As someone with a BPD diagnosis, I experience hallucinations some very strong delusions. Initially, I believe my diagnoses (either the BPD or secondary diagnosis of bipolar II) would have to be rethought, but I am assured by several sources – including my psychiatrist – that psychoses do happen in BPD. Indeed, there is discussion of this in “I Hate You, Don’t Leave Me” (which, although outdated, is still a broadly accurate tome, and indeed the best-selling book of all time on the borderline personality).

I know you don’t specifically state that psychoses are *not* a part of BPD, butI think it maybe could be read that way.

On the other hand, this comment is not meant to suggest that *all* those diagnosed with borderline have psychotic symptoms. As it is not even a DSM (nor ICD for emotionally unstable PD) symptom for the disorder, obviously that would be in accurate. Indeed, the fact that an individual ‘only’ needs five out of a possible nine symptoms to receive this diagnosis, without even considering additional symptoms like hallucinations, highlights how diverse the illness is.

Most people are remarkably negative about mental illness, and about BPD in particular. Thanks for putting a more positive outlook out there into the blogosphere; only by open and unstigmatised discussion such as this can we hope to combat discrimination and stigma.

Best wishes

SI

That said, I’m still trying to understand BPD more. It’s very hard to imagine. Thanks for reading my blog!

How then, do you draw the line at someone merely being highly emotional (by nature) and someone with BPD?