Several features of borderline personality disorder overlap with those of ADHD such as a chronic course, emotional instability, impulsivity and risk taking behaviors, and disturbed interpersonal relationships.
Misdiagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder
Outside of co-occurrence, BPD is also a common misdiagnosis for Autistic & ADHD people (particularly women & genderqueer people). Several ADHD traits (impulsivity, hyperactivity, difficulty regulating emotions) can look like BPD.
Although BPD and ADHD are separate diagnoses, they share some overlapping symptoms, namely impulsiveness and difficulty regulating emotions. Because of these shared symptoms, doctors may find diagnosing and treating the disorders challenging.
Symptoms of ADHD can have some overlap with symptoms of bipolar disorder. With ADHD, a child or teen may have rapid or impulsive speech, physical restlessness, trouble focusing, irritability, and, sometimes, defiant or oppositional behavior.
BPD individuals have more problems using context cues for inhibiting responses and their impulsivity is stress-dependent, whereas ADHD patients have more motor impulsivity and therefore difficulties interrupting ongoing responses.
Similarly, people with ADHD can also experience 'meltdowns' more commonly than others, which is where emotions build up so extremely that someone acts out, often crying, angering, laughing, yelling and moving all at once, driven by many different emotions at once – this essentially resembles a child tantrum and can ...
One of the most common misdiagnoses for BPD is bipolar disorder. Both conditions have episodes of mood instability. When you have bipolar disorder, your mood may shift from depression to mania, in which you experience elation, elevated energy levels and a decreased need for sleep.
In real life, however, people may exhibit some traits of a certain personality type without it being a full-blown disorder. People tend to be on a spectrum of more or less severe symptoms before they come anywhere near a diagnosis.
If left untreated, the person suffering from BPD may find themselves involved with extravagant spending, substance abuse, binge eating, reckless driving, and indiscriminate sex, Hooper says. The reckless behavior is usually linked to the poor self-image many BPD patients struggle with.
ADHD and BPD share many temperamental similarities, symptoms, and traits, making it challenging for clinicians to distinguish the difference. When both conditions are present, it is possible that the "more dramatic BPD symptoms can camouflage the more classic ADHD symptoms" (Littman, 2021).
There is an observed link between childhood ADHD and the development of certain personality disorders. Longitudinal data has shown that children with ADHD are significantly more likely to develop personality disorders later in adolescence than those without the condition.
Rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD) is when you experience severe emotional pain because of a failure or feeling rejected. This condition is linked to ADHD and experts suspect it happens due to differences in brain structure.
Consult a licensed neuropsychologist. A neuropsychologist may be able to acquaint you with the tests used to diagnose ADD/ADHD vs. personality disorders. This information could then help you gauge whether an in-depth neuropsychological evaluation will be worth your time.
Borderline personality disorder is also called emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD) and emotional intensity disorder (EID).
Mirroring can be a form of Dissociation, where a person's strong feelings create “facts” which are less than true. A man switches accents to mimic a colleague. A woman wears identical clothing to her friend. A mother wears her daughter's clothing.
People with borderline personality disorder may experience intense mood swings and feel uncertainty about how they see themselves. Their feelings for others can change quickly, and swing from extreme closeness to extreme dislike. These changing feelings can lead to unstable relationships and emotional pain.
“This can look like poor self-image and excessive self-criticism, feelings of emptiness and instability in goals, values and opinions.” Individuals living with quiet BPD may have decreased levels of empathy, high conflict relationships, clinginess and fear of abandonment, adds Dr. Lira de la Rosa.
I also learned that some doctors knowingly fail to diagnose BPD because they are under the misapprehension that effective therapies don't exist and bad outcomes are inevitable. Others don't give the diagnosis because they fear it will stigmatize the patient and lead to rejection by the mental health system.
Individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPDs) become overwhelmed and incapacitated by the intensity of their emotions, whether it is joy and elation or depression, anxiety, and rage. They are unable to manage these intense emotions.
The Three Key Signs. Perhaps more importantly, and even more telling than specific symptoms associated with particular disorders, are matters of duration, rigidity, and globalism of the vexing behaviors.
An ADHD “Brain dump” is a phrase used to describe the process of transferring information from your brain to another medium. You could write the contents down on paper, type them into your computer or speak them into an audio recording… whatever works for you.
Atypical Presentation of ADHD Symptoms
Impaired sense of time (loses track of time, often late, hates waiting, avoids doing homework, etc.) Sleep disturbances (has trouble with sleep initiation, sleep deprived, can't wake up easily, etc.)
ADHD vs. trauma. ADHD is a mental health condition typically characterized by inattentive, hyperactive, or impulsive behavior. On the other hand, trauma is a mental, emotional, or physical response to a shocking or distressing event or series of stressful events.