Both have shifts in mood, impulsive actions, etc. What is the difference? Like, how does a psychiatrist differentiate between the two in a patient?
In: Biology
I have both, so:
Bipolar is a mood disorder, mainly thought to be caused by brain chemistry. There’s various medications that can even out the moods, though coping skills are also useful for when things are really really intense.
Borderline is a personality disorder. Medications don’t do anything for BPD symptoms, though because theres high levels of co-morbidity meds can help the other stuff so its easier to cope with BPD. Borderline is hard to treat because it’s a set of behaviors and thought processes that, in the past, were beneficial for survival but are now not. So you’re working against years of habits in thoughts and attitudes.
In other words: bipolar is chemical, BPD is structural.
Note: I’m really simplifying stuff. 🙂
Edit: fixed some spelling errors
I don’t know all of the differences, but one of the big ones is how fast the shift in moods happen. In bipolar, you might be manic or depressed for a few days or weeks at a time. In BPD, you can have those extreme mood swings multiple times in one day. Another big one is cause. Bipolar is typically a chemical imbalance and BPD is typically a response to trauma.
Bipolar means a person will cycle between depressed and manic periods. During depressed periods they will feel depressed, have less ability to engage in activities, avoid risk taking behaviors, and show other signs very similar to depression. During manic periods they will be happier, more motivated, start new hobbies, and take new (and potentially poorly thought out) risks.
BPD means a person has trouble regulating emotions. Happy emotions will make them seem ever happier than a normal person, sad emotions will make them extremely depressed, anger will cause them to lash out quicker than others.
They can be confused sometimes because the swap between sad and happy emotional states of someone with BPD can look like Bipolar. The primary way a layman can tell them apart is how often they switch. Bipolar should switch no more frequently than around half a week, with multiple week periods being more classical. BPD can switch as quickly as the average person can go from happy to sad to angry to happy again.
Bipolar is normally thought of as highs and lows, but if you’re a generally depressed person that has one manic episode in your 30s, you’ll still be labeled bipolar. A manic episode isnt a good mood so much as it is your brain overclocking/over revving. You might think you made a discovery thats going to make you a millionaire, you can’t sleep and next thing you know you’re having a psychotic break and believing that you’re actually the savior of the world. You spend 3 months talking to invisible people that you know are there but you can’t prove it. Eventually with time or risperdone you snap out of it. Anti depressants do not have an affect on bipolar depression.
Borderline PD i dont know much about but they do have serious abandonment and trust/ social issues.
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