Aspergers Vs Borderline Personality Disorder?

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When I think of BPD, the term "Drama Queen" comes to mind. I think all the talk of suicide stems from their love of playing the role of victim. They enjoy the sympathy and attention. They will even sabotage their lives over and over again to make sure they will become a victim so they can never be responsible for their own mistakes or happiness.

I could see Mary Newport (Mozart and the Whale) as a combo of Aspie and BPD on the surface. But she finally does take some responsibility and I don't think a true BPD ever would.

I could see how the behaviors of a BPD could be mistaken for AS, but the root cause of the behavior is entirely different.

Rjaye,

Occam says, that hits the nail on the head.

What I see most about WP is the variation of view by age.

Nutbag and I say the same things, the pre anything era,
then there is the psycobabble era, Give it a rest!
Then comes the pill based generation,
and lastly some happy, bright, well adjusted youngsters.

I chose one from group one, real stuff works, take care of yourself.

I chose one from group four, all people are different, enjoy it.

I always laugh(right before I start to cry),about psychology being defined as a science.Science is only as legit as the scientific method used and the scientist using it.The "scientist" currently are unable to decide if they are philosophers or behaviorist and the result has been a kind of schizophrenia in the professionals.People are NOT their behaviors....their behaviors are their brain wiring,brain chemistry and their interpretation of these forms of information based on previous experience.Then all these variables are placed in a blender and mixed with current social and cultural expectations.The ensuing formula is then strained through the filter of the "diagnoser",which is further influenced by the prejudices of the clinic/hospital/co-workers the diagnoser
workes for.

When I had my first run in with the psychiatric community,I was diagnosed with depression by a Freudian schooled psychiatrist (who later lost his licence for having sex with a client).I really dont know why I wasnt DXed with BPD....I had some classic traits...I use to cut but never told anyone about it and hid it from my parents.I had one overdose attempt which failed.I had only two relationships(4,5,6 grade)and the other relationships I tried lasted less then 6mths to a year.I worshipped my boyfriend and within a year,couldnt stand the sight of him.I snuck out of the house to go to parties where I would get drunk to black out and then have unsafe sex.(I thought they were in love with me and become obsessed with them afterwords,until the next guy)I didnt have rages that I let anyone else see.....I would take long walks alone and do my crying when others couldnt mock me(mom).
So,maybe I wasnt enough of a drama queen?I did learn to lie to my parents....tell them I was making friends,but didnt lie to others(I didnt talk to others)


When I went through CD treatment at 26,the psych I saw seemed genuinely confused by me.He said he saw behavior that was similar to BPD but that my thinking behind the behavior(internal motivation)appeared to be the oposite of BPD.This was in 1990 and there was no AS DX then.I have a lot of respect for him because he admitted to not knowing what was going on with me.I think my 10 years of drinking complicated the DX because I appeared "social".....put myself in social situations but had no friends....just a long string of male relationships that started out as obsessions and ended in my complete indifference of them.
I always justified the change on feeling as a fear of rejection caused by my being adopted.I did feel that I was unlovable and had a long history of family relationships(bio and adopted family that kicked me out),to justify this fear.It did bother me that I could be reacting so irrationally.....why dump someone when your greatest fear is being abandoned by them?I assumed my lack of logic was due to some deep psychological motivation,which often defies "reason"......lol.Makes much more logical sense that I ended the relationships because my obsession with the object was no longer fulfilling.After all,I never justified my changing "favorite authors" because the author would reject me....it was because I had learned everything they had to teach me and I needed to find another one for cerebral stimulation....duh.

To reiterate....behavior does not define a person.There are to many variables in the human process to easily catagorize them.I think that really pisses psychiatrist off and makes them a generaly hostile population...they scare me a bit.

I have AS and PTSD due to an unrelated severe childhood trauma.

Is Borderline Personality a common co-morbid with Aspergers?

Interesting discussion. I wish I could respond to each in turn. I think Sophist's post is pretty much the closest to a good summary discussion on the current state. One must keep in mind several things:
1. The amount of information known about the brain is surprisingly limited
2. AS is a recent diagnosis and most practitioners are not familiar with it
3. The DSM-IVTR is being rewritten as we speak
4. NT's, who are writing the DSM-IVTR will never understand spectrum disorders and so you can't really expect any degree of exactness
5. There are many psych disorders that occur AS A RESULT of being on the spectrum, depression and anxiety being two very common ones.
6. Narcissism and borderline are personality disorders, not mood or development disorders.

That being said,
I have worked professionally with many borderlines, and I can think of no type of person that I could identify less with. They are attention-seeking, dishonest to everybody including themselves, very difficult to be around. I also have a lot of experience with people diagnosed with NPD, and they are similar to borderlines - very egocentric and dishonest, in a way that gives you the creeps. I have seen nothing of spectrum traits among all these people I've worked with. People with personality disorders, including sociopaths and psychopaths, are generally noticeably aberrant.

I guess it pains me a little to think of us, who already have enough to contend with, thinking that we might also have aspects of a personality disorder. My point is that, despite maybe having certain behaviors that are also associated with a personality disorder or two, does not necessarily make you have a personality disorder as well.

I think many diagnoses have overlaps and crossovers it probably all correlates with minor brain dysfunction. I've been diagnosed with AS but for a long time I considered myself to have BPD I suppose I will never know for sure, I can identify with the feelings of emptiness, self-destructive behaviour and changeable identity!

My therapist thinks I have BPD, but there are several traits that I don't think apply to me at all, and others that seem like normal human behavior to me- who doesn't have a severe change of mood related to events? Did the entire country suddenly develop a personality disorder the morning of 9-11-01?

What seems like the most obvious difference to me is that BPD symptoms usually start after puberty, while AS signs start in early childhood. While some of my behavior as an adult could be labeled either way, I was more typically AS as a child.

It all seems like a confusing muddle to me, and there does seem to be a gender bias, with men more likely to be labeled AS while women get labeled as BPD. If they are going to be scientific about it, they need to come up with better definitions.

I think there are differences in BPD and AS for example BPD people do not maintain attachements to people who are not present , so for example if you had BPD and your partner went away for a time to work it would be hard to maintain that feeling that you love them and that they love you. It feels like those you care about cease to exist when you ar not with them also you feelings for people are based on there current behaviour rather than the overall picture of how they behave. this is what causes the instability because a slight change in the other persons behaviour can cause you to go from love to hate and during the hate times you are unable to recall why you loved them. I am not aware that this tendancy is common in AS people.

bb natty

I think a lot of people misdiagnose themselves as being AS. The mind is a complex thing and so many types of 'disorders' can stem from learned behaviours or traumatic childhood experiences that can appear as AS traits.

Any AS professional will tell you it is not always straightforward to diagnose an adult with AS. We take on appropriate or inappropriate learning or coping abilities during life and it all becomes very complex.

My best friend growing up had BPD, and although of course it did significantly impact her social functioning and she did exhibit inappropriate social behavior, I don't think she really had any characteristics in common with someone with AS, except that she was extremely smart

Also, I don't get the PTSD connection either (maybe it can lead to BPD but isn't necessarily a cause of it?). My friend had a major history of mental illness in her family, so in her case, it was probably genetic. She was also bipolar by the way.

No, I dont see what Borderline has to do with Aspergers, I have been tested for both, and got no symptom of Borderline