I was told that I go on weird tangents and sometimes act manic.
I know several people in my family that have this problem.
How else can I identify this possible condition of mine, if I do indeed have it?
this might be a stupid take (pls call me out if it is) but i think that looking into cptsd and its trauma responses (fight, flight, freeze, fawn) and ways to heal from them is way more productive and healthy than trying to diagnose yourself with a personality disorder. idk i went through a period where i was really worried about being a schizoid/narcissist but those labels didnt do any good for me, they just made my trauma responses worse. and i didnt rly start to heal until i started focusing on treating my main trauma response, which is freeze.
It's true for most mental issues. I went through a very long phase of hating myself for having depression problems and just wallowing in it until I realized I had to focus on mitigation. I think it kind of boils down to self loathing, which I'm sure therapy kind of speeds you through that into the mitigation phase.
I think there is some issue with folks rejecting their own issues because of the self deprecating aspect of acceptance
generally speaking, people with borderline personality disorder do not worry about how they might have it. BPD people are generally resistant to diagnosis and treatment, as in the case of the related narcissistic personality disorder.
NPD and BPD are both cluster B mental illnesses, yeah? I'm both cases I've met folks that seem to be resistant to accepting that they have an issue. It's sad because I think, especially with BPD, that self awareness itself is very helpful, beyond having full on therapy (which is sadly not available to many who suffer).
The worst is how much damage these people can cause to those around them, in relation to not ever dealing with it
People always say this but are there any studies backing this up?
Cause I feel like I've met too many people with BPD diagnoses for most people with BPD to be completely unaware of it
I feel like mental health awareness nowadays is so much more prevalent than just a decade ago too
In my experience people's BPD diagnoses have always been preceded by a lot of severely maladaptive behaviors that lead to a diagnosis. Think hospitalization etc.; I don't know of anyone with no prior mental health crises who thought "I'm worried I might have BPD" went to a professional for a diagnosis, and received one. It might happen but it's highly atypical.
I have an ex, a summer time fling, and a trans friend from childhood and could provide a lot of anecdotal data
are you susceptible to black and white thinking and paranoia?
for example, if a friend says no to hanging out with you, do you jump to the conclusion that they're no longer you're friend?
things like that are a hallmark of bpd - weird tangents and acting manic could just be, like, autism or any number of other psychological conditions lmao
I'd change your focus from "acting manic" to the actual symptoms of mania. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21603-mania
I was thinking maybe I'm bipolar but I've never had any of those mania symptoms.
This. So much this. I had a horrible understanding of mania until I met someone who had really bad bipolar and was going through an intense manic phase. Most people think it means going through ups and downs in quick succession and that is not at all what it's like.
Stupidly one of the best learning experiences I had of mania was very idiotically taking an eyeball dose of a PCP analogue ( which is should never have bought, honestly) and having about 8-10 hours of mania that didn't end until like 4-5am. By the end I was actually really miserable because I had realized I'd been so fucked up (more than any other drug I'd ever done or tried) and as my cognition returned to normal I felt a lot of shame over realizing how irresponsible I'd been, especially because my friends were around and saw how delusional I was. Shit went straight into the toilet after that.
I guess doing it controlled and having a trip sitter would've been interesting but honestly I would suggest anyone to stay away from any drug that has that tendency. I literally thought the world had collapsed to a singularity at one point and that I was actually god and had to remake the planet (at least I remember having some deep Marxist feelings of making things right)
I'm bipolar. I go on these tangents and crap too. I've done standup, radio and podcasts and just can monologue...
For borderline you're looking out for serious mood swings, emotional instability, fear of abandonment, and rapidly shifting ways you relate to the same people in your life.
