I Think My Loved One Has Borderline Personality Disorder
What should you do if you think your loved one has borderline personality disorder (BPD)? As I write More than Borderline, I write it from different perspectives and with different life experiences. I write it as a young woman living with diagnosed borderline personality disorder. I also write it as a woman who has loved many with BPD and who has had friends, acquaintances, and loved ones throughout my life that have displayed BPD symptoms. It’s touched my life in numerous ways. Without help, I know it’s a challenge to live with it; I know it’s a challenge to love someone with it. It’s especially challenging when we live in a society that doesn’t talk about mental illness enough and loved ones can feel just as frustrated and hopeless. As I’ve been more public about my diagnosis, many loved ones of those with BPD have reached out to me with questions about what they can do. In the spirit of Mental Health Awareness Month, I’ll be breaking down some helpful considerations into a two-part post on loving someone with borderline personality disorder. So, what should you do if you think your loved one has BPD?
What to Ask Yourself If You Think Your Loved One Has Borderline Personality Disorder
Does Your Loved OneThink He Has Borderline Personality Disorder?
If you’re reading this, you may have come to your own conclusions that your loved one has BPD as maybe you read some of my writing or someone else’s and think you’ve found the answer. Those intentions are good, but I'll offer some caveats here for when you only think your loved one has BPD.
I also write this as someone who has made mistakes in my interactions in others with BPD. For starters, not everyone with this diagnosis is as forthcoming as I am. Consider that this is one of the most highly stigmatized diagnoses out there. It can be frightening to those who don’t have a lot of information and completely overwhelming. So, while you may be trying to help by proclaiming you’ve found the answer and that you think your loved one has borderline personality disorder, you could do more harm than good. I say this as someone who thought I was "helping" by pointing out the clear traits of borderline personality disorder I saw in those around me. I dated someone whose close family member displayed the traits. A therapist by training, I offered my perspective. It was unsolicited and unhelpful advice.
I brought my borderline diagnosis to my family once I had it from a licensed therapist, not the other way around. If you bring this up out of the blue to your loved one, you risk triggering the very borderline behavior you are trying to help. In someone prone to defensiveness or aggression, I don't recommend bringing up the diagnosis yourself. It's certainly helpful to educate yourself, but I don’t recommend proclaiming this to your loved one. Those of us with BPD can also be prone to paranoia, so enlightening your friend about your research on BPD can be well-intentioned and it can also backfire.
Seek your own help first. Find your own therapist you trust and discuss your concerns about your loved one with BPD in a contained environment. Or, if in the context of a romantic relationship, bring the concerns to a trusted couples therapist if your partner is open to it.
Is Your Loved One's Borderline Personality Disorder Diagnosis from a Qualified Mental Health Professional?
While it may be appropriate to express concern to a loved one about his mental health struggles and ask if he is willing to seek professional help, leave the diagnosing to the professionals. If your loved one brings the diagnosis to you, then it’s an appropriate conversation to have about what it means and what BPD treatment options are.
Considerations If You Think Your Loved One Has Borderline Personality Disorder
It’s wonderful and okay to seek information and educate yourself about the diagnosis, but consider keeping your findings to yourself unless your loved one who has BPD wants to talk about it. I know this is difficult. I can feel like a self-proclaimed borderline expert sometimes and I’ve mistakenly thought everyone wants to hear my input. That’s not always the case and I've learned the hard way.
APA Reference
Easton, W.
(2018, May 17). I Think My Loved One Has Borderline Personality Disorder, HealthyPlace. Retrieved
on 2024, November 15 from https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/borderline/2018/5/if-your-loved-one-has-borderline
Author: Whitney Easton
Please DO NOT call other adults names. That is all one's generally doing by calling someone "a narcissist" or saying they have "borderline." Then if the person reacts, do not assume you are right (though anyone who has the gall to do this probably will think they're right). Most people even healthy people would react with at least skepticism and possibly even negatively to sudden criticism and especially labels -- and no, a reaction doesn't confirm they have a personality disorder. People who need to say these things really would benefit from considering the perspective and feelings of other people, and whether they themselves might be vulnerable and conflicted and in need of help. Something off is driving them to scour the internet for reasons to call other people names, because the contexts in which it would be kind to do this are vanishingly small and in it is more likely to arise out of the impulse young kids have to exert power over others by name-calling or categorizing.
hi, so my friend had a bad child hood, her parents divorced, her mom had boyfriends and got drunk a lot, about a year ago her mom got into a car accident driving drunk and passed away. I didn't know her at the time.
ive always been a very out going person, ive dealt with some stuff myself but I majority recovered ig you could say, ive averagely attractive, not ugly not gorgeous, but im a very funny and fun loving person. ive had a tow relationships while ive known my friend, and some say I have flirtatious personality but I don't try to flirt ever, lol anyways, so my friend isn't outgoing, she is every now and then but reels it back in very quickly, she is very unorganized with her emotions and she know it. she argues with me about something stupid and then acts like she didn't just treat me like she hated my existence, but apologizes hours later admitting all this stuff about being jealous of me and hating me for basically being me, every chance she gets she calls me dramatic or extra or loud or annoying. she says im too flirty. I have a group of friends outside of our friend group and I introduced them at church one day and slowly but surely she got in contact with every one of them and tried to " one up " me with my own friends!. For example: one of my friends had a small procedure coming up and he texted me but I was so busy I didn't read it for three days,,, meanwhile he let my friend know too considering he asked how he had
been, and she was sooo happy to " let me in" on what was going on.
constantly competing with me over nothing. (apologies for this being so long , im just desperate) she even admitted to hating me for everything I am at one in the morning in a text, i was horrified but didn't say anything but trying to assure her she was perfect the way she is, but when we argued again I brought it up to her and she acted like it never happened and told me to check my phone and show her, I deleted them out of not wanting to re-hash the words she sent, but then later I told her I had my gradmother( my advice giver) as a witness and she wouldn't argue with her so she accepted that she sent it. anyways I regret cutting ties with her but I don't know how to deal with her strange behavior! plz help, thank you for listening.