was your stay? It's not like someone can just meet you for 10 minutes and obviously diagnose you they'd have to look at your history and symptoms. It's not something that obviously changes or improves quickly. If you weren't showing obvious symptoms of any other diagnosis, maybe they were puzzled and didn't want to investigate further and chose BPD because of overlapping traits. It sounds like they just took the easy route obviously checking a box I'd definitely get a second opinion if I were you I was told from 17 I had symptoms of an emerging personality disorder but in the UK you aren't allowed to be formally diagnosed until 18 that's when I found out I had BPD I've had 3 separate psychiatrists confirm it, including one who's been practicing for over 30 years. I obviously trust her input since she was working when BPD was finally recognized as a diagnosis and added to the DSM V.

Just because three of them confirm anything means next to nothing. Their field's in it's infancy, they are nowhere close to having the brain figured out. 30 years of practicing doesn't mean shit.

 

[NormallyNeurotic]

BPD is similar all PDs in the fact that, yes, they exist... but no, they don't exist how many think.

This is sort of becoming my catch phrase at this point but: Personality disorders are just collections of maladaptive traits in reaction to trauma.

The reason they have a genetic component, is because our brains may have a genetic predisposition to reacting certain ways to trauma. You may be predisposed to anger ("anger issues" "short fuse" etc), sadness ("highly sensitive person" "fragile"), avoidance, dissociation, fawn response, blah blah...

All of us have traits of PDs, because PDs are a natural consequence of human brains working the way they do. So when those traits get too intense, we are labeled. It's a double-edged sword, because it can help you recognize your own vices and heal... but it also can box you in.

ASPD is often diagnosed in people who are in prison. That is for multiple reasons. First of all, the diagnosticians that talk to convicts are biased. Second of all, these people are often in active crisis (prisons are, as you'd imagine, hard to live in), so many survival traits may be artificially elevated.

BPD is often diagnosed in psychiatric settings for the same reason. It's also important to note that BPD and HPD have a history of being falsely attributed to AFABs and women especially by certain psychs who use it as a stand-in for "hysteria." That does not disprove the existence of BPD though.

So, does BPD exist? Yes.
Does it exist in the same way as something like autism or ADHD? Not exactly.

It's just the fault of the psychiatric industry for not understanding (or caring about) human reactions to trauma enough. That's all.

 

[BrainSplatter]

Just because three of them confirm anything means next to nothing. Their field's in it's infancy, they are nowhere close to having the brain figured out. 30 years of practicing doesn't mean shit.

Good to know I'll be sure to remember that when I enroll in a psychology class in the afterlife

 

[Dejected 55]

Yeah that seems obviously wrong?? Psychiatrists should be thoroughly assessing for an accurate diagnosis. How long was your stay? It's not like someone can just meet you for 10 minutes and obviously diagnose you they'd have to look at your history and symptoms. It's not something that obviously changes or improves quickly. If you weren't showing obvious symptoms of any other diagnosis, maybe they were puzzled and didn't want to investigate further and chose BPD because of overlapping traits. It sounds like they just took the easy route obviously checking a box I'd definitely get a second opinion if I were you I was told from 17 I had symptoms of an emerging personality disorder but in the UK you aren't allowed to be formally diagnosed until 18 that's when I found out I had BPD I've had 3 separate psychiatrists confirm it, including one who's been practicing for over 30 years. I obviously trust her input since she was working when BPD was finally recognized as a diagnosis and added to the DSM V.

I was in the hospital for about 3 weeks in total. I spent maybe 45 minutes in total with the actual psychiatrist. With the therapists, I spent maybe a couple of hours early on and then barely any time after that. It was pretty much he same story with the other patients that I talked to... and as I said, many of them got the same "diagnosis" that they saw for the first time when they were being discharged. I also found out there were multiple scenarios where the doctor would report that she had "talked with" me only to find out she had literally came to my room when I was asleep, decided not to wake me, but still wrote down that she met with me.

 

[Hollowman]

I was in the hospital for about 3 weeks in total. I spent maybe 45 minutes in total with the actual psychiatrist. With the therapists, I spent maybe a couple of hours early on and then barely any time after that. It was pretty much he same story with the other patients that I talked to... and as I said, many of them got the same "diagnosis" that they saw for the first time when they were being discharged. I also found out there were multiple scenarios where the doctor would report that she had "talked with" me only to find out she had literally came to my room when I was asleep, decided not to wake me, but still wrote down that she met with me.

They are lazy af.

Good to know I'll be sure to remember that when I enroll in a psychology class in the afterlife

I bet you think everything in the DSM V is 100% scientific. One of the authors of the third edition admitted it was mostly bs.