i hope you get answers, i am interested in what the thought is...
so zoloft helps your underling issues?? thank you

Actually anti depressants are not frequently used for Bipolar at all unless they are prescribed along with a mood stabilizer. That is because anti depressants tend to make Beepers manic. Wellbutrin is the LEAST likely to cause mania therefore it is the most widely used for Bipolar. I tried Wellbutrin and it was a complete mess. I went full blown, psychotic, manic and stayed that way for 6 months. Now my pdoc won't let me use anti depressants at all, ever, even though I am also prescribed anti psychotics.

People without Bipolar will not react that way so they have more options open to them for anti depressants.

I guess that does make sense divine, also might answer my question of whether its bipolar or bpd that is my problem. For years I just thought it was depression until I learned more about BPD. My family is full of people with such characteristics and other mood problems like depression, lots of suicides.

hotdogalice, it does help many of my underlying issues, wouldn't say it's perfect but it helps me.

I have bipolar and BPD as well. Wellbutrin is the only antidepressant I can take out of all I have tried (I have tried every SSRI and SNRI except Zoloft actually) without getting manic/mixed or triggering bad rapid cycling, even with a mood stabilizer. I've tried a lot, but I've never noticed a medication to particularly help with BPD symptoms. I think that some, like Abilify, possibly made it worse, though. Felt very angry and empty on that med.

I've read a few studies on pharmacotherapy for BPD and I think the most helpful in treating BPD symptoms were mood stabilizers and antipsychotics, though antidepressants were helpful in reducing anger related symptoms. I don't believe there have been very many studies on it though, which is a shame. If it makes you docile, maybe it is just helping you feel less angry? If you feel like it makes you so submissive that people are walking all over you or treating you unfairly, that is definitely a problem. But if it just gives you time to think about the situation before reacting, that sounds like a positive thing.

Hope it all works out :)

There really aren't medications to treat BPD, although some meds treat some symptoms of BPD (like depression). Therapy is much more successful, DBT or other.
(It's partly because BPD is an "axis II" disorder, which is really not a "disease" but a pattern of difficulty coping - in different way. Meds are for "axis I" issues)
Also all people diagnosed BPD are not the same, its a pretty broad category. And then you can some mixed diagnoses (like bipolar and BPD) where the meds are for the bipolar not he BPD.

It has been long believed that BPD cannot be treated with medication as it's seen very differently from other disorders. I think that belief is now being challenged, though. Lots of psychiatrists believe medication may be effective in treating borderline patients, including Dr. Marsha Linehan, the creator of DBT. As you said, it may only be certain symptoms medication can be used for. That is none the less treatment for BPD, though.

I remember reading a meta analysis a day or two ago that found antipsychotics in particular are beneficial in treating core symptoms of BPD. I believe they had a positive effect on aggression, impulsivity, interpersonal relationships (would be neat if they had've included specifically *what* improved here - but I think it still says a lot) as well as the Global Assessment of Functioning. Mood stabilizers were also included in the analysis and I believe they were found to be effective in treating mood instability. I can find the link if you'd like - interesting stuff.

I don't believe that medication alone is the answer to managing BPD. Therapy is definitely necessary. That is a whole lot of things medication can be useful for in treating BPD, though, so I think it would be a negative thing to dismiss it as a treatment - not just a treatment for co-occurring disorders such as major depression - but actual symptoms that are specific to BPD (since a depressive episode is not a symptom of BPD, although mood instability is). Those without a co-occurring Axis I disorder would still benefit from the medication as I understand.

Some professionals also believe it should be moved to Axis I. I don't entirely understand the point of having personality disorders on Axis I as the DSM's description of a personality disorder could easily describe schizophrenia or bipolar as well. So what is the distinction? I think there has been a long standing belief that personality disorders are character flaws, not a disorder beyond one's control (such as Axis I disorders are seen). I think that's wrong.

If a medication can be used to treat some BPD symptoms - for example, mood stabilizers, and there is evidence it can treat both bipolar and BPD mood instability, why does that still make BPD less of an illness than bipolar? Is bipolar an illness of the brain while BPD is simply socialized characteristics, not a result of dysfunctional physiology?