Bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder have some symptoms in common, but are two very different diseases. It’s important to understand the difference between borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder, in order to help yourself or someone you love get the right treatment. Each of these two mental disorders is often misdiagnosed as the other, because the difference between borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder, in terms of symptoms, can be so subtle.
Bipolar disorder causes its victims to cycle through mania, a mental state characterized by feelings of invulnerability, euphoria, and impulsivity, often followed by periods of severe depression marked by anxiety, aggression, irritability, suicide attempts or self-harming episodes. The person is able to function normally in between mood cycles.
The difference between borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder becomes hard to discern when we consider that borderline personality disorder also causes symptoms similar to those found in both phases of the bipolar mood cycle. The biggest difference between borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder is that the person with bipolar disorder does and says destructive, risky or hurtful things because of a chemical imbalance in the brain; with medication, or between episodes, the bipolar person’s symptoms disappear.
You can more easily understand the difference between borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder when you consider that symptoms in a person with BPD are chronic; the person does destructive, risky or hurtful things to avoid rejection or perceived rejection and stave off possible emotional pain. While a person with borderline personality disorder might have mood swings, there’s a big difference between borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder mood swings, namely, that BPD mood swings occur much more rapidly, often every few minutes or hours. For the most part, bipolar disorder mood changes occur every few months or years, with periods of normalcy in between.
Another key difference between borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder is that people with BPD have mood swings and lash out in response to events, or perceived events, going on in their lives – especially when they feel the threat of abandonment. This doesn’t happen with people suffering bipolar disorder because their mood changes are due to changes in the brain.
Borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder often appear very similar; generally, only a trained psychiatrist can tell the difference between the two. For more information or to seek help, call The Delray Center for Healing at 1-888-699-5679.