Do you also have bipolar? Sometimes the two of them are mistaken or sometimes a person has both.

I definetley have bipolar. Absolutely no doubt about that. I always seemed to be working on the bipolar issues and really never wanted to hear the borderline personality thing, they mentioned it , but I just thought they were trying to throw another Mental label at me. Today I heard it though , loud and clear.

Borderline personality is not the same as bi-polar, because it is not an illness in the same way that bipolar is (not genetic, but instead caused by the way one reacts to the environment). However, if you are bi-polar you could have shown borderline personality characteristics (my doctor says that these will sometimes go away when the moods level out, but sometimes even when the moods level a person can then suddenly show borderline personality.) Some symptoms are not having a strong sense of self without belonging to a group or defining one's self with the outside appearance of a group (the way teens usually do). I would switch my appearance to fit the group I hung out with, and even switch my personality characteristics to match! Self-abuse is very characterstic. Also eating disorders, mood swings, co-dependency, defining one's self by how others think of you, or needing constant outside approval. I'm sure there is more, I'm no expert, but I read a book a long time ago... and it really helped. I wish I remembered the title. But the similarities between the behaviors are similar, the difference is the cause.

Wantabe -- theres a wonderful book out there. It's small, a real quick read, but excellent on the topic. It's called "I Hate You, Don't Leave Me" and it's about borderline personality disorder. I recommend it to anyone looking for information on the topic.

Also, the following site is the National Institute on Mental Health. Good Article.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/bpd.cfm

Hope this info helps.

Angel is absolutely right, you could have borderline traits or characteristics with the bipolar without a seperate dx but it sounds like they have actually labeled you with the full borderline personality disorder.

BTW -- the best treatment for Borderline is DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) and if that's not available in your area CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.)

Here is a site for DBT self help

http://www.dbtselfhelp.com/

Good post. I've always wondered what a boderline personality was. I'll have to check out that book MHA recommended. I have alot of the traits Angel mentioned. Hmmmmmm...interesting