Borderline Personality Disorder - Strongly Believe I Have...How to get diagnosed!

Borderline Personality Disorder - Strongly Believe I Have...How to get diagnosed?

Just to be upfront, I don't need anyone to tell me the symptoms of BPD or any websites with info about BPD because I already know about these.

My question is, how do I go about getting diagnosed? I have several symptoms and I would like to know clinically whether or not I have it. I don't want to see a psychiatrist and act like I've already diagnosed myself because I know they don't like that. Do I just tell them I feel I have some symptoms consistent with BPD and I am concerned? Or would that look like I'm self-diagnosing?

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

2 days ago
misskellieCMU,
You're absolutely right....I do have another post regarding seeing a psychiatrist. If you recall (if you read the other post), I said he didn't take me seriously. I only had 1 appointment with him and I don't plan to go back to that particular doctor.

However, the other question and this question have nothing to do with eachother. The other question is about psychiatrists/therapists and this question is about BPD. Since when is it wrong for a person to ask 2 different questions in the same category?

Borderline is a very controversial diagnosis in the mental health community and an even more difficult disorder to get accurately diagnosised. I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder at age 21 and it wasn't until this year at age 28 that I was diagnoised with Borderline Personality. A general rule of thumb according to my therapist is that it a patient must be free of drugs or alcohol for 6 months before a diagnosis is made, or in my case the bipolar disorder had to be stabalized before a diagnosis was made.

Borderline is a personality disorder, versus a chemical imbalance which puts it in a different catergory. If you have read about the disorder and believe that many of the symptoms fit you might want to reseach to find people who treat Borderline, or if there are specific psychatrists in your area who do. In general, when you first speak to a psychatrist they do an evaluation where they ask you zillions of questions and then get information from there to make a diagnosis or suggest treatment. You could share you concerns during this process as well.

Have you taken a look at any of Marsha Linehan's work. She wrote a book on the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. The reason I ask is because she gives lots of detailed information about the disorder and presents a tremendous amount of information. When I was first diagnosed I was very resistent, but the way the information was presented in some of her books, could clearly help me identify the symptoms and see the behavior patterns more clearly.

I would advise, in my humble opinion, to find out who in your area treats the disorder, or what hospital in your area has a good mental health program and use that as a resource. If you get yourself an appointment to be evaluated, know your family history and be prepared to answer any and all questions they might ask.

Clinically the DSM-IV will show you the criteria, how many symptoms you must have, which ones count under specific categories and the like. You can access it online too.

Borderline is not always treated with drugs, other methods such as DBT (Dialectial Behavioral Therapy) & CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) and other are more effective but definately not easier.

Long answer. In summary, if you want to get it checked out, reseach and find someone good. If they are good, they aren't going to diagnose you in just a few days it might take a while. In the meantime keep researching...the more informed you are they better.

Good luck!