It's rare for borderline personality disorder (BPD) and schizophrenia to occur together, but it is possible. Mental health conditions aren't usually cut-and-dry conditions.
BPD patients can experience hallucinations or even delusions similar to schizophrenia. Patients with BPD had higher scores in Psychotic Symptoms Rating Scales (PSYRATS) in the amount and degree of malicious content and distress from auditory verbal hallucinations, compared to patients with schizophrenia.
Nonetheless, the borderline diagnosis is nosologically unclear, especially with respect to its differentiation from the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. When entering the DSM‐III, BPD was separated from schizotypal personality disorder (SPD), formerly often denoted as borderline schizophrenia.
BPD in particular is one of the lesser-known mental illnesses, but all the same it is one of the hardest to reckon with. (Some people dislike the term so much they prefer to refer to emotionally unstable personality disorder.)
Bipolar disorder.
Some people with severe bipolar disorder have delusions or hallucinations. That's why they may be misdiagnosed with schizophrenia.
BPD is a very different diagnosis than schizophrenia, though the two can co-exist. While BPD is characterized by a pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships; schizophrenia is characterized by a range of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dysfunctions.
When stressed, people with borderline personality disorder may develop psychotic-like symptoms. They experience a distortion of their perceptions or beliefs rather than a distinct break with reality. Especially in close relationships, they tend to misinterpret or amplify what other people feel about them.
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.
Delusions in patients with BPD occur frequently and cause distress. Contrary to tenacious beliefs, hallucinations and delusions in participants with BPD are often present in an intermittent or persistent pattern. Persistent hallucinations can be severe, causing disruption of life.
Borderline personality disorder often occurs with other mental illnesses, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These co-occurring disorders can make it harder to diagnose and treat borderline personality disorder, especially if symptoms of other illnesses overlap with symptoms of the disorder.
Between 50% and 90% of patients with BPD report hearing voices that other people do not hear (Yee et al., 2005; Kingdon et al., 2010). Importantly, such auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are a risk factor for suicide plans, attempts, and hospitalization (Miller et al., 1993; Zonnenberg et al., 2016).
Dating someone with borderline personality disorder can be challenging. Your partner may have major difficulties with strong emotions, drastic mood swings, chronic fear of abandonment, and impulsive behaviors that can strain your relationship with chaos and instability.
People with bipolar disorder tend to experience mania and depression, while people with BPD experience intense emotional pain and feelings of emptiness, desperation, anger, hopelessness, and loneliness. Time: In BPD, mood changes are often more short-lived. They may last for only a few hours at a time.
Borderline personality disorder can damage many areas of your life. It can negatively affect intimate relationships, jobs, school, social activities and self-image, resulting in: Repeated job changes or losses. Not completing an education.
Patients with BPD experienced hallucinations with characteristics similar to the more frequently studied auditory (verbal) hallucinations. Higher scores for schizotypy and loneliness indicate that patients with hallucinations had more characteristics of cluster A personality disorders.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has long been believed to be a disorder that produces the most intense emotional pain and distress in those who have this condition. Studies have shown that borderline patients experience chronic and significant emotional suffering and mental agony.
While researchers are not exactly sure why BPD symptoms decline with age, some experts have suggested some potential reasons, including burn out, learning, and avoidance of relationships. These can be linked to both biological and environmental factors.
Schizotypal personality disorder can easily be confused with schizophrenia, a severe mental illness in which people lose contact with reality (psychosis).
You could have: Hallucinations: Seeing or hearing things that aren't there. Delusions: Mistaken but firmly held beliefs that are easy to prove wrong, like thinking you have superpowers, are a famous person, or people are out to get you. Disorganized speech: Using words and sentences that don't make sense to others.
People with BPD also have a tendency to think in extremes, a phenomenon called "dichotomous" or “black-or-white” thinking. 3 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.
The main psychological triggers of schizophrenia are stressful life events, such as: bereavement. losing your job or home. divorce.
This can include disorganized thinking, paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, agitation, or a loss of interest in activities. These symptoms can affect almost every aspect of a person's life.
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.