Is BPD just Complex PTSD?

cPTSD results from chronic or long-term exposure to trauma, while BPD is a personality disorder. cPTSD can develop from any prolonged traumatic experience, such as childhood abuse, neglect, domestic violence, or being in a war zone.

Are complex PTSD and borderline personality disorder the same?

BPD involves a generalized under-regulation of intense distress related to real or perceived abandonment or rejection, whereas emotion dysregulation in PTSD is characterized by attempts to over-regulate (e.g., emotional numbing, avoidance, dissociation) distress related to reminders of traumatic experiences.

Can complex PTSD be mistaken for BPD?

BPD and C-PTSD are easily confused due to the overlap in symptoms. Both are characterized by general emotional distress, which can include emotional “triggers.” These triggers can cause significant reactions including dissociation, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, flashbacks, and/or depression.

How is BPD different from C-PTSD?

The key difference between BPD and C-PTSD is that symptoms of BPD stem from an inconsistent self-concept and C-PTSD symptoms are provoked by external triggers. A person with C-PTSD may react to or avoid potential triggers with behaviors similar to those that are symptomatic of BPD.

What is mistaken for borderline personality disorder?

In particular, there is evidence that BPD is commonly misdiagnosed as Bipolar Disorder, Type 2. One study showed that 40% of people who met criteria for BPD but not for bipolar disorder were nevertheless misdiagnosed with Bipolar Type 2.

BPD vs. CPTSD: How to Spot the Differences

Is BPD trauma based?

Most people who suffer from BPD have a history of major trauma, often sustained in childhood. This includes sexual and physical abuse, extreme neglect, and separation from parents and loved ones.

Can you have BPD without trauma?

You might also experience BPD without having any history of traumatic or stressful life events, or you might have had other types of difficult experiences.

How can you tell if a woman is borderline?

Are people with BPD smart?

Many people with BPD are deep thinkers, intuitive feelers, and many are intellectually gifted. Contrary to popular belief, most BPD sufferers are highly introspective and self-aware. With a process of healing and transformations, they can be the most empathic leaders and visionaries.

Who is attracted to borderline personality?

Borderline/dependent: A person with borderline personality disorder (BPD) is well-matched with a person who has a dependent personality disorder (DPD). The BPD has an intense fear of abandonment which is a good match for the DPD who will not leave even a dysfunctional relationship.

What is a favorite person BPD?

For someone with BPD, the favorite person is deemed the most important person in their life. This person can be anyone, but it's often a romantic partner, family member, good friend, or another supportive person (like a coach, therapist, or teacher). This person may become the source of all happiness and validation.

What is the root cause of borderline personality disorder?

What causes borderline personality disorder? Healthcare providers believe BPD results from a combination of factors, including: Childhood abuse and trauma: Up to 70% of people with BPD have experienced sexual, emotional or physical abuse as a child.

At what age does borderline personality disorder develop?

According to the DSM-5, BPD can be diagnosed as early as at 12 years old if symptoms persist for at least one year. However, most diagnoses are made during late adolescence or early adulthood.

What does quiet BPD feel like?

If you have quiet BPD, you may have low self-esteem and often feel angry, depressed, or anxious. In addition, you may have a history of self-harm, suicidal thoughts, or both. With quiet BPD, you may also feel guilt or shame.

What childhood trauma causes borderline personality?

Verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, together with emotional and physical neglect, and chronic exposure to peer victimization were identified as potential factors that increase the risk for early BPD.

Is BPD a spectrum disorder?

It is now clear that DSM-IV-defined BPD is a heterogeneous construct that includes patients on the mood disorder spectrum and the impulsivity spectrum (Siever and Davis, 1991), in contrast to the original speculation that these patients might be near neighbors of patients with schizophrenia or other psychoses.

Are you born with BPD?

“It's not like you're born predisposed to BPD or not; we're likely all born somewhere on the continuum,” says Riggenbach. Still, some people are born with more sensitive or emotionally vulnerable dispositions. These people may feel emotions more strongly than others, notes Carmel.

Does BPD shorten life expectancy?

Results: People with Borderline Personality Disorder have a reduced life expectancy of some 20 years, attributable largely to physical health maladies, notably cardiovascular. Risk factors include obesity, sedentary lifestyle, poor diet and smoking.

What does a BPD breakdown look like?

difficulty trusting others. irrationally fearing others' intentions. quickly cutting off communication with someone they think might end up abandoning them. rapidly changing feelings about a person, from intense closeness and love (idealization) to intense dislike and anger (devaluation)

Can people outgrow borderline personality?

Burn Out. Some experts have speculated that BPD symptoms decline because the symptoms naturally “burn out” or that people simply grow out of the symptoms as they mature. In particular, research has shown that the impulsivity symptoms of BPD are the most likely to decline over time.

Are borderlines aware of their behavior?

People with borderline personality disorders are aware of their behaviors and the consequences of them and often act in increasingly erratic ways as a self-fulfilling prophecy to their abandonment fears.

Can borderlines be psychopaths?

BPD features are highly represented in subjects with psychopathy as well as psychopathic traits are highly prevalent in patients with BPD.

What does FP mean in BPD?

Now let's look at BPD and apply that same logic, yes we seek attention, there is fear of abandonment, we have what is called an FP (favorite person) of whom we attach our existence to and rely on for emotional validation, we have trouble regulating our moods, splitting, identity confusion, and intense emotion.

How do borderlines think?

People with BPD also have a tendency to think in extremes, a phenomenon called "dichotomous" or “black-or-white” thinking. 2 People with BPD often struggle to see the complexity in people and situations and are unable to recognize that things are often not either perfect or horrible, but are something in between.

How do you stop borderline splitting?