For those of you that have Borderline Personality Disorder...?

Hi SH,

Interesting question. I have BPD and generally I've been lucky with my professionals and the people I currently see (GP, housing support worker, CPN etc) are great.

I have been in situations where I've felt strongly stigmatised due to my BPD though. The worst case was when I was going through a really bad patch of feeling strongly and actively suicidal. My friend was worried about me one night and contacted the mental health crisis centre/house in my city. I had no idea "crisis houses" existed but after going there to talk with someone I agreed to stay to keep myself safe, it ended up being 3 nights. I was still very fragile when I went home and wasn't getting enough support. My GP had tried to refer me to a mental health team but I was being messed around due to them losing my notes. I didnt feel I could keep myself safe so ended up getting back in touch with the crisis house 3 more times.

I felt ashamed to keep having to go back but one member of staff told me not to be silly and not worry, they are there to support people through crisis. The majority of other staff were very insensitive towards me though and were constantly referring to my BPD and implied I was just playing games because I didn't want to be alone. One night when I went to chat with someone she actually had a smirk on her face, challenging me to state what I wanted from them. I felt desperate but just said "I think I'll try to cope at home". The only person playing games was her!

I was so angry at the treatment. I wish people like that would stop and think obviously people would prefer to be comfortable in their own home rather than being in a "staffed" place around strangers! Also if I had been getting the help I had been promised I would have been more stable in the first place. I ended up getting worse and being seen by the intensive home treatment team.

Workers and professionals can def be too quick to dismiss any complaint of symptoms as "attention seeking". This annoys me too as I manage my BPD symptoms very well compared to when I was first diagnosed, and also have seperate diagnosis of recurrant depression & anxiety. Im sure lots of issues go neglected because its just put down to the individual with BPD craving care.

I feel as thought they don't really understand the level of pain i feel, maybe because i can't express it well, so then to try and make them see my pain i will self harm or become clingy or angry just to try and make them understand but it only makes them less willing to help. Whilst i'm glad i don't suffer from psychosis, sometimes i think if i did, my care would be so much different. You can see why people with BPD sometimes make up symptoms, not because we're manipulative but because we're crying out for help. That's how i've found my GP and Psychiatrist to be. My Psychologist on the other hand, listens to every word and doesn't invalidate my thoughts or feelings and accepts me the way i am. I think there are some good professionals out there but i think there is a general lack of knowledge and understanding about borderline personality disorder.

boy oh boy this question was just postred at the right time for me to answer i have been feeling unwell (physically) for around 4 weeks ive been to the doctors every week expalining its not getting better and the hospital 3 times a and e each time i have been sent away saying there is nothing wrong wit me! ive been feeling very dizzy constantly for around four week have been to mny gp and cried and cried about how its making me feel they have asked and asked me if i have taken any illegal drugs i dont take illegal drugs and after being asked 3 times by my doctor yeterday i said look if i had taken anything i would have told you because this has been going on for a while now

she then went on to basically tell me people with my 'problems' (i have depression borderline personality disorder anxiety and paranoia) tend to sometimes feel things that arnt there sometimes so basically she was saying its in my head! when i know full darn well it isnt ive had mental health problems for 15 years and ive not once ever made a fuss like this because i know something is wrong! ive been turned away from loads of doctors this past four weeks saying its all in my head its not!

so yes i have felt negatively treated as my doctor is saying this is my mental health and not my physical and like i say even though i have BPD i have never been manulipative to my knowledge i go and get help when there is a genuine problem but v=because of the stigma attatched to BPD they think its not real

I have had some really bad treatment, and some really good as a BPD sufferer. There have been times when I've openly been called an attention seeker, a waste of time, etc. On one ward I was on I was referred to only as "overdose girl". Not nice. But on the other hand, some hospital staff have been amazing. I went to A&E recently for a non-mental health reason, and I told the triage nurse I had BPD and used to self harm. She told me she has a patient who is a regular self harmer and she knew it was a way of coping and people should be more understanding. Some doctors have been really kind to me, and nurses too. They see you didnt do it to waste their time, you are genuinely ill, just in a different way to everyone else. Others are awful. One looked at my scars and said "All that medication and you're STILL doing this?" But I'd rather focus on those who have been understanding. To be honest I think all A&E workers should have more training in mental health, so they are more understanding. Hope that answers your question :)

Im not border line but I know about it. A borderline is often someone who if they don't have chaos in there life than they will create it and that doesn't exclude putting your therapist in the middle of the created mess like saying your therapist made sexual advances towards them. Just to have problems in there life and to be honest. These therapist are turned into THErapist without doing anything wrong, However if someone accuses someone of that , Its a Felony and if its found out that you have lied about it, you could find yourself in jail for false reporting a felony Your in deep DO DO so any borderlines out there that read this ---Take Heed. Do accuse anyone of something they haven't done. That's just the big one is that Borderlines are mostly lyers about things making others angry at others by lying about Let just say Your dad and your brother. They will say your dad said this horrible thing about you and tell the dad that the son said this about you that was horrible and then the one that's borderline just sits back to watch the fireworks come from both of them. thinking gee Im as innocents an angel but they love watching others get into a big fight just over what they started believing lying borderline. Like my Brother was married to one that called my Mother and told her I said I was so mad at my Mother I could just beat on her for saying such a thing and she would believe said this and my mother would not only be angry at me but afraid and after telling my mother I said this, she would tell me that my mother said all these horrible things about me and I would be angry at her for saying such a thing So the bottom line is that the borderline is almost always a trouble maker and just loves to just sit back after planting seeds of untrue thing that we were saying to each other to just watch us be angry at each other, I was lucky that I had studied about this . Go to the library ad look in the Reference section for the D.S.M.4 and look up borderline personality disorder and then you will see when Phycotherapist have a hard time with borderlines. They most likely already have been attacked in such a silent way. Bi-polars are very hard to help when they are so preoccupied with making new problems not just for themselves but for others and they themselves fear being a victim of a bipolar which most are a which in angels clothing

As sad as this sounds, I've been seeing different psychologists for this for about 6 years already and still I don't feel like I'm getting enough help. Most of them say I don't have a problem but others say it's just adhd. I really want to find out what's wrong with me. All they would give me is a sheet of paper and check every single question that relates to my personality. It's ridiculous.

BPD does have a stigma attached to it. A lot of times even those who are supposedly professionals will take the diagnosis as 'hard to deal with', 'manipulative' and 'attention seeking' and that will color how they treat you.

I don't have BPD but i do have other forms of mental illness and i have found that doctors and nurses that do not have much experience with mental illnesses do seem to look down on patients (me included) that are mentally ill. i would personally expect them to be more understanding but they are as bad as civilians who don't have any knowledge of mental illness. there is a lot of stigma attached to any form of mental health issues that people need to drop and be more understanding about. when i have to deal with people in the ER or a doctor or nurse in a office other than my psychiatrist or psychologist i get the feeling that they expect me of claiming mental illness in order to get attention or to get away with something. usually my husband or son will set them straight VERY quickly.

I don´t be attentive to what your therapist is as much as yet that become an atypical piece of suggestion. What in the journey that your indicators start to emerge and your husband doesn´t be attentive to what´s going on his reactions gained´t be very mushy or effectual on your situation. you will possibly desire to tell him now, might desire to have advised him the day gone by. You have confidence him, don´t you? Or why did you marry him? i be attentive to what BPD ability, yet he might desire to be attentive to you using fact the finished guy or woman you're. no longer in basic terms the sturdy aspects of your life, His help will succeed so you might beat your affliction, now the relationship is an added stress for you. back, i don't understand your therapist´s suggestion. i think of he's out of his techniques. sturdy luck!

well,no.i don,t know exactly what kind.bpd.means nothing to me.neither do the ones trying to help?

borderline what?

they don,t even try to help anyone until it,s too late.you say anything to them,then they get upset.to tell the truth,

i could do a better job then so called professions,i listen.

i,m anti social,so they said many years ago,they asked what

medicine i wanted.same with any disorder,if it,s not full blown

they ignore you.i did more myself in 2 years then all their crap

ever did.all the best to you..bless you