Posted by Dinah on July 16, 2008, at 22:17:07
In reply to Re: So now he doesn't think I'm schizotypal. :) » Dinah, posted by Phillipa on July 16, 2008, at 20:13:31
Ah, but borderline. The funny thing with this is that every single pdoc I've ever seen has ruled out my being borderline. Yet Linehan's conception of borderline really resonates with me. And my therapist, around whom most of my borderline behavior is centered, agrees that I have my borderlinish moments.
The criteria there are:
1. Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.
Yes, absolutely. But mostly confined to my therapist. Which he says is natural since I have cast him in the mother role.
2. A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation.
Absolutely not. I have pathologically stable relationships with reasonably realistic views of the other person.
3. Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self.
Well, yes. Of course. I think there should be an exclusion there for dissociative disorders.
4. Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., promiscuous sex, eating disorders, binge eating, substance abuse, reckless driving).
Hard one to reckon. I think I have impulse problems with food and money. But the pdocs who questioned me always ruled it out. Apparently my binges are too well thought out to be truly impulsive in their eyes. Sigh. I'm ever one to carefully plan my impulsive behavior. Doesn't seem to have kept me from becoming obese and diabetic and broke.
5. Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, threats, or self-mutilating behavior such as cutting, interfering with the healing of scars, or picking at oneself.
Yes. Not so much any more. At least not so much with behaviors. Yes still for ideation.
6. Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days).
*I* thinks so. I don't know how much it shows.
7. Chronic feelings of emptiness, worthlessness.
No, not really. Not ever in fact.
8. Inappropriate anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights).
I don't do anger. Or rather I hate being angry. It makes my head hurt. I try to avoid it whenever possible. And I never ever direct it at others since I knocked Natalie's (my new doll) eyes out when I was three or four by banging her on a wall. My mother rushed her to the doll hospital, and I waited anxiously while they checked to see if they could fix her. I've still got Natalie. And you can definitely see that one eye is slightly different then the others, having been replaced. A constant reminder of the consequences of unrestrained anger.
9. Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation, delusions or severe dissociative symptoms
Well, again, yes. Of course. How can you have a dissociative disorder without answering yes here?
But... I don't think anyone but my therapist would think I'm borderlinish. I reserve most of that behavior for him.
poster:Dinah
thread:839927
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20080709/msgs/840065.html