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Post by Mea on Dec 16, 2015 7:41:10 GMT
You can find the following information on this thread: - What causes BPD?
- Is BPD caused by abuse?
- Do you have to be abused/neglected in order to have BPD?
- Can you have BPD even if you’ve never experienced abuse?
- Is BPD hereditary?
- Can bullying cause BPD?
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Post by Mea on Dec 16, 2015 7:42:30 GMT
What Causes Borderline Personality Disorder?
Anonymous asked: Is it known what causes BPD?
Answer: There is no known cause for BPD, but it is believed to be a combination of genetics and life experiences. Nature AND nurture, to to speak. Ultimately, you can have the potential for BPD when you are born, but normally traumatic events or other life experiences actually trigger the disorder into manifesting.
-Mea
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Post by Mea on Dec 16, 2015 7:44:00 GMT
Is Borderline Personality Disorder Caused By Abuse?
Anonymous asked: can BPD be caused by emotional/verbal/psychological abuse suffered as a child?
Answer: Yes. Well, BPD is thought to be caused by a mixture of genetics and environment. My personal thought is that someone does or doesn’t have the potential to form a personality disorder later in life, and then a traumatic event or some other outside influence can trigger it into developing. For example, I think I had the potential to have BPD since birth, but the abuse I suffered as a child actually put it into motion. This is just speculation though. Many people with BPD have suffered abuse. It’s not a requirement for the diagnosis, however. But to answer your question, yes, child abuse victims are at high risk of developing a mental disorder, and BPD is no exception. If you have BPD and you suffered child abuse, it’s very likely the two are related.
-Mea
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Post by Mea on Dec 16, 2015 7:45:26 GMT
Do You Have to Be Abused/Neglected in Order to Have BPD?
i-wont-let-you-leave asked: Do you have to have been abused or neglected to have BPD? Neither of these things have happened to me, but I think I have it.
Answer: No, BPD can also be hereditary, or it can be triggered by another sort of traumatic event. A history of abuse is common in people with BPD, but it’s not required for the disorder to actually develop.
-Mea
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Post by Mea on Dec 16, 2015 7:47:47 GMT
Can You Have BPD Even If You've Never Experienced Abuse?
Anonymous asked: i dont know why i have bpd. no one related to me has it, ive never experienced a traumatic event, and i've never been abused. i know this is mentioned in the FAQ, but it sounds like one of these things has to have happened and now im concerned that im faking and lying to myself
Answer: These definitely don’t have to have happened in order for you to have BPD. BPD develops over years, so there is no one traumatic event which causes it. Trauma just contributes if you do experience it, and the experience a borderline person has with trauma is unique to someone who doesn’t have BPD. Honestly, there are only theories about what actually causes BPD. You may notice a lot of information says, “Well it could be this… or this…” That’s because no one knows the actual cause.
No one in your family has to have had it either. I’m also the first in my family to have BPD, so you aren’t alone! However, you may have family members who are undiagnosed (second cousins or something). You may also have family members who had other related disorders (bipolar, anxiety, another personality disorder), or perhaps they are undiagnosed as well. Especially older generations, which psychiatric help was more of a luxury fifty years ago than it is now, and it’s still expensive now!
I forget the exact statistic, but only about 70-80% of people with BPD have experienced abuse when they are diagnosed. That is a large percentage, sure, but that’s at least 1 in 5 people who weren’t. We have 5500 followers now. If that’s 5500 people with BPD (I realize we have some nons who follow wanting to learn more, and people with other disorders who find our posts helpful, so I realize not all 5500 are borderline), that’s over 1000 people who weren’t abused or experienced a traumatic event before they were diagnosed with BPD. So, honestly speaking, certainly hundreds of people who share your experience. You’re not alone, anon. x
-Mea
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Post by Mea on Dec 16, 2015 7:49:14 GMT
Is Borderline Personality Disorder Hereditary?
borderlinebitch asked: Is bpd hereditary? I don't seem to be getting much response to this question when I ask my therapist. But my mother amd sister are both under mental health and diagnosed with bpd. I was diagnosed in august so am quite new and still learning x
Answer: BPD can be hereditary. If you have a family member with BPD, or if you simply have a family member with some other mental disorder, you are at higher risk of developing BPD. For example, I am the first in my family to have BPD, but bipolar and depression are common on my mom’s side of the family, and schizophrenia runs on my dad’s side of the family, so I was at an extremely high risk of developing any of those, as well as a personality disorder. Having a mentally ill family member doesn’t promise you’ll have BPD, of course. BPD is caused by a combination of genetics and life events. Someone may have the potential to develop BPD, but if nothing ever triggers the disorder, they may go their entire life free of most of its symptoms.
-Mea
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Post by Mea on Dec 16, 2015 7:50:16 GMT
Can Bullying Cause Borderline Personality Disorder?
Anonymous asked: I was wondering, I was bullied a lot when I was younger (like ages 10-13), could that contribute to causing bpd?
Answer: Hi Anon,
I was bullied pretty severely when I was younger too, and I firmly believe it definitely contributed to the development of my BPD. Marsha Linehan, pretty much the foremost expert on BPD (who developed DBT and also has BPD herself!) created the Bio-Social Theory which states that individuals have to have a genetic or biological predisposition to developing BPD, but that it takes a combination of that genetic predisposition and environmental factors that lead to the ultimate development of BPD. One such environmental factor she singles out is “invalidating environments”, which bullying easily falls into. Basically if in your younger years you were made to feel like you were wrong, your existence was wrong, that the way you express yourself or your emotions were wrong, that you were being “too sensitive” when people were hurting you, if people weren’t defending you from the bullying… all of those things create an invalidating environment that makes it more likely for you to develop BPD.
Now, not all people who are bullied have BPD, and not all people who have BPD were bullied as a child. But it can easily be a contributing factor if you were already predisposed to developing the disorder.
I’m very sorry that you were bullied, that type of harassment and abuse can have long lasting psychological effects when it occurs at such a crucial age of your development. I went to therapy while I was in high school to deal with the bullying I was facing and it helped somewhat, but I still have flashbacks to things that happened to me, things that were done to me. My BPD feeds on those memories at times and it makes it harder to leave those times in the past.
That was a long way of saying “Absolutely, bullying can contribute to developing BPD” but I hope my explanation was helpful or comforting or something.
-Pandora
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