There is no single borderline personality disorder test. If you think you or someone you know has symptoms of borderline personality disorder, the first step is to see your doctor. It may take weeks or months to get a diagnosis. A health professional needs to get to know you properly first.
If you want to talk about BPD and a possible diagnosis, visit your GP. Bringing up your BPD concerns to your doctor may be frightening at first, but it's the first step that needs to be done in order to have a borderline personality disorder assessment completed.
If you're wondering whether or not you have BPD, contact a mental health professional to schedule an appointment for an assessment. While it can take time to connect with a clinician who specializes in treating BPD, it's the best way to find an effective treatment for your needs.
Schedule an Assessment
Let the therapist know that you are interested in an assessment and treatment. Describe some of your symptoms. You can even mention that you think you may have BPD. Take the opportunity to ask some initial questions.
Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self. Impulsivity in at least 2 areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating).
Can I self-diagnose BPD? No. Only a healthcare or mental health professional can accurately diagnose a mental health condition.
See your GP if you're concerned that you have borderline personality disorder (BPD). They may ask about your symptoms and how they're affecting your quality of life.
Mental health providers can be reluctant to diagnose BPD and other personality disorders due to diagnosis criteria, insurance, and stigma. Not diagnosing BPD, where appropriate, can adversely affect treatment. Traits of BPD can be communicated without formally diagnosing the full personality disorder.
For example, it's your right to ask your therapist to tell you if they believe you have a mental health condition. If you want a diagnosis, you can ask your therapist upfront. The same applies if you don't want to hear about this information.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) can be hard to diagnose because the symptoms of this disorder overlap with many other conditions, such as bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and even eating disorders.
Things that can indicate an episode is occurring: Intense angry outbursts. Suicidal thoughts and self-harm behavior. Going to great lengths to feel something, then becoming increasingly avoidant and withdrawn.
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.
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.
A person with BPD may go to extreme lengths to avoid real or perceived abandonment, with many of the relationship issues stemming from this behavior. A person with CPTSD may have issues with trust and staying connected with people, but they don't have the fear of abandonment; that's a telltale sign of BPD.
Quiet BPD is an unofficial term for when you engage with symptoms inwardly, instead of outwardly. Share on Pinterest Sarah Mason/Getty Images. Having quiet borderline personality disorder (BPD) — aka “high-functioning” BPD — means that you often direct thoughts and feelings inward rather than outward.
Many people who live with borderline personality disorder don't know they have it and may not realize there's a healthier way to behave and relate to others.
A licensed mental health professional will use a book called the DSM-5 to help diagnose BPD. Some professionals may ask you to complete specific assessments while others may ask a lot of open-ended questions about you, your family history, and what kind of problems you may want to work on in treatment.
Instead, it is probably better to disclose that you have a mental health issue, but not to go into specific details unless they are likely to cause specific difficulties that can be helped by reasonable adjustments.
Individuals with symptoms of BPD are particularly sensitive to perceived criticism. This increases the likelihood that they will feel attacked when a therapist attempts to offer suggestions or insights. This often leads to lashing out.
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.
With borderline personality disorder, you have an intense fear of abandonment or instability, and you may have difficulty tolerating being alone. Yet inappropriate anger, impulsiveness and frequent mood swings may push others away, even though you want to have loving and lasting relationships.
Often, the borderline person is unaware of how they feel when their feelings surface, so they displace their feelings onto others as causing them. They may not realise that their feelings belong within them, so they think that their partner is responsible for hurting them and causing them to feel this way.
But people with BPD often have a very profound lack of sense of self, or loss of identity. 1 If you struggle with the feeling that you have no idea who you are or what you believe in, this may be a symptom you can relate to.