Sibling with possible BPD

Post Reply New Topic

I recently came across someone who has borderline personality disorder online, and I've come to the conclusion that it's very likely that my older sister has it. Now, I'm very hesitant to even suggest a self-diagnosis for myself, let alone other people, but her symptoms are putting her in danger, and I don't want to see them climax. As it is, she's self-diagnosed general anxiety and had a doctor put her on some medication (which worsened her symptoms, so she stopped taking it). When I was younger, I just thought she had very poor self-esteem, because she would throw tantrums over innocent things that people said. For example, my mom made a joke about Trump winning the election, and my sister thought that my mom had inferred that she didn't know who the president was. It wasn't a rational conclusion at all. She's even been set off by my younger siblings looking at her "funny."

Her defensiveness and her ability to misconstrue everything that people say into an insult has been the biggest issue, by far. When she's set off by this, she'll throw wild tantrums and acts very impulsively. On such occasions, she binge-eats and drives recklessly (many near-accidents). Recently, she started threatening suicide during these episodes. She recovers quickly, from a couple hours to a day after. She's never had a healthy relationship, either, even with her siblings. No friendships to speak of, even as a little kid. She always thought that everyone hated her, and so even the people who offered her friendship were pushed away for being "fake." She can be very abusive to anyone she does allow into her life.

These symptoms have wrecked her life. She dropped out of high school years ago, has no relationships with anyone outside of our family, and within our family, she is very hostile towards half of us. Between these episodes (which are happening more and more often) and her refusal to seek help, I'm wondering what steps I should take. I want to tell my mom that I think she might have something beyond anxiety and depression, that perhaps both of these are signs of a different disorder, but is it my place? If my mom refuses to take action based on the evidence I have, what do I do then? I don't want to sit back and watch her destroy herself.

I think you should tell your mom.
It might help your sibling.
And at the least you'll have peace with yourself because you did what you could do.


I'd say take one step at the time, see how your mom reacts first.
If your mom doesn't do anything you can always talk to your GP to ask their advice about what you can do.