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If I get diagnosed with bpd is that my whole life over?
spacedog
Posts: 1,183 Wise Owl
Alot of people say it's one of the worst mental illnesses (not in the way of competition) but with constant hospitalisations - I've had 3 already. I'm just so scared for my future and how horrific I've heard it is, I'm so scared, I don't want to feel like this the rest of my life
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But if have it then doesn’t mean life is over, like with any disorder some people are affected worse than others and it can also improve with time once you learn how to tolerate distress & emotions & become more self aware
Edit Sorry looking at other replies I think I took what you said too literal about the diagnosis part
But yeah no life isn’t over. It’s a hard illness to live with but definitely doesn’t mean Life is over
I’ve got a diagnosis of bpd and I understand where you’re coming from - there is such a lot of stigma surrounding it. I think it’s worth saying there’s definitely hope for people with bpd, it doesn’t have to be that way you describe forever. I know for me, getting the right meds and being in the right therapy has helped me no end to the point I’m now at uni training to be a MH nurse myself. It can take time to get the right treatment for you, and a lot of hard work, but I wanted to just emphasise that it doesn’t make you a lost cause… you can recover and make a life worth living.
Take care
Jelly
Whatever you're feeling now is temporary and will pass. It's totally valid to feel scared when receiving a diagnosis but try and see it as a tool to better understand yourself and help yourself to meet your needs better. Hopefully having a diagnosis can help your care team support you better and find coping skills and possibly medication that will help your recovery journey.
It might also help to follow positive BPD accounts on Instagram or TikTok - yes, BPD gets a lot of negative media attention, but there are lots of people living and even thriving with it, hospital-free. I love Sabrina Flores' account, she talks about BPD and healthy coping skills in a realistic yet positive way.
I hope this is helpful, and remember The Mix is a safe space to share however you're feeling
As the others have said having a diagnosis of BPD does not mean your life is over. The diagnosis does come with some unfair prejudice from professionals that can make getting support harder and more energy consuming. But it does not mean your life is over.
Fun fact, there are many stats about BPD recovery, and they all depend on the support that is available. Studies have shown recovery rates to be between 33% - 99%, which I know is a very big varying difference but it also shows hope that it is possible to not have this diagnosis forever.
I can from what you're saying that professionals aren't really listening to you and just telling you things are bad, without giving you any direction on what you can actually do to help yourself. That is a super frustrating position to be in and I think many on the community can relate to that feeling.
What might help is knowing a little bit more about what BPD is and what it means. For example, to have BPD, you have to tick 5 or more of the following 9 traits below:
What's written above is the fancy medical wording for diagnostic criteria, so I'd be more than happy to break it down if there's any questions.
Once we have an understanding on what's going on, it can help us to figure out what we need to do next. BPD is named as such because it was understood to be borderline between being a neurological condition (the brain and it's chemicals) and a psychological condition (our emotions). What this means is that the common treatment for BPD is a mixture of medication and therapy, often DBT or MBT.
The medication can help stabilize our moods and emotions, whilst therapy can help us understand why we might react the way we do or act in a certain way. We know that therapy can be super hard to get right now, and that can feel really dis-empowering. Some DBT skills that I'd recommend looking up and giving a go are:
It might sound a little silly or annoying to begin with but give it a go
You're not alone with this @IainJammyboy , you can get through this and we're all here to support and help too. It's not easy either, so do try and take some time for yourself, do a couple of things you enjoy you when you can, you really deserve it!