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Had it ever been suggested that Sharon has borderline personality disorder? I'm interested in this thread because my mother has borderline personality that has only recently been diagnosed. She recently cut me off because I've refused to go along with her delusions. Based on my mother's behavior I could have easily filled in the second half of your Christmas story without having read it. Compulsive buying is another common symptom and the whole family going along with things is classic because they have learned it is the only way to avoid the wrath of the person with borderline. I spent my entire childhood that way. We are at the point with my mother where we've done all we can but it's likely that nothing will change until she has a crisis severe enough to get her committed. My siblings and I have been walking a fine line, attempting to keep her happy enough with us that we can get her help without simply feeding into her delusions. We've been working with multiple mental health professionals with experience with BPD to do so but it's still not going very well. It is amazing how helpless it makes you feel and how damaging it can be to your own mental health.
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Dec 4, 2013 19:40
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FunWithWombats posted:Suggested by me and Joanne? Yes, absolutely, and every doctor I've described her behavior to has come to the conclusion that it's either bipolar or BPD. Both are genetically associated with each other and have very similar symptoms. Really, the biggest difference between them is bipolar is typically treatable with medication, whereas BPD is not This was pretty much what happened for us. Dealing with my mother actually got so difficult over the last few years that last year myself and 2 of my siblings started seeing psychologists ourselves just to figure out how to handle her. All 3 independently suggested BPD based on our descriptions. It has since been confirmed (with permission from my mother) by the person my mother is currently seeing. Sadly so far the only noticeable effect of therapy for my mother has been that she uses the language she learns there to attempt to manipulate us. You mention that Joanne realized there was something wrong with her mother's mental health. Did that realization happen before or after her own mental health issues started? How much insight does she have on her condition? Would Sharon hold grudges? You mention all the stupid things that she would get terrible upset about. My mother does the same but the worst part of it is that while her memory for her own behavior is almost nonexistent, her memory of every imagined slight we have ever exacted against her is superb. And frightening. When she cut off contact with me it was preceded by a very long email and several hours worth of long text messages listing a collection of things I had done to offend her. Some stretch back until I was 12 or 13 years old (I am now 31). I'd be interested in hearing about how the experiences you've had with mental illness have changed your world view and what sort of contact you still have with Joanne.
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Dec 5, 2013 00:02
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. People with BPD can see improvement with psychotherapy sometimes.