What is Borderline Personality Disorder?

Borderline Personality Disorder is estimated to affect 1-2% of the general public. Many specialists believe however that it is actually closer to 6%. (Kverme et al., 2019)

So many suffer in silence with this illness… they believe themselves to be broken, hopeless and empty in a world that provides no compassion or empathy… to them.

“If such invalidating situations are frequently experienced, it is understandable that the child does not learn to place confidence in their beliefs and thus remains uncertain about the causes of their sensations. Put another way, such repeated experiences leave the child with the interpretation that their thoughts and emotions are ‘wrong’, leading in turn to increased uncertainty about their beliefs and perceptions that results in dysfunctional behavior (e.g. ineffective emotion regulation strategies)” - (Herzog et al., 2022)

From a young age many of us were left to walk on eggshells, pushing ourselves down to survive in an environment with no stability. We became caretakers to adults who had no idea of their own internal wounds. Put through trials that tested our ability to survive and endure at any moment. That flame that burns inside slowly dies over time, and foundation is laid. A house is created that holds all of your internal unease, here is where your darkness is created.

There is so much stigma following BPD and misinformation that makes seeking help or healing seem impossible. This illness has a black label attached and for that reason so many refuse to seek help, or even see the hope to heal!

To its core Borderline Personality Disorder is a disorder of instability

BPD has cooccurrence's or comorbidity's "existence of two or more diseases or conditions in the same individual at the same time". Depression, anxiety, ED, Body dysmorphia, addiction, ADHD.

Common Misconceptions:

• Men can not have BPD (In fact men are just as likely to have BPD as women the difference is they are more likely to be misdiagnosed into NPD or anger management issues. They are also less likely to seek help!

• BPD is the same as Bi polar (no two completely separate illnesses that have two treatment paths) they do often get misdiagnosed for each other!

• BPD is the same as multiple personality or dissociative personality disorder:

  • No…. we don't even have one full personality let alone multiples…

• We are attention seeking.

  • Our brains have been rewired from severe traumatic events throughout the MAJORITY of our lives. This is not a bad year, this is our whole life.

• Healing is impossible or unattainable.

  • Healing is not one size fits all. We do heal and we each do it differently!

Our society lacks the ability to emphasize with an illness that they themselves can not relate to.

I want to change this stigma! I want to help people that are struggling and show them that we DO HEAL! Healing looks different for everyone, I want to continue to research and provide resources to others like me.

I want to empower anyone that is struggling in their darkness, who feels alone, empty. I want to show you that you can do this, and your trauma is valid, your feelings are valid. I want to show you that you are NOT your trauma, you are so much more.

Take a trip into my mind! Let's come out of this darkness together.

Citations for this blog:

1.Herzog, P., Kube, T., & Fassbinder, E. (2022, August 18). How childhood maltreatment alters perception and cognition – the predictive processing account of borderline personality disorder: Psychological medicine. Cambridge Core. Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/how-childhood-maltreatment-alters-perception-and-cognition-the-predictive-processing-account-of-borderline-personality-disorder/9B9A5CB1369FA84A6560EA7FA90243CA

2. Kverme, B., Natvik, E., Veseth, M., & Moltu, C. (2019, February 12). Moving toward connectedness – a qualitative study of recovery processes for people with borderline personality disorder. Frontiers. Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00430/full