"Bipolar or Borderline? A Widely-Used Diagnostic is Getting it Wrong"
Hello again,
I often read of the common overlap between Borderline Personality Disorder and Bi-Polar Disorder so I would like to share and learn of our experiences in relation to this concept. I know Borderline rarely travels alone and it is important to note that a comorbid diagnosis could be present in some of us. However, I think it is important to differentiate here because these illnesses are in fact not the same.
It was found in a recent study that using common diagnostic tools could often lead to incongruent results regarding mental health on this topic specifically.
"In the article that appears online ahead of print in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, the researchers question the effectiveness of the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ). The MDQ is the most widely-used and studied screening tool for bipolar disorder. It is a brief questionnaire that assesses whether a patient displays some of the characteristic behaviors of bipolar disorder.
The research team interviewed nearly 500 patients using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic Statistical Manual IV (DSM-IV) and the Structured Interview for DSM-IV for personality disorders. The patients were also asked to complete the MDQ.
The research team then scored the questionnaires and found that patients with a positive indication for bipolar disorder using the MDQ were as likely to be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder as bipolar disorder when using the structured clinical interview.
Further, their findings indicate that borderline personality disorder was four times more frequently diagnosed in the group who screened positive on the MDQ."
Psychology is a relatively new frontier and therefore, highly imperfect. That is, we are in a constant state of learning and publication/diagnostic renewal. It is not uncommon for these two disorders to be misdiagnosed as one another, or as something else entirely. So, what are the differences between Borderline Personality Disorder and Bi-polar Disorder? The article continues:
"According to Dr. Friedel, director of the BPD program at Virginia Commonwealth University, there are two main differences between BPD and bipolar disorder:
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 farfetched) 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."
Discuss: What has your experience been with diagnosis and treatment? Do you feel it is accurate? What are some things your loved ones and care providers misunderstand about your illness?
Visit the Source: "Three Ways to Differentiate Bipolar and Borderline Disorders", Randi Kreger, Psychology Today