Complex Conditions / Mixed Personality Disorder

Hi @Nate96, i was also diagnosed wtih compelx personality disorder

I just want to share a few small bits of hope, i was at my lowest ebb, the hospital near me flat out refused to help me due to stigma, they also diagnosed me with many personality disorders, then used that to class me as "bpd in crises' emotionally manipulative and other dated concepts

I had to go to a diff hospital to get help. I just wanna say their stigma, to me , shows they're not capacble clinicians, not that you aren't deserving of help. Shame on them, tbh.

Also BPD is a mental health condition, it is not someone choosing to be difficult, and if they dont knwo that or fully internalise it, they need more training.

My psych had thought i had complex personality disorder, i think some of the obsessive traits moreso as well. The diagnosis has shifted and changed depending on who sees me. My hope for you is you find more trained clinicians, and get the help you deserve.

I appreciate your response, it’s very surprising to me that more clinicians aren’t trained in these areas, or the fact that they can even just turn you away.. They have a duty of care, right?

I do have a capable psychiatrist, but I just feel like a burden now to everyone, I feel like when I present myself to somebody it will be too much for them to handle. The mental health care system has made me feel this way.

The system is supposed to help people, so why do I feel so wrong for asking for help??

Hi Nate96,

I read your recent post.

Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing how deeply this has affected you.

What I am hearing is that your experiences of accessing mental health support have left you feeling like a burden, or like your needs might be “too much” for others to hold.

It makes sense that these experiences would make it harder to reach out again and it can be an isolating experience.

I would like to compliment you for being here on this forum where you can feel safe, seen, heard and understood by a caring forums community. It takes courage. We sit with you as the forums family.

I am glad to hear that you have a capable psychiatrist, and I hope that support can continue to be a steady place for you. You deserve support and you should not have to carry this alone.

Take care & Thanks again.

Warmly,

AltZing-Connect

I'm not a psychiatrist but I think some think that trauma presents as separate conditions which becomes like an alphabet soup of diagnoses. I can relate because one never told me I had BPD but I found out through the notes. I find that quite rude to do that. They also added a couple more personality disorders to the list.

I personally ignore them because they are already part of a spectrum of my trauma (child and cPTSD) which were diagnosed during a stay in hospital. All the rest were just made by psychiatrists who only met me once.

I also was misdiagnosed but I consider I have the second (later) on that my psychiatrist considers I have after getting to know me for years.

In your case I wonder if they just did not want to give you a bed in ED because they did not have one. In my case they had a "bed issue" so I was left on the floor on a mattress in ED. I would have liked them to discharge me but that did not happen. Thankfully I do not have anything to do with community mental health. They were the ones who labelled me BPD and other things.

hi @nate96, maybe its low self esteem, but I have never ever felt like they had a duty of care, i feel like no one has a duty of care to me. I feel like that because of my personality vulnerabilities, I guess. But it didn't even make me angry at the time.

One psych nurse - i told her my self care was really bad and i was discharged there - she said, there's no point keeping you here, my homework is for you to get a hair cut. eye roll, out, no meaningful intervention. This was my life for 9 months really, go to the ED, get sent home.

I am glad you can hold on to a capabale psychiatrist. At one stage I had four personality disorders on my rap-sheet at the ED. I think it's really insulting, also to be described as "emotioanlly manipulative" by people who use this to suggest you don't need help.

The way I healed was when a friend told me it wasn't helping me to hold onto it. They didn't help me. So i kept moving to try another service. I'm still here, but it was so traumatising. This is an interesting website from a BPD clinic advising how mental health services should, in best practise, help ppl with personality disroder/BPD - https://www.spectrumbpd.com.au/news/new-release-spectrums-practical-guide-for-victorian-area-mental-health-and-wellbeing-services

I don't know how this helps, if they don't do it they don't do it. But for me, I try educate myself and take a step away from those who stigmatise. I tell myself - "that's their problem"

@Sequester at a particular ED, i have 4 PDs on my file.

I think in EDs, with no space for validation, and often limited capacity to hear, to care, it can be all too easy for a team to make rash decisions and put personality disorders on there.

It hurt me so much to see all the personality disorders, no medical professional ever gave them to me, they just appeared, and made it very tricky for me to get support in the ED>

Me too. Everytime I went in with ED I got more labels but what do you think about just ignoring them because they were added by people who did not know nor understand you. I think it is utter rubbish, almost funny, if it was not so distressing to me. I can relate, given the hurt it causes. I did not even know they thought I was BPD until I obtained my notes. I think that is the height of rudeness, not to mention ignorance and lack of empathy. But there you go.

Did you have any problems because of BPD as I noticed someone else shared and was disallowed to be there. That sounds to me discriminatory. What I get always is "schizoaffective relapse" determined by nurses. Funny, because I have bipolar. Yet they keep on putting that everytime.