Borderline Personality & Bipolar?

Question

How can we differenciate between the 2 disorders?

What are the symptoms that are present in one and not present in the other?

Answer 1

They may in fact be the same thing. This is a point of view that is gaining ground in the medical community. Many experts believe that borderline personality is just rapid-rapid-cycling bipolar.
And backing this up, there are reports that bipolar drugs help borderlines. So that's one perspective: that they are the same thing.
One of the characteristic features of borderline personality disorder that is not emphasised in bipolar is "splitting", where the BPD person sees others in an unrealistically wonderful way. No one can live up to it, and when people disappoint, they then think they are terrible and awful. This is why BPD can be both extremely dependant and extremely argumentative, raging, etc.
however, my bipolar wife does do the "splitting" thing, which shows that it can be present in both.
borderline diagnosis tends to focus more on patterns in relationships, whereas bipolar diagnosis focuses more on depression & mania.
if someone has an extended manic episode or extended depressive episode, they're probably going to be diagnosed as bipolar.
but the bottom line is that the line between them is blurry.
Some clinicians solve this by giving a "dual diagnosis": it's not uncommon for someone to get a diagnosis of bipolar AND borderline. Other clinicians just do away with borderline completely and use bipolar diagnosis only.

Answer 2

wow - I think UrAmEsHi answered everything thoroughly. I've also heard that someonewith Borderline could not be objective about themselves or take accountability for their actions, because it is also someone else's fault - which kind of goes along with the "black and white", all good or all bad thinking. That is another reason why it is often so hard to treat - nothing is ever a result of their actions.

I have also heard rumors that if a psy. or therapist is finding a patient difficult, this diagnosis is a way of giving that message, and passing the patient along. (??) Women are diagnosed with this much more often than men, which also questions if this is just another name for the old fashioned "hysteria" used in the 1800's.

But no, it is not the same thing as Bipolar. Bipolar is a biological disorder stemming from a chemical imbalance, having to do with dopamine and/or seratonin levels in the brain. As UrAmEsHi stated, it is characterized by clear mood changes and sometimes a person can get psychotic if not treated (hallucinations, delusions of grandeur, etc).

Borderline is not biological, and therefore sometimes does not react well to medication. BPD stems from having an invalidating home environment, so a strong sense of self never develops - this persons only sense of well being comes from outside the self. The need for reassurance and praise is constant, never-ending and demanding. Any criticism, real or imagined, is met with instant and extreme outbursts of rage. The person making a criticism, who formerly may have been an idol, is now a demon. Once the rage is over though, the BPD person returns to their previous state. A person with Bipolar cannot swing so quickly for such specific reasons. A person with Bipolar has mood swings that are more neurological in nature - they involve the mind AND the body.

Hope I could shed some light.

Answer 3

From what I understand and I'm probably no where near qualified to answer this question, borderline personality disorder is fairly different than bipolar disorder in that it is an ingrained thing. People with bipolar disorder have mood episodes that last days, weeks or even months with periods of being 'normal' inbetween. People with borderline personality disorder are always 'crazy'. Their moods don't happen in episodes, but rather rapidly. Periods of relief are few and far between. There are also issues with self image, personality and relationships.

A psychologist could see a bipolar person off medication for a year and think this person was just as healthy as anyone else until an episode happens. A psychologist would probably detect something off about a borderline personality rather quickly.

Answer 4

Borderline personality disorder is more complicated than beig Bipolar.

BP people have idenity issues. They have relationship difficuilties that arn't from mood swings but just because they can either totally adore someone and something happens and they totally hate them. They have a hard time being inbetween. They are frantic for personal attention and affection. They make snap judments that can totally change their lives and the lives around them. They can jump from one thing to another with hardly blinking an eye. Their need for positive reinforcement often keeps them from having a job or long term relationships. There is much much more. Besides their symptoms aren't caused by a high energy mood swing or a depressive mood swing. .....it just happens.
The term borderline means boarderline between nerosis and psychosis.

Whereas being Bipolar is extreem mood swings.

There is definatly more details about the two disorders. I am just giving the basic differences.

Answer 5

Borderline is a personality disorder that can not be effectively treated with medications. It has a pervasive characteristic that a borderline individuals sense of self is entire based on the feedback that the world is providing. BL people tend to over idealize people and then get into dramatic arguments and over demonize people. These people may also suffer from anxiety and depression - which can be treated.

Bipolar personality on the other hand is a shifting between major depression and manic episodes. It is characterized by manic episodes where the person has a difficult time focusing, speaks quickly, sleeps little or none, and engages in risky behaviors. Bipolar depression can be effectively treated with medications.

Answer 6

I personally have bipolar-II and borderline personality disorder. From my understanding, provided much from my psychiatrist is that the current thinking in the psychiatric field is that bipolar-II and BPD are the same thing. Bipolar-II involves periods of depression, hypomania, and mixed states (mania and depression at the same time).
Antidepressants always made me manic, so they tried me on some mood stabilizers, and there has been a noticable difference.

Answer 7

I'm Borderline and not "Bipolar" because my mood swings simply aren't as pronounced or as violent.

Borderline is kind of like bipolar, except that it's more of a personality flaw or a general attitude, and not a sudden and extreme shift in emotion and mood.

Answer 8

i would suggest that you go to your local library and grab a copy of the ..oh gosh i cant believe that i can not remember what this is called it is something like the dsv or dmv- it is a reference book that has the official symptoms of mental illness and it is the formal diagnostic tool for mental health workers. sorry i cant remember the exact name it may be dmsv any mental health worker or student could give you the right name. best wishes. or just ask a mental health worker your question.

Answer 9

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is defined within the fields of psychiatry and clinical psychology as a mental condition characterized primarily by emotional dysregulation, extreme "black and white" thinking, or "splitting" (believing that something is one of only two possible things, and ignoring any possible "in-betweens"), and chaotic relationships. It is described by mental health professionals as a serious mental illness characterized by pervasive instability in mood, interpersonal relationships, self-image, identity, and behavior, as well as a disturbance in the individual's sense of self. In extreme cases, this disturbance in the sense of self can lead to periods of dissociation.

The disturbances suffered by those with borderline personality disorder have a wide-ranging and pervasive negative impact on many or all of the psychosocial facets of life, including employability and relationships in work, home, and social settings.
A commonly used mnemonic to remember some features of borderline personality disorder is PRAISE:

* P - Paranoid ideas
* R - Relationship instability
* A - Angry outbursts, affective instability, abandonment fears
* I - Impulsive behaviour, identity disturbance
* S - Suicidal behaviour
* E - Emptiness


Bipolar disorder, once known as manic-depression, is a psychiatric diagnosis referring to a mental health condition defined by periods of extreme, often inappropriate, and sometimes unpredictable mood states.

Bipolar individuals generally experience mania, hypomania or mixed states alternating with clinical depression and euthymic or normal range of mood over varied periods of time. There are many variations of this disorder. A person with bipolar disorder generally tends to experience more extreme states of mood than other people. Moods can change quickly (many times a day) or last for months. Bipolar individuals tend to have very 'black and white' thinking, where everything in life is either a positive aspect or a negative. Mood patterns of this nature are associated with distress and disruption, and a relatively high risk of suicide. Bipolar disorder is also associated with a variety of cognitive deficits, in particular, difficulty in organizing and planning. The disorder may also skew the ability to judge others' emotion, and alter sense of awareness.

Bipolar disorder is usually treated with medications and/or therapy or counselling.

As well as being linked to disability, studies have suggested a correlation between creativity and bipolar disorder, although it is unclear what the relationship is between the two. Studies have also indicated increased striving for, and sometimes obtaining, goals and achievements more generally; in other words, many with bipolar disorder tend to be more driven, extremely goal oriented, and hard working.
Heritability or inheritance

The disorder runs in families.[20] More than two-thirds of people with bipolar disorder have at least one close relative with the disorder or with unipolar major depression, indicating that the disease has a genetic component.

Studies seeking to identify the genetic basis of bipolar disorder indicate that susceptibility stems from multiple genes. Scientists are continuing their search for these genes, using advanced genetic analytic methods and large samples of families affected by the illness. The researchers are hopeful that identification of susceptibility genes for bipolar disorder, and the brain proteins they code for, will make it possible to develop better treatments and preventive interventions targeted at the underlying illness process.Bipolar disorder is considered to be a result of complex interactions between genes and environment.

The monozygotic concordance rate for the disorder is 70%. This means that if a person has the disorder, an identical twin has a 70% likelihood of having the disorder as well. Dizygotic twins have a 23% concordance rate. These concordance rates are not universally replicated in the literature; recent studies have shown rates of around 40% for monozygotic and <10% for dizygotic twins
In 2003, a group of American and Canadian researchers published a paper that used gene linkage techniques to identify a mutation in the GRK3 gene as a possible cause of up to 10% of cases of bipolar disorder. This gene is associated with a kinase enzyme called G protein receptor kinase 3, which appears to be involved in dopamine metabolism, and may provide a possible target for new drugs for bipolar disorder.

Answer 10

google search the 2 diagnoses, have a read and see if you can fing any similar findings. Some may overlapp but if you read, you will see they are very different from each other. It would be intresting to see what you see as different