Change of diagnosis from Bpd to ADHD

[Starlightstarbright4]

So I saw a psychiatrist this week .

I told him I have a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder .

At the end of the assessment he said he said he doesn’t think I have Bpd but does think I have ADHD - there is a genetic link to ADHD . I am now been referred for full ADHD assessment.

I am left a little mind blown I am wondering if all the treatment I have has been pointless . If my life would have been different if Adhd had been picked up earlier .

if I hadn’t had the Bpd would i have been treated differently ?

This must be very confusing. It’s surprisingly common unfortunately. BPD is a highly stigmatised and controversial diagnosis; I don’t know your life experiences to know if you’ve been treated differently because of it. Often people with ‘personality disorders’ are treated differently in mental health and general health contexts.

I hope your assessment goes well, and helps to provide some insight into the difficulties you may have had.

My sister is diagnosed EUPD / BPD. I suspect she is probably autistic. She has now been referred for that.

I suspect this is the case for many women diagnosed with BPD.

I was diagnosed with bpd. I had an adhd assessment a few days ago and it was agreed I don't have bpd. I don't have my adhd decision yet but suspect I won't be diagnosed with adhd after all, it's glaringly obvious following my assessment that I'm actually autistic. I've heard it's quite common for adhd/autistic women to be mistakenly diagnosed with bpd.

To poster above, you may find you are AuDHD. It’s becoming increasingly likely that I am. Being late diagnosed ADHD and medicated for it has I think emphasised the autistic traits in me that haven’t been obvious until now as the ADHD traits were more obvious (impulsivity, hyperactivity, emotional dysregulation, hyperfocus etc). With many of those helped by meds it’s become clear I remain challenged by sensory issues, difficulties with change, rigid thinking, zealous interests, difficulties in articulating feelings, understanding social cues - all sorts. I’m not sure I will pursue the autism diagnosis as I don’t know it will achieve anything - as I already know I am “different”
to my peers in terms
of my nervous system needs and sensory experiences (I also have FND). I’ve been seeing my psychiatrist for five years and had long term therapy and EMDR and all three of the therapists/psychiatriat have remarked that after knowing me both pre my ADHD diagnosis (four years ago) and then post-treated ADHD for the last four years , they suspect I am also on the autistic spectrum. I had the ADHD assessment with my psychiatrist after a menopausal depression/PTSD crisis period during lockdown after a full MH assessment when things like BPD were also considered as there is much overlap in symptoms from CPTSD, BPD and ADHD. Researching all of these at the time, I could see how a BPD diagnosis had so many overlapping traits. I did enough research into the criteria to see I didn’t meet the full BPD diagnostic criteria and those elements where I did were where ADHD/PTSD, depression symptoms overlapped. I’m wary of the pathologising of women in our culture - the readiness to label women with personality disorders. And it makes me mad. I don’t agree with the way they attribute attachment issues or trust /relationship struggles as a disorder of their personality. They aren’t - they are a learnt coping response, a self preservation response to experience threat, to not feeling safe. I see BPD label as a crappy way of making a female victims normal response to repeated overwhelming trauma /threat by others attributed to them having a defective personality - surely this is only adding further layer more shame and blame? Yet perpetrators of the abusive behaviour escape the same psychological scrutiny and labelleling - the rapists, bullies, violent offenders inflicting the trauma (invariably male) aren’t labelled with these personality disorders. It is invariably women given this label. - subtext that says these women are “too emotional” , failing to adjust - rather than recognising that actually no, they aren’t- it is just that invariably it is women/girls that are the victims of abuse of power by males.

The DSM diagnostic criteria is/was created by white
Middle class men, and whilst for
the 1980‘S onwards there have been women experts and more diversity in the panels included this is still dominated, and founded by men.