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Friend With Borderline Personality Disorder

28 replies

Unforgettablefire · 08/11/2021 20:33

I’m just looking for thoughts on here as everyone irl keeps saying he’s an arsehole and to just stay away from him.
My friend (male and platonic) has bpd and I think it’s pretty bad.
We’ve been friends for over a year but I’ve known him a good few and we got really close he kind of latched onto me and it got intense really quickly (I knew little about bpd or even that he had it)
He has the usual relationship troubles and lost so many friends, does the idolise and devalue and once you’re gone you’re hated with a passion and smeared to the high heavens.
He’s insulting and selfish and has even stolen from me, there was no sign of any of this until the end of the first six months then the theft so I didn’t speak to him nor had contact and was getting over it all.
Five months later in a better state of mind although I still missed him I thought I could handle him knowing he had a mental illness and it explained his behaviour.
I know how ridiculous it is I can’t understand it myself, I’m genuinely not attracted to him or in love with him I consider him family as I do my other close friends, I genuinely love and care for him.
The devaluation started again after about eight months this time. Constant sly digs and insults it’s like he’s trying to ruin my confidence.
He can’t see anything wrong with what he’s doing and accuses me of being immature and petty when I lose it over the insults. I feel he’s doing it to make himself feel better or just taking moods out on me but it’s quite nasty at times.
A couple of weeks ago we had an almighty bust up over him slating women. I’d had too much stuff for his liking in my bag (receipts, vape oil I’d just bought, lipgloss, bus ticket just bits and pieces but this is what started it) he snapped and said it was no surprise he was gay. I asked him what because of what we have in our bags??? He said not just that it’s the hairs I hate women’s hair and the way women go on. By this I think he means retaliation when he insults. I think he’s resentful for some reason towards women, he’s gay and has serious issues with it I think he’s trying to “blame” women for something he’s ashamed of. I lost it. Sent him a really long text and I told him not to try dumping it on women, I’m sick of the insults and I’m done with him, we’ve not spoke since apart from the other day I reached out to ask if he was okay and he didn’t want to know.
He doesn’t seem to think like an adult but in some ways he’s quite intelligent, and despite his illness he can be such good company and helpful and kind. I think I have my lovely friend back. We spend weeks at a time at each other’s homes and I thought we were really close. Then the switch goes again and the criticism starts.
I feel physically ill, it’s like withdrawal from a drug, it’s such a wrench I feel my hearts been ripped to shreds and stuffed back in my stomach.
Does anyone have any experience with this? He’s been offered treatment and went but said it was no good to him so I guess he’s going to remain untreated.
Please be kind I couldn’t cope with a bashing or being thought of as weak I’m far from it. I have friends and family who love me but they’re stable and consistent this is different. I think my own mental health has been damaged by it all. I just wish I could let go and not care and worry so much about him.
I’ll take on board any advice.
Actually, I think I know what I need to do but thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated my mind is in utter turmoil.

OP posts:
Hen2018 · 08/11/2021 20:41

Step away.

MatildaTheCat · 08/11/2021 20:51

You need to consider why you are so drawn to this person. He’s charming then awful. He is entirely self centred. You cannot fix him or change him by pointing out his bad behaviour- he doesn’t care.

It’s an abusive relationship even though it’s not a romantic one.

Please work on your self esteem and find friends who value you.

ocpwr · 08/11/2021 20:55

It sounds like he just isn't a nice person. I have BPD, I don't steal, I'm very
loyal to my friends and would help anybody in a heartbeat.
It drives me crazy when people use their BPD as an excuse to act out in this way.

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Shitzngiggles · 08/11/2021 21:03

Honestly op, step away. My dd was in a relationship with a young woman with BPD. The abuse she put my daughter through was horrendous. It has almost destroyed my dd's own mental health, she's still struggling to come to terms with what she went through a year later.
Everything you described my dd endured. As another pp pointed out its no excuse for bad and abusive behaviour. For your own sake walk away.

Unforgettablefire · 08/11/2021 21:04

@MatildaTheCat

You need to consider why you are so drawn to this person. He’s charming then awful. He is entirely self centred. You cannot fix him or change him by pointing out his bad behaviour- he doesn’t care.

It’s an abusive relationship even though it’s not a romantic one.

Please work on your self esteem and find friends who value you.

Thanks for the replies. I should have added i don’t have low esteem and I have family and friends who love me, I don’t say much to them they just don’t like him and don’t understand personality disorders.
OP posts:
Avarua · 08/11/2021 21:06

BPD people (as a generalisation, not universal) test whether you're going to abandon them by being relentlessly awful to you, then getting upset by you abandoning them. This is how he is OP. I'd step away.

SisterJude · 08/11/2021 21:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BuckyBarnesArm · 08/11/2021 21:12

It all sounds very co-dependant. It's not healthy for you and I agree you need to step away and find out why you keep going back to this person. Your description of it like being withdrawal from drugs is particularly pointing to co-dependancy.

Fruitinator · 08/11/2021 21:14

Just think what advice you would give to your best friend if they were in your position?

lottiegarbanzo · 08/11/2021 21:20

Go rock-climbing or sky-diving or something. Get your drama, intensity and adrenaline highs another, healthier way.

MrsTerryPratchett · 08/11/2021 21:21

I feel physically ill, it’s like withdrawal from a drug, it’s such a wrench I feel my hearts been ripped to shreds and stuffed back in my stomach.

He's meeting some really unhealthy need in you.

Work out what that is, meet it another way.

Unforgettablefire · 08/11/2021 21:21

I can’t stand drama I avoid it I like a quiet life I avoided his phone calls and him when his moods started. I’ll stand up for myself that doesn’t mean I love drama.

OP posts:
LucentBlade · 08/11/2021 21:25

You had high drama, you stepped away but felt compelled to risk seeing him. You are in some sort of denial about why you need him and that comment that he is like a drug is indicative of something going on subconsciously in you.

NoKnickerElastic · 08/11/2021 21:27

I used to be very close friends with someone that sounds exactly like him. It could actually be him the way you describe the relationship! Many years ago we were like a co dependent couple although my friend was gay. He kept me down for way longer than I should have been after a bad break up and hated seeing me grow more confident. In later years he's been back in touch on & off but although we shared some brilliant times the bad times outweighed the good so I don't really engage anymore. Step away, it never gets any better.

Unforgettablefire · 08/11/2021 21:28

Thanks for the replies they’re all very helpful. I know how ridiculous it all looks written down and if it were my family or friends I’d want to lynch the person involved but it’s different when you’re living it and being convinced you’re the one at fault. Drama is the reason I’ve kept my mouth shut to my family and friends they would go out looking for him.
Thanks again for the replies it was outside thoughts I was looking for and experiences.

OP posts:
BringBackThinEyebrows · 08/11/2021 21:30

Another vote for step away. You deserve far better than someone who abuses and steals from you.

The behaviour you have described doesn't necessarily sound like BPD to and I'm quite familiar with the condition.

Thankfully, as it's a platonic friendship instead of a relationship, moving on should be relatively easy.

ArthurApples · 08/11/2021 21:35

Cut him off and make sure you never get this involved with anyone ever again who treats you so badly as well as looking at your own boundaries around spending time with people in a healthy, safe way. None of this is ok, seriously.

sadie9 · 08/11/2021 21:40

He lovebombs you. Makes you feel on top of the world then attacks you and makes you feel like shit.
Either break ties with him or get therapy to understand why you keep rescuing him.
You keep thinking he needs you to save him then he throws it in your face.
Its a cycle. You have to learn about yourself because its your issue not his, that keeps you keep returning.
www.lynneforrest.com/articles/2008/06/the-faces-of-victim/

TedMullins · 08/11/2021 21:51

This guy is an arsehole. I’ve got BPD and I don’t do any of this to my friends. Walk away and let him fester in his own bitterness.

Unforgettablefire · 08/11/2021 22:15

Thanks again all of you it’s been a huge help reading all of this. I’ve heard of codependency but knew nothing about it and the first paragraph of what I’ve read it’s like a lightbulb has switched on. I do have some issues from childhood and had counselling maybe I have issues that haven’t been looked at.

OP posts:
HollowTalk · 08/11/2021 22:17

The thing is that you know eventually, and that could be at any time, he will turn on you and he will leave you feeling absolutely terrible about yourself.

He is incredibly manipulative. You say you feel as though he's part of your family. Of course he isn't! You haven't been friends that long.If your family were treating you like that we would all tell you to stop contact.

You know it's going to come to a bitter end! Why are you waiting for it?

Boopeedoop · 08/11/2021 22:18

@Avarua

BPD people (as a generalisation, not universal) test whether you're going to abandon them by being relentlessly awful to you, then getting upset by you abandoning them. This is how he is OP. I'd step away.
Exactly this. My daughter left a relationship after 2 years recently, due to exactly these behaviours.

I loved him like a son, still do really, but after she left, he stalked her, had a suicide attempt, wrote off her car.

I know I can never speak to him again as it would set him off.

He was so vulnerable underneath it all due to a childhood that was horrific.

Kindly, you need to walk away.

LakesideView · 08/11/2021 22:56

I had a friend who was similar to this. Felt initially like we clicked. She was supportive towards me when I was ill. She was one of my closest friends. Then suddenly she changed. She had a bad time at work (we worked together for a time). Even after we had left we got stuck in a cycle where she just complained constantly about the bad experience. She never wanted my advice, just to vent over and over again. It got so my heart sank when she called. Then she started making odd, nasty comments to me. It took DH to tell me no matter who supportive she’d been in the past she was dragging me down and I couldn’t help her. She didn’t want help. She wanted me as her punch bag. When I didn’t reply to a particularly unpleasant text message, she deleted me off her social media. She did randomly try and get in touch again a year later but I chose not to respond.

It sounds like me like you’re in a similar dynamic. You can’t help him, this dynamic is set now. He will only ever drag you down. I think you need to end the friendship then delete and block so you’re not tempted to go back there again.

Gilead · 08/11/2021 23:58

People like this tend to look for people who are bright and confident and do not have self esteem problem, they then slowly erode that confidence, it makes them feel powerful, almost as though they’re absorbing the confidence they are draining from you.
Walk away for your own safety and sanity.

DaisyDreaming · 10/11/2021 00:36

Before anyone says that people with bpd are faced with hate on here I want to say I know some people with bpd work hard at dbt and it’s hard condition to live with.

OP I had an intensive friendship when I was younger with someone with BPD. Looking back now I can’t believe I put up with it, the stress, the lies, the being made to feel bad for positive things in my life. Please step away and close the door. If he was working hard at DBT to change then maybe things would be different but right now your just in for a life time of going in circles and constant stress.

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