It's kinda funny (in a twisted, I'm insane kinda way), but I recently stumbled upon my own personality disorder and realized I'm borderline. I've gone over and over things I've done and said (written) in the past and it matches up, it does perfectly, and I see examples of it all over the place every day, but still I feel like a complete fraud and that I don't belong here.

But the funny part is...that's just the borderline speaking :P

if your doctor has diagnosd you with a PD then u really need to ask which one, i dont mean this in a horrible way, but looking at the symptoms on a website is no good as some of the PD's share very similar traits, your defo not a fraud if you have been diagnosed by a doc, you just need to find out which one and they you will "know where you belong" for lack of better wording
write back when you knw and i might be able to help you out a bit more
lovin hugs
angel vicky

HEY IF YOUR CRAZEE YOUR CRAZEE EMBRACE IT. IT CAN BE FUN!!!

Feeling like a fraud is a trait of Borderline Personality even when you are successful at what you are doing. I was getting great praise as a teacher, but felt like a fraud. I read about this in the book-I hate you-don't leave me. It is in the front part of the book.

I have recieved some documentation regarding which type of personality disorder I have, and it looks like my primary is actually Avoidant, not Dependent. (Although I would have to disagree.) But either way, I know that there can overlaps so I was going to work on them both anyway. But if the Avoidant is the primary, then it might cause some problems that I wasn't anticipating. So I will keep that in mind. Thanks for your help.

I read up about it and know full well I am a BPD person. When I tell the therapist assessing me this she looks blank and does not respond. When I come on DS I think - hey I am one of the BPD community and know i fit in but then I read others' stories and know they have had such an injust rough time in their lives I do not dare think why I have pushed to get therapy or how I dare think I have problems.

But i do have problems. And they need sorting. But I feel a fraud.

It seems almost daily that I tell myself that I'm just a normal guy with normal problems and I'm exagerating all this and don't need to be looking for help, but the thing I need to keep thinking is "Do these problems hinder me from normal activities?" I haven't been able to work, and that's serious. I've been so anxious I'm showing signs of panic attacks, and that's serious. I cry more often, I sleep less...I have to remember that Self-Doubt is the fuel of my BPD and that it IS a serious illness, no matter what anyone else says.

If my heart is this overworked every day I'm at my slow-paced job (simply due to the presence of people), then there's a problem.

I know I have some self-doubt and all, but I'm not all that convinced that's it's because of this disorder. I was a target of a workplace bully (basically, a polite way of saying I was a victim of workplace abuse), and as a result, I lost any and all confindence I did have in myself. Not to mention the feeling like I didn't know how to do anything anymore, even though I clearly did. Now they're (the psych drs) are trying to put this "label" on me? I don't buy it.

It is because of this that I REALLY feel like a fraud (at least for this community). Could I just be in denial? Sure, I'll admit that it's possible. But could it be just a possible that they (the psych drs) were not given all the right "answers" (due to me being on my guard) that they put this "label" on me? And that I'm now trying to "fix" or "live with" something that isn't mine to "fix"/"live with"?

I have never felt like a fraud before the abuse/bullying happened. But now, I'm feeling it. So what if all of my "symptoms" are just a result of that and I'm just in the wrong place trying to help me get better?

But if I'm in the right place, how can I know the difference?

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Sorry for the rant. I just needed to vent a bit. I'm just so confused right now, I'm not sure which way to turn. All I know is that I don't want to turn down a road that I don't need to go on. Either way, thanks for listening.

i guess personality disorders in general make us feel like frauds and sometimes so do the people around us even pdocs who should know better

feeling a fraud is a good description. you feel productive and somewhat normal, then you examine your life and realize something is amiss. you find that you avoid things that others would find pleasure in. you find that there has been a pattern to some traits that has caused you to live your life, not to its fullest, yet, somewhat, you feel just fine until you realize what all you have been missing. i felt like a fraud for so long and still to this day. but i also know that the way i live my life could be so much better if i could just get my personal and social issues under control. there is so much to life and love and to be able to just get a taste of that, would mean everything to me. it is good that you have identified traits that might not be condusive to enjoying life - now you just have to jump each hurdle to a new life. take care.

In truth you can't be sure with disorder you have because there are certain criterion required for each to be true and things that overlap have to be differentiated. On top of that you have to take into consideration that few people can accurately recognize when they're displaying an actual symptom or simply a character flaw, and there is also the fact that many disorders are severe cases of the human normality, ie self confidence turning into Histrionic Personality Disorder etc. So since you haven't been told which disorder you are, you just need general support. Don't worry about being a fraud, because in reality we're all messed up one way or another.

Thanks for all the kind words and support. It really helps a lot.