While some people think it is nothing serious the truth is it is a very serious mental illness. People who suffer from BPD can help helped in a number of different ways so even if you have a few or all of these signs you are about to ready about just know that it is no terminal, but it is something to take very seriously…
Sign 1: You Often Feel “empty”
This is NOT about food in any way, it is about your whole body and mind feeling empty. You feel like you have given the world your last and there is simply nothing left inside of you to care for yourself let alone others. You might not feel this way all the time, but there are times when this statement is true.
Sign 2: You Have Quick Shifting Emotions
Some people will often confuse this sign with bipolar disorder, but a bipolar disorder sufferer will experience far greater emotional swings that last a long period of time. Someone with BPD will feel down one minute and up the next, never knowing what they will be able to do from one day to the next.
Sign 3: You Have Disturbed Patterns of Thinking
This means it is sometimes hard to work or hard to concentrate on one particular thing. It can be broken patterns of both thinking or perception, which might mean you are reading a book one minute and can’t seem to turn the page over the next. It can happen at any time and can also happen in large blocks of time making it very difficult to hold down a job or even sleep!
Sign 4: Impulsive Behaviour
You like to see yourself as someone who will try new things at the drop of a hat. Someone who might walk to work one day and decided to walk somewhere else the next. You can’t stop yourself sometimes and it feels like you will explode if you don’t do what the impulses are telling you to do.
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Sign 5: Unstable Relationships
Do you often find yourself all over your partner one minute and pushing them away from you the next? If you are the chances are good that you have BPD and it is a very telling sign, especially when someone likes to consider their relationship as “intense”.
Sign 6: You Do Dangerous Things
This doesn’t mean playing Russian roulette with yourself, it means you will often have unprotected sex, try new drugs or even try to get into fights with people. This is also part of your “Impulsive Behaviour” because even if it is dangerous to do something you still feel the need to do it.
Sign 7: Self Harm
I have already talked about the myths of Self-harming and this is part of that. Just be away that self-harming can mean a lot of things. Not just cutting and burning, it could be overeating, under-eating or even binge drinking. Anything you do that might cause harm to your body is classes as self-harming.
Sign 8: You Constantly Feel Alone
For people with BPD you can be in a crowded room, full of people, but feel like you are the only person in that room. You often feel afraid the people that care about you will abandon you for no particular reason. In those moments a good friend is the most important thing to have.
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Sign 9: You are Sensitive To Everything
Loud noises, strong smells, sad music, sad movies even a picture of a sad face can set someone with BPD into a pit of depression at any time that can last for several hours. This is particularly true when it comes to being shouted at or told off as they feel it is all their fault even when it isn’t.
Sign 10: You Are Black or White Only
This is not a skin colour thing, it is a classification thing. You believe someone is good or bad, right or wrong, there is no middle ground and finding out someone was bad when you thought they were good doesn’t change your opinion of them. While this can lead to more committed relationships it can also mean they end the relationship for no reason at all.
Some people live with some of these signs of BPD their whole lives and never let it get them down, while others might have just noticed them and it is already impacting their quality of life. The best advice I can offer you is to talk. Talk to your GP, Doctor, a Nurse, A Therapist even a good friend or a school teacher. Let people know you are feeling these things and though good advice and lots of time you can live a normal life again.
I just found this post…
And my eyes light up!!!
So thought I would comment as my often impulsive self… And because I have this…
Yes as a fellow borderline I can indeed attest to all these symptoms.
This illness is absolute hell to live with and impacts every aspect of your life. Often therapy, medication and a support system are needed to help us as individuals, because we are like fractured human beings, and broken to our very core. We have tissue like thin emotional skin, which makes us more sensitive to any kind of stimuli.
But you cannot see all this, unless you know us and are perceptive or are in our close circle…but you will.usually be able to tell from our moods, thinking and behaviour.
I ask anyone that knows someone with BPD, to please educate yourself on the illness, and go to the experts in that field such as Dr Daniel.Fox on YouTube, but there are others too…(and realise there is much stigma attached to this illness being a Cluster B mental illness)…
Try to be patient with us, as we are often in turmoil. We are often learning the early building blocks we didn’t get a chance to learn when we were young due to traumatic and/or abusive caregivers/environment.
We often need a lot of reassurance to feel safe and so that we can trust you and open up to you.
Often along with BPD, come along other problems such as addictions, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation/self harm and other mood disorders. This can make life very difficult for those that look after or are with us on an every day basis, but with love, understanding and support, things can greatly improve…. and we can learn to cope better, but it takes time.
This is one of your best posts so far Russell….
Keep up your good work!
Thank you so much, its not an easy thing to life with for sure. Like you I do wish there was a lot more understanding about it.