Borderline personalities are among the least understood personality types, which is why I’ve made them the subject of the current series of articles (See Also: Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder). Today’s article will focus on the factors that appear to contribute to the development of this personality disturbance. And the concluding articles of the series will focus on the troublesome features that typically accompany Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), the unique problems people can experience in relationships with borderline personalities, and the promising new therapies (especially a highly specialized form of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy called Dialectical Behavior Therapy) that can help a borderline individual overcome his or her handicaps and solidify a more stable sense of self.
The factors that make it difficult for a person to develop an integrated, solid sense of self are both constitutional and environmental. Constitutional factors that appear to inhibit solid personality formation are an intensity and lability of mood that makes it particularly challenging for the individual to regulate his or her emotions, and a tendency to think and process information in dualistic or “dialectical” terms (See also, Character Disturbance, pp. 129-132). Add to this the preference most borderline individuals seem to have for “splitting” as a primary defense mechanism (for more on this topic, see the articles: Commonly Misused Psychology Terms – Wrap Up and Understanding Splitting as a Psychological Term), and what you get is a person who tends to perceive so many contrary realities and to entertain so many conflicting perspectives about people and circumstances around them that developing a solid, integrated, and stable sense of what’s genuinely real is very difficult.
People who develop borderline personalities also tend to have experienced considerable and often unrelenting trauma during their formative years. Many borderline personalities report histories of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Experiencing this kind of trauma produces consistently high levels of anxiety. Future borderline individuals come to view their worlds early on as full of ambiguity, uncertainty, and dangerous. Because of their constant high levels of anxiety and uncertainty about how to cope, they experience greater than average difficulty mastering the essential developmental milestones outlined by Erikson (e.g., trust vs mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, etc.).
There’s a dynamic interaction between the borderline individual’s innate predispositions and the traumatic early history they have typically experienced. It’s hard enough for a person who tends to react strongly and erratically, tends to think dialectically, and is prone to mentally splitting unitary realities into polar opposites to get a solid sense of what the world is like and how to cope with it. But when you put such an individual into an environment where there is actually is no safety or consistency, you have a recipe for genuine disaster when it comes to personality formation and solidification. During their development, future borderline individuals truly simply don’t know whom or when to trust or which way to turn. And because they end up harboring such deep internal ambivalence about so many things and have trouble mastering all the preceding stages of development, by the time they’re supposed to be forming a stable sense of personal identity (the stage Erikson says is typically mastered in adolescence), they’re completely unequipped to do so. In extreme cases, their personality can fragment into discrete entities (as is the case in the rare personality disturbance we call Multiple Personality Disorder).
Borderline individuals often go through life with one foot in and one foot out of the enterprise of life. They often feel so ambivalent about whether they were even meant to exist or prosper that they’re prone to self-sabotaging (and in some cases, self-destructive and self-mutilating) acts, ironically, often at the times that appear to hold the greatest promise for their well-being. This is just one of the many troublesome features borderline personalities display that tend to make their relationships so volatile and chaotic. And in next week’s article, I’ll be going into greater detail about all the behavioral features of this disorder that wreak havoc in relationships and make borderline personalities among the most unpleasant and frustrating folks to deal with.
Special Note: I’ve gotten many emails from folks wanting to know my thoughts on the Ray and Janay Rice situation. I plan to share some thoughts on both the epidemic of domestic violence and the particular disturbances of character that heighten the risk of violence and all other forms of abuse in relationships on Character Matters this Sunday evening (7 pm EDT). I’ve also written an article on the Rice affair and the scourge of domestic violence for the Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life blog and will share the link to it when it posts in the next week or so.
Dr. Simon, I am so glad to read your writing on Borderline Personality Disorder. One thing I have run across in online forums for people with Borderline is that some people do not claim to have an identity disturbance at all. Identity is just one of the criteria that could give rise to BPD, but it is not required by the diagnostic system. Such people have issues with attachment and emotional volatility for instance, but they claim to have a firm sense of identity, know what they want… So I wonder if you think the diagnostic criteria are wrong.
I enjoy reading these articles because they offer comfort to the person coping with an ill loved one. I do not think that it is a coincidence that DBT, which was originally created to treat Borderline Personality Disorder, is also effective in treating chemical dependency. When I began counseling with my husband after having an emotional breakdown, the counselor suggested that we approach things as if I had BPD. Turns out that I didn’t. Rather my husband, who was an adult child of an addict who also had PTSD & bi-polar disorder, had developed many co-dependent traits. He had been a psychologiy major & learned what NOT to do & had compensated by doing the opposite…which was just as bad…a sort of out of the frying pan into the fire. Anyways he jumped all over the BPD diagnosis (which I never had) & joined a website for help. This forum served his need for narcissistic supply. So I can see where co-dependency, narcissism, borderline personality disorder, & substance abuse disorders can all be treated with re-examining a dialectical thought process.
Wow Dr. Simon, I am just continually amazed at how my husband and I have been experiencing relationships with disturbed characters over the past 10 years or so and was beginning to think we had some kind of sign on our backs:). Just recently, we have been experiencing both the covert aggressive (I’ve called your show twice about that one)of those we know several and also a person who I can now pretty much come to the conclusion that she is borderline. I cannot thank you enough for making this your life’s work and making it so clear to the lay community. the abuse that these persons give out is quite damaging but having your writings to validate in great detail what you feel in your gut is not right brings a healing balm of peace to my mind and instead of anger, now I can feel pity instead (for the Borderline that is). The phenomena of our age indeed! We know personally 7 people in the spectrum of character disturbed. 6 out of 7 are married and 4 out of 7 are women!
sorry, did I say covert.i meant PREDATORY!
The two main factors I have faced with BPD are Identity diffusion- and in moments of stress , severe disassociation. I am now in the process of bringing in the many fragments of my personality into a ‘more cohesive self’- which is helping me build a stronger self esteem.
The Black and white thinking, thinking in ’emotional states’ is being helped by DBT-Despite the damage done to me- I am beginning to feel better after many years of pain. I now have to deal with the chaotic childhood I had- my parents continually where in conflict with each other, I was largely ignored and not validated. Recovery from this is possible- it takes strong motivation, honesty in your self that something is ‘not right’
I may add there is ‘healing’ from BPD – one of the two factors in recovery is accepting your emotions, seeing them, understanding them. Are you reacting to something in a rational way? It takes much work to think in ‘wise mind’ on a daily basis for us. Just think of the events of your life as ‘facts’ and ‘data’ not emotions that cannot be ‘proved’- We of course need emotion as well- but for Borderlines we simply ‘live in our emotions’ it takes lots of work to recognize this, and begin to change. Staying in the present, and refraining from judgment’s of self and others help keep us in ‘Wisemind’
Skybuzz, I just want to encourage you and say it is wonderful to see someone actively seeking health and healing to improve their quality of life and I imagine you also seek to care for others in how you relate to them as well. THAT’S AWESOME! keep on keeping on!
This isn’t related to BPD, but I put this in the newest comments.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201409/september-6-12/the-psychology-terrorism?tr=HomeColItem
It has all kinds of interesting thoughts, especially towards the end. Perhaps a similar problem is with the psychology profession, pretty much seeing things “in an abstract, intellectualised way, rather than through direct perception”.
Dr. Simon, thank you for this interesting article. I’ve been reading that BPD actually includes both narcissists and neurotics and as such, they should not be diagnosed with the same disorder since they are so vastly different from each other even if both groups show “borderline” characteristics. I admit I haven’t been keeping up with the latest changes to the DSM but it’s my understanding NPD has been removed? It’s my opinion that if anything, BPD should be removed, or at least split up further–since it does seem to be almost a catchall category for Type B’s who don’t easily fit other disorders in the Type B cluster. While I do agree that BPD are personalities that haven’t “come together,” some of the confusion may be due to the tendency to lump those with narcissistic and neurotic tendencies together in the same category. What do you think?
I finally got around to writing about my childhood raised by an N mother–it was a painful task and a lot of old memories came to the surface, but it’s also kind of a relief too in a strange way.
http://otterlover58.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/my-story-of-psychopathic-abuse-part-one-childhood-and-adolescence/comment-page-1/#comment-14
Lucky, good luck with your blog. You point out that narcissists and others can get thrown into a BPD diagnostic category. I see it that way too. There is a simple reason that comes from the diagnostic criteria itself.
In the standard DSM IV and 5, BPD requires at least 5 out of 9 specific symptoms. This means there are 256 different combinations of symptoms to get this diagnosis. This doesn’t even take into account that a person could have other symptoms for a different PD. In the new alternative model of section III in the DSM five, it actually gets worse. Now there are 660 different combinations of symptoms that can lead to this diagnosis. Even though it is a ‘categorical definition’ there are so many disparate categories that get lumped together that it doesn’t seem to make any sense to me.
Dots……it’s my understanding that someone in an abusive relationship can also display BPD characteristics? And that PTSD symptoms can be similar to some of the BPD characteristics? Maybe I’m not remembering this correctly though. But I do know that one of the things that FASD can be mistaken for is BPD and a few other things. It makes me wonder for example, what if a person has undiagnosed FASD, which is not a personality disorder but physical brain damage to varying degrees and has a VAST array of presentations? it’s all so crazy confusing!
Hi Puddle,
I’m not a professional, just someone who has been reading up and trying to get a grip on things. It’s fascinating and sometimes disheartening how people can have such different attitudes to life and views of themselves and others. My impression is that often therapy oinvolves treating specific symptoms like callousness, impulsivity, aggression, or irresponsibility … or, for instance, co-morbid Axis I illnesses… irrespective of any DSM diagnosis for personality disorders, PTSD etc. In the end I am not sure how much it matters what the specific PD diagnosis is. That’s my 2 cents.
Dots, I think some of it really does matter though. All through my 20s I was friends with a woman and her husband. I basically lived with them a lot of the time. The husband was,,,,,,,,difficult to say the least and they had a very troubled marriage but also a good marriage in a way……..quite a mixture. But he had some SERIOUS issues. As it turns out, he had PTSD from VN and had absolutely NO recollection of most of his time there including being injured. It was one of the worst cases of PTSD that the psychologist treating him had ever seen and even reported it as such in his files……..and this was a military psychologist and it was even in conjunction with a VA claim. My point is, he would have NEVER have had any information about any of the reality of his time in VN if he had not run into a platoon buddy of his who, in shock, told him the truth about what they had been through. SO….. his behavior, drugs, alcohol, anger issues, control issues,,,,,al kinds of things could have been considered a PD if it were not for his finding out from his buddy that he had actually even been shot in VN! clearly he was severely traumatized as was a female friend if mine who had blocked out her childhood molestation by a close family member until she was in her thirties. She also had all kinds of issues as an adult and probably could have been diagnosed with several different PDs but what was really fueling her behaviors and life choices was a very very deep and buried injury/ trauma.
But I actually do see what you are saying Dots……it’s just weird to me, I would think it WOULD matter how “it” got broken in the first place as to how you would attempt to mend it, as in I don’t understand how it could be a one size fits all approach.
Hi Puddle, you raise a good point about PTSD which is unique in that it must be attributable to
specific traumatic events. Also 2 of the 3 main symptoms are not characteristic of PDs: Re-experiencing the traumatic event. Avoiding reminders of the trauma.
My point was more general though about medicine. For instance if a doctor is to repair a broken leg, it doesn’t matter how the leg was broken. All that matters is the condition of the person as they appear, the nature of their fracture, etc.. Another example: until recently there was little understanding of the detailed causes of cancers. Still medicines were developed based on symptoms: if the tumour shrank then the medicine worked, if not, it didn’t.
So my point is that if a person is, say, aggressive, hostile, bitter and a pathological liar I am not sure if it matters what his PD diagnosis (in the context of every other aspect of his personality) would be to treat those symptoms. I have found some instances supporting this view on the web, but really it is only my viewpoint.
Hi Dots. I do see what you are saying, like the broken leg example. I’m not sure that translates to the psycological realm though. A broken leg is a physical injury and is able to be diagnosed visually and or manually. Psychological issues of all sorts are far more complex. Take “aggression”, or maybe controlling issues would be a better example…..why someone has a desire to control could be many different reasons. As Dr Simon has said, there is a difference between a neurotic issue and a CA’s desire to manipulate and do harm or get what they want. For example, I am or can be some what controlling in certain circumstances. The way my brain works or doesn’t work requires me to have things in my home a certain way to be able to function to the best of my ability. Same with knowing plans and having them adhered to. But I have no manipulative motive or desire to control another person in needing these thing although it can easily be mistaken as me being controlling or uptight or fill in the blank. It just seems like if you don’t know what the real underlying issue is it can’t be healed. Arthur Janov talks about this all the time and even takes the damage that needs healed back to prenatal experiences.
Maybe that is why treatment offer times doesn’t work?
I have some articles on this very issue both on this site and especially on the http://www.counsellingresource.com site. And I hope you find some answers to your other questions in the future articles in this current series.
NPD has been kept in the DSM 5- but like the other cluster B’s’ its been revised, perhaps more ‘shaded’ in symptoms.
Dr. Simon, are bi-polars prone to episodes (lasting a few days to a week or more) where they seem to lose their grip on reality?
My son is a long term drug user. In the last year he started having bizarre delusions where we were all out to get him, control him…very paranoid in nature (we can see into the future because we have cell phones, someone from his Dad’s work is controlling him, his sister is a major drug dealer who is trying to set him up to do hard time).
Initially, we thought he was still using, but have come to fear that he is may have a psychological illness. Is drug use common among people with bi-polar? Could it explain the psychotic episodes? Is it possible that the drug use has permanently damaged his brain? If so….will anyone ever be able to help him?
Einstein, are you SURE he is not still using? I had a second hand run in with someone on Meth, a friend of a friend. She contacted me because she was sure that this mutual friend was tapping her phone line, had her apartment bugged, following her………on and on and on and on she went. At the time I didn’t know she was on drugs so I was just stunned by all of the things she was telling me but then found out later. Apparently she was at a crisis stage of addiction. It was utterly bizarre, I have never had contact with someone who was so totally out of reality before. Soon after that I guess it was a total melt down, lost her job of like 17 years, kicked out of where she lived and then arrested. Horrible.
I also think/ know that drug and alcohol use has permanently damaged my brother’s brain. Very sad.
Einstein, the answers to your questions are a bit complicated. But to be brief: Folks with true bipolar illness (these days, the DX is handed out like popcorn!) can indeed have psychotic episodes. And of course, drug use complicates the picture. And in SOME cases, a person’s use might stem from an ill-conceived attempt to “self-medicate” one’s biological tendency toward severe mood swings. But most other times, drug use only awakens an otherwise dormant predisposition, or exacerbates an already existing biochemical imbalance. Pray he’s under the care of a professional team that really gets all this without bias and pray also that he has sufficient internal motivation (e.g., enough conscience and sufficient other character resources) to persevere in the arduous effort it takes to heal.
Thank you so much Dr. Simon, and thanks Puddle. It’s my personal belief that there was (may still be) meth involved. I also think that if he didn’t have bi-polar or some other illness in the first place, he probably does now. The years of struggle and failure are wearing on him. I fear he’s hitting rock bottom, and it is HARD.
It will be a struggle to find care here (drugs+addiction+possible mental illness), if we can get him to go. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get through to someone having emotional problems? He’s entirely convinced that it’s all us, and he’s fine.
Sad Einstein. It must be very difficult as a mother to see this with your son. it’s the drugs that will make in hard for you to help him 🙁 So just send him love and express your love for him. Let him know you are there for him if he wants to get help. I think sometimes parents get so focused on wanting their child to change (for the better) that they forget to just LOVE their child. Of course there are exceptions, like when the child is raising holy hell in your home or in your life, then you have to draw a line. 🙁
Is his sister setting him up?
No, quite the opposite, she’s gone out of her way to be there for him. There’s overwhelming evidence of her love for him, which only demonstrates the level of his paranoia. There is no rhyme or reason for his delusions.
yes Dr. Simon,,,,,I would without a doubt say that in my brother’s case…..the problems were already there long before he was into drugs but I also think his brain is FRIED and it’s very sad. He is a sociopath for sure and scores very high, upwards of 35 for sure but i still feel sadness when I think of the emptiness of his life.
The girl I spoke of who bottomed out on Meth, I really didn’t know her but she was involved with someone i did know. She may have had a leaning towards some PD prior to he meth addiction and melt down but I can guarantee that the delusional rant that I listened to was drug induced.
Dots, that makes sense. I haven’t seen the DSM 5 but the categorization criteria for BPD sounds like a massive clusterf**k to me. No wonder BPD’s are “personalities that haven’t come together”–the experts who put the DSM together can’t get the criteria for together. This is one of those times you can say “where it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I was diagnosed back in the ’90s with BPD myself (as an axis 2/3 dx after Major Depression and PTSD. You can read about that here (and this post is ALL about my narcissist ex:
http://otterlover58.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/sleeping-with-the-devil-my-marriage-to-a-psychopath-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-33
I hope I don’t seem like an N by putting links to my blog here…I worry about this a lot. But blogging seems to be the way I need to deal with the aftermath and all the emotional garbage that’s coming up right now. I won’t say I hope you enjoy, lol but I do hope it’s readable.
My BPD dx was later changed to avoidant personality disorder (more fitting tbh). I also have undiagnosed autism (I took an online test and passed with flying colors, haha and I identify myself as a person with autism, AvPD and C-PTSD. I’ve been surrounded by N’s my entire life. N’s prey on the oversensitive. I wrote about that on my blog as well. There’s a reason why they do so.
sounds familiar Lucky Otter! Me too. I have scored significantly on the Aspergers tests but again…..FASD and Aspergers share some traits. I do feel like a target for sure. I have always tried to be tough and defend myself/ stick up for myself but when it comes down to it i can fold pretty easy in the moment. I just get lost and overwhelmed and give up out of frustration.
At the risk of sounding like an ignoramus, what is FASD?
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome basically but FASD stands for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Didorder.
oops here’s the corrected link where you don’t have to scroll all the way up away from the comments.
http://otterlover58.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/sleeping-with-the-devil-my-marriage-to-a-psychopath-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-33
Argghhh! The link is still not right. That’s okay, just scroll up to read the post.
Hi Lucky,
At the risk of sounding like an N too, I am also blogging. I wrote a post that includes how you get to 256 types of BPD with the DSM IV and the standard model in the DSM 5. It also includes other PDs here: http://scificentralsociopathy.blogspot.ca/2014/09/combinatorics-and-grotesqueness-of.html
All one needs is the definition of symptom criteria and a high school course that included probability…
I also wrote a post about the ‘alternative model in Section III” in the DSM 5, and about how you get to 660 distinct types of BPD in that case, not including co-morbidities with Axis I or other Axis II disorders here: http://scificentralsociopathy.blogspot.ca/2014/09/combinations-in-alternative-dsm-5-model.html
I look forward to reading your blog. It’s also therapy for me these days — trying to understand what happened, and the nature of the beast — if you know what I mean.
Dots, I love reading blogs! I’ve been reading a lot of blogs about these “character disorders.” I’m learning so much as I go along. I’m looking forward to reading your blog. I do know what you mean, it is very therapeutic.
Einstein, Puddle, I should probably also mention that many drugs can cause structural changes to the mitochondria of neuron nuclei in the brain and cause other biochemical imbalances that produce various psychiatric conditions identical in manifestation to systemic psychiatric illnesses and while these drug-induced conditions are sometimes reversible if a person becomes sober, other times the biochemical changes that have taken place do not reverse and the person then has an illness they probably wouldn’t have developed if they hadn’t used the drug.
Somewhere I read that hard core alcoholism can produce the same symptoms, or some of them, that psychopathy does. So basically my brother is a super spath. Nice.
well, the meth induced paranoid state is pretty well known. I don’t know if that is the same thing as you are speaking of Dr. Simon but the brief encounter i had with my friend’s friend sure was dripping in paranoia. And I mean delusional paranoia. yikes! Because i didn’t know she was in drugs it was a very surreal experience, just out of the blue mind boggling bizarre!
The states can be purely induced by certain drugs for sure. And the psychotic reactions look the same as when they are manifestations of a different illness, which can definitely be scary. But the more insidious reality is that heavy or prolonged drug use can cause structural and biochemical changes that either create conditions that weren’t there prior to use or bring to the fore conditions that were dormant and would likely have never been expressed were it not for the drug use. As I said, it’s complicated, and even what I’ve just related here is an inadequate and overly-simplified summary of the issues.
That is my fear, Dr. Simon. Only fear doesn’t begin to cover how this feels.
Einstein, I can relate to what you just said about something like the word fear not describing a feeling, a really intense feeling more often than not doesn’t seem to fit the normal description of the word. Like maybe not fear but more like dread? That sinking feeling you get when a truth is staring you in the face and it’s about the last thing you wanted the truth to be?? And the realization that there is nothing you can do to change it? 🙁
Like that Puddle.
If he is an adult there is only so much you can do and then you are responsible for managing your own anxiety.
Einstein if he is living on his own and paying his own way then what can you do? I say this only because my Covert Aggressive parent was very angry that I was dating and on my own and trying to find a spouse and did everything in her power to shake me loose, including starting a rumor that I had a drug problem. My Covert Aggressive parent at this time was a retired counselor and so unfortunately that allowed her to pretend she was an expert. My siblings were encouraged to “help” me against my will and I ran further away from my entire family. I have no drug problem. It felt to me like they were bullying me which they were. “Fear doesn’t begin to cover how this feels” well you have to get distance and protect yourself and then you have to manage your own anxiety.
Both my ex and my mother are hardcore, raging alcoholics. Combine that with MN, and it’s like MN on steroids.
Can a person originally of decent character grow more comfortable with being more and more ruthless and evil?
The thought came from this: Thinking can change behavior. Behaving differently changes the way we do things.
J, in my opinion, if a person’s character is sound to begin with and not just and act, I don’t think they can loose that.It might not be gleaming 100% of the time and may need polished up occasionally? Everyone makes mistakes and everyone is tempted by more base desires and may fall prey to those temptations from time to time but I would have to say that for the most part if good character is there, it’s there for good. Sad to say that I think the opposite applies except in rare and radical transformations.
I think so. I think even MNs were probably once decent children. I don’t really believe in “bad seeds” although some probably do exist. I think what happens is, at some point they crossed a line–sold themselves out to the dark side, so to speak. Once you cross that line of acceptable (moral) behavior, I think a part of their soul gets lost. It really is like selling your soul to the devil, in a way. It changes you and there is no going back to the way you were before.
Sheer garbage. When a child experiences pure evil in the form of a parent that sexually abuses a child or tries to kill them, as I experienced, knows that nature of evil all too well. Read Simon’s The Science of Evil about the origins of Human cruelty and its relationship to pathology. It has nothing to do with stepping over to the ‘other side’ of evil. We all have our shadow sides. The difference for the survivor of major childhood trauma is the tendency to overidentify with the dark because of the parental introject but this can be overcome through depth work. If one can come to terms with, and work with those parts of themselves that were traumatized they can overcome their own self punishing and self destructive tendencies. Borderlines are never evil, they just are traumatized individuals who need to be able to move into their pain and process it in order to transcend it.
All I can say as I roll my eyes and shake my head is that this is all ‘old school’. BPD and DSM and character defect are ‘dead’ just as in his time that God was dead for Nietzsche. Try reading Dr. Bessel van Der Kolk’s work or Dan Siegel or Judith Herman or Janina Fisher. BPD originates in childhood trauma and causes physiological changes in the brain. The trauma survivor developed adaptive strategies that enables them to survive in their childhood but are not so helpful in adulthood. CBT does not heal. Neither does DBT. It only scratches the surface.
Borderlines are good targets for those who don’t want to look at their own shadow issues. Don’t throw stones! Most of what is being discussed here is sheer garbage.
Our society is swimming deep in shame and narcissism and until we are willing to look deep into our selves and look each other in the eye, and recognize our shared humanity and pain there will be no true healing or any deeper understanding.
I am a survivor of multiple major childhood traumas. I have done intense trauma work. I have known more pain than most people will ever experience. I deserve respect for what I have endured as do other survivors. Let’s stop pathologizing. I can see that there is money to be made in perpetuating fear and ignorance is bliss, but maybe it’s possible to move beyond quick fix solutions such as DBT and work towards healing the soul and building empathy and communities that are supportive of those who have suffered the most.
Been there Done that; spoken like a true bpd, build empathy and communities that are supportive of those who have suffered the most. I was involved with one of those that supposedly suffered the most to hear her speak. And for the longest time had me believing just that. Until i heard my Mom out of pure frustration with her brainwashed Son, tell me about her child hood and how being put in a orphanage at the age of 4 years old and sexually raped at 15 and own and own and own. She said she very well could have harbored ill will toward her fellow man, but made a cognitive and moral decision not to treat other’s the way she had been treated. Case closed!! enough of the pitty party!! What i have witnessed is pure and undeniable Evil from my BPD partner and she does know what she is doing. I have seen her in the act of purposely minupulating and lieing to me and others to get into someones pant’s or their Pocket book. It’s what ever She need’s or want’s out of that person at the moment. The future or other’s feelings are of little importance. Also after she has done her Evil deed on the unsuspecting target she has the uncanny ability to immediatly discard and demonize the person she used and abused. Im not talking just about myself, it could just be a one nite stand. If She doesnt see any further need for said victim it’s over and done. No shame just blame and on to the next victim. Absolutely Evil….You should all have to wear a brandid BPD stamp on your Head or be put in confinement. Either way put out of Society as a whole. The Bible call’s it the Jezebel Spirit which is the most wicked of all Spirit’s. The continuam that Psychiatrist speak of are just multiple demonic spirit’s in one person thus the continuam of different personality traits.
on the topic of multiple personalities…
Roseanne barr I saw being interviewed
some yeara ago
on tv
she told how she was in therapy
and thru the process she realized she was a multiple personality
and one aspect of this was that she was able to recall
that she had been a prostitute in las vegas for a period of time…
the therapist said that there was enuf insight
where barr could integrate and no longer be a multiple personality…
barr tho did not want that
coz she like the kind of energy she felt she had as a multiple personality
I do not know what her perspective on that might be now…
err replying to myself I guess…
anyways online if found an interesting interview with Roseanne barr
from 2001
where she says as if she has integrated her personalities
but seems as if she can shift into a great variety of personalities
if she wants…
I guess she mean integration as if she can control it…
her choice of integration seems rather strange to me
here is a link to the site….
http://reprints.longform.org/the-multitudes-of-roseanne-barr
I am guessing the tv interview I heard must have been before 2001
on the topic of multiple personalities
I remember a book I read some years ago
about a therapist who treated successfully many multiple personalities
here is a link to his site ..the page for his resume
http://www.dissociation.com/2007/resume.php
in his book MANY MINDS, MANY PIECES…
He tells how from what he had learned in training and school
that he would probably never encounter a multiple personality in therapy
and how he seemed tho to actually attract them as patients
and how he found that he could contact their higher self
when the patient went into an altered state of consciousness
where they would accurately give many small details of their lives…
and also part of the treatment often would be an exorcism
an interesting take dr Allison has on multiple personalities vs
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
is that the former is when the problems starts before age 6
and the did after age 6