Monday, October 1, 2012

Bipolar vs. Borderline?

One of the joys of my job is that I diagnosis clients with mental illness, I find it necessary for someone to have the right diagnosis in order to move forward with treatment.  I often explain Mental Health diagnosis's as looking like a Venn Diagram with much overlap and often very little differentiation.




The tricky part is the past diagnosis's the clients have had.  There have been multiple clients that when I asked for current diagnosis they listed 5 contradicting diagnosis and the more I probed and speak with them the more it looked like 1 or 2 total.   This all brings me to a point regarding Bipolar  Borderline.  Most of the women that I have meet whom are diagnosed as Bipolar are not.  When I ask for mania symptoms they tell me things such as "I yell at my teenage son," "I blow up at my husband," "I get so angry I...." or "Sometimes I just don't want to talk to people and hide."  All of these are normal reactions for people with little/no coping skills.  I don't know anyone (even without a mental health diagnosis) whom wouldn't have at some point said yes to all 4.  I think this over diagnosis happens for a few reasons:

  • Women are not suppose to get angry
  • Anger in women sometimes feels like anxiety and a loss of control
  • Psychiatrists don't know what Bipolar really is diagnostically
  • Mood swings are viewed as "rapid cycling"
  • It's easier to medicate a disorder than help someone with coping skills
For these reasons I take a lot of time and consideration into diagnosing women with Bipolar, especially those with trauma and abuse in their history.  Many of these women more likely have Borderline Personality Disorder (I am unable to "officially" diagnosis Axis II because of other reasons) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  

Here are the difference between Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder (via Psychology Today article )


1. People with BPD cycle much more quickly, often several times a day.

2. The moods in people with BPD are more dependent, either positively or negatively, on what's going on in their life at the moment. Anything that might smack of abandonment (however far fetched) is a major trigger.

3. In people with BPD, the mood swings are more distinct. Marsha M. Linehan, professor of psychology at the University of Washington, says that while people with bipolar disorder swing between all-¬encompassing periods of mania and major depression, the mood swings typical in BPD are more specific. She says, "You have fear going up and down, sadness going up and down, anger up and down, disgust up and down, and love up and down."



*Do not diagnosis yourself-leave it up to the professionals*

2 comments:

  1. Nice Post keep it up. That is very interesting I love reading and I am always searching for informative information like this. I am very happy to your post about on. Great information, I would like to say your post is very informative.
    bipolar 2 icd 10

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good news to everyone out there with different health challenges, as I know there are still a lot of people suffering from different health issues and are therefore looking for solutions. I bring you Good news. There is a man called Dr James, a herbal practitioner who helped me to cure Hiv virus, i have suffered from this disease for the past 5 years and I have spent so much money trying to survive from it. I got my healing by taking the herbal medicine Dr James sent to me to drink for about 14 days . 3 days after completion of the dosage, I went for a medical checkup and I was tested Hiv negative. all thanks to God for leading me to Dr james who was able to cure me completely from this deadly diseases, I’m sharing this so that other people can know of this great healer called Dr James because I got to know him through Mr Anderson, who he cured from Genital Herpes Virus. I was made to understand that he can cure several other deadly diseases and infections. Don’t die in ignorance or silence and don’t let that illness take your life.Dr James has cures for diseases like BIPOLAR DISORDER,..DIABETES,NEPHROTIC SYNDROME MOUTH HERPES, MOUTH CANCER , MUSCLE ACHES, LUPUS, SKIN CANCER, PENILE CANCER, BREAST CANCER, PANCREATIC CANCER, VAGINAL CANCER, CERVICAL ILLNESS, POLIO DISEASE, ALZHEIMER, BULIMIA DISEASE, COMMON INFLAMMATORY DISEASE CYSTIC FIBROSIS, SCHIZOPHRENIA, CORNEAL ULCER, EPILEPSY, FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM, LICHEN PLANUS, INFERTILITY, SHINGLES, BADRONOLE DISEASE, CHEST DISEASE / AIDS, AND BEHAVIORAL, CHLAMYDIA, ZIKA VIRUS, EMPHYSEMA, TUBERCULOSIS LOW SPERM COUNT, ECZEMA, DRY COUGH, ARTHRITIS Contact Dr James through  email address   Drjamesherbalmix@gmail.com  

    ReplyDelete