Borderline Personality Disorder. Am I really a more qualified diagnoser?...

[BPDguy]

...Other sufferers have newbie tips? I never believed in mental health until tonight. I have been pretty outspoken about it too...Way to sell drugs, label problem kids, label natural human emotions as disorders, not a real science, etc. For 11 years now though, every aspect of my life...work, relationships, self-esteem has just been "whack" Lol. I was diagnosed with depression but never took my medicine for it because I just didn't agree with the psychiatrist nor the symptoms. I was then diagnosed with bipolar disorder and everyone I did confide this in agreed whole heartedly that they suspected that as well. I didn't ever start my bipolar meds even though my parents told me they'd help me get better. I just couldn't take the drugs when I would go over and over the symptoms and realized that even though I suffered from them, it was a real stretch in my head to identify with the symptoms (instead of YES it was more like, yea I guess I feel like that) and silently have rejected (for 8 yrs) that I'm bipolar or that any of this mumbo jumbo exists and haven't sought help since other than a counselor to talk to and codependents anonymous after a traumatic experience while looking for someone who could really understand my mind's workings. The counselor (though an AMAZING and loving person and counselor) didn't fix the underlying problem...I know she wasn't a psychiatrist and not able to make judgement as one...kind of like an alcoholic quitting alcohol but never addressing WHY they drink. So I've still been searching for the reason I find myself in the situations I do everyday. Finally tonight I randomly saw something that said borderline personality disorder BPD on the net and clicked it and went through about 15 sites with symptoms and stories. I don't understand the physiological reasons for BDP but I am very emotional now because for the first time in all these years every symptom I read is a YES, I FEEL THAT WAY EVERY SECOND OF MY LIFE...THAT IS EXACTLY HOW I TREAT PEOPLE...THAT IS JUST HOW I COPE...My first question is how often are people (non-hypochondriacs lol) right about their own mental health diagnosis? Is it enough to say that for the first time in my life I identify with these words and not a few 20 minute meetings as a teenager with a pricey psychiatrist I can trust that this is probably my diagnosis? Also, I know that the literature says treatment can be lengthy...well, I can't afford this so how often are people able to read, self help, counseling, open up to others, etc after just one meeting with a psych to get neuroleptic drugs? Does anyone have BPD and take something that works well for them? I am so relieved I heard about this never-mentioned disorder and so comforted that I read my daily sufferings written down by another human being so I won't even go through the details or stories since I'm sure if you have BPD, you know exactly what you do to keep this cycle going of painful situations and you know we could write a book.

 

[AlperTungaK]

BPDguy,

I am not surprised to learn that you have the opinion you probably have BPD after reading about its symptoms. It happens to anyone who don't know have in depth knowledge on these matters.


You can take look at these criteria set for BPD to understand what I mean better. You'll see that how general these criteria set for BPD are:

<<Borderline personality disorder is a condition in which a person makes impulsive actions, and has an unstable mood and chaotic relationships.

Symptoms

Relationships with others are intense and unstable. They swing wildly from love to hate and back again. People with BPD will frantically try to avoid real or imagined abandonment.


BPD patients may also be uncertain about their identity or self-image. They tend to see things in terms of extremes, either all good or all bad. They also typically view themselves as victims of circumstance and take little responsibility for themselves or their problems.>>
http://your-mental-health.weebly.com/x.h…

These criteria just define the personality traits that are valid for everyone in the world depending on the situational reasons and every single behaviour, thought, emotion and feeling can be interpreted as one of the traits of BPD. The author actually has the opinion that to be a human being by itself is a personality disorder.

We can talk about BPD under these circumstances below:

1. When psychiatrists or counselors do not understand what the problem is in their clients they automatically write off this diagnosis in health insurance documents as they need to mention a legitimate psychiatric disease for the insurance companies in order to be able to get their check. BPD is really like a joker in card game for them.

2. When people committed to hospitals for various reasons they experience absolute powerlessness at the hands of hospital staff with their usual coercive approaches which aim to make you believe that you've a legitimate medical problem in order to facilitate the brain washing which is wrongly called "treatment" in you. In this situation some of those people who are subjected to these coercive approaches threaten to commit suicide or to harm themselves with the intention of resisting this authoritarian approach they experience at the hands of hospital staff and in order to be able to gain some sort of respect and dignity (by frightening them) and even to get revenge from them. When they do this they're automatically labeled as BPD as well. It's not wrong to say that this state of mind emerges due to the totally flawed treatment philosophies based on profit making with the minimum possible effort (which create or give way to all sorts of professional abuses) rather than helping people.

Be sure that all these traits you may tell about yourself which make you think that you probably have BPD have all situational reasons and you can find solutions to them if you honestly analyse yourself. You don't need anyone to achieve this. Just trust yourself and make a sincere effort. You'll see that achieving this is much easier than you might think if you're determined enough.

I'm a journalist who has made a very extensive journalistic research on psychiatry and mental health systems in various countries in the world for more than a decade. Therefore I can confidently tell you by depending on my vast observations in that field that as a rule any help is better than professional help with respect to mental health problems as unfortunately mental health industry is built upon profit making by exploiting suffering, vulnerable individuals rather than helping them. It has become a very real threat to public and individual health and civil liberties over the years, and I can see no sincere effort in correcting this obvious problem in professionals or public health officials.

My advice to you is to trust yourself. Just stay away from these so-called professionals if you don't want to risk your physical as well as mental health and much of your civil rights.