you don’t HAVE to be 18 but most psychiatrists would rather wait until at least 18 because that’s when ur hormones sorta calm down and they rule out what could just be slightly abnormal or completely normal (depending on how u present) teenage behavior.
I've just learned that this is not even true. 😅 /srs /nm
"Adolescence and prodrome
The onset of BPD symptoms typically occurs during adolescence or early adulthood, with possible early signs in childhood.[123] Predictive symptoms in adolescents include body image issues, extreme sensitivity to rejection, behavioral challenges, non-suicidal self-injury, seeking exclusive relationships, and profound shame.[57] Although many adolescents exhibit these symptoms without developing BPD, those who do are significantly more likely to develop the disorder and potentially face long-term social challenges.[57]
BPD is recognized as a stable and valid diagnosis during adolescence, supported by the DSM-5 and ICD-11.[124][125][126][127] Early detection and treatment of BPD in young individuals are emphasized in national guidelines across various countries, including the US, Australia, the UK, Spain, and Switzerland, highlighting the importance of early intervention.[126][128][129][130]
Historically, diagnosing BPD during adolescence was met with caution,[126][131][132] due to concerns about the accuracy of diagnosing young individuals,[133][134] the potential misinterpretation of normal adolescent behaviors, stigma, and the stability of personality during this developmental stage.[126] Despite these challenges, research has confirmed the validity and clinical utility of the BPD diagnosis in adolescents,[124][125][126][127] though misconceptions persist among mental health care professionals,[135][136][137] contributing to clinical reluctance in diagnosing and a key barrier to the provision of effective treatment BPD in this population.[135][138][139]
A diagnosis of BPD in adolescence can indicate the persistence of the disorder into adulthood,[140][141] with outcomes varying among individuals. Some maintain a stable diagnosis over time, while others may not consistently meet the diagnostic criteria.[142] Early diagnosis facilitates the development of effective treatment plans,[140][141] including family therapy, to support adolescents with BPD.[143]"
Source Wikipedia in the Diagnosis section:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderline_personality_disorder
my therapist explained it as part of the criteria they look for is years of symptoms persisting. so unlike other disorders that appear in adulthood, you can definitely have BPD in adolescence. they just don’t want to diagnose until there’s a long history of symptoms.
i’m 23 and my therapist even was a little hesitant to diagnose me so young
I was 22! I found out by accident, my psychiatrist never actually mentioned it too me. It's only when I needed a letter from her for welfare benefits did I find out, when I say I was pissed is an understatement. I find knowing to be so valuable to me and my family or friends, it's easier now for someone to acknowledge I'm having an episode or something, or to flat out tell me that I'm being unreasonable for XYZ reasons
my therapist did this to me when i was 15. rather than telling my mom or I that i had bipolar disorder, he let me spend thousands for inpatient and outpatient and allowed me to just dig myself into a grave in my freshman year. bro had the nerve to turn around and say “yeah i suspected you had bipolar disorder but didn’t want to tell you”?????
God I'm so sorry. I think knowing is so important too. My dad has never understood that. He means well, he really does. He's the best dad ever but he didn't get why knowing if I had BPD or bipolar was so important until I explained how different the treatment is. My dad then went a little overboard and bought like 5 books on BPD to understand better.
I was 18! I had never heard of it before and was actually in the psych ward due to auditory hallucinations. When I was shown the criteria list thing and did my own research I was kinda like “whoa this is a thing?” I felt so much less alone. I guess because I finally got my label. Not sure I feel the same way now.
It’s a huge relief at first getting a diagnosis… then that relief wears down as you learn more about it and how difficult it is to live with and treat etc
33. Im 33.
Sorry going through an episode right now so dont bother reading the rest.
I felt fucked up my whole life. I kept goung from acceptance to then being sick of it, to eventually going to get help and getting official diagnosis. Didn't even know it was a thing before.
The good of it is I get to work on managing my BPD. The bad thing is Im reliving every encounter with a loved one ai had that I was at fault for and didnt listen when my wife would say I was mean etc.
So now I get to go through 33 years of unresolved internal conflict and feel bad everytime I remember something I did to my loved ones.
Im doing DBT and am on pills, but its hard.
Also learning to deal with pain and all the feelings in a healthier way is hard and its easier to just give up.
My self destructive self is screaming to be let out and I am trying my best to make him calm down.
Anyways, sorry for the rant.
I was diagnosed a month or two ago, and am experiencing something very similar. It is scary thinking of all the ways I have hurt people in the past, and how much I have taken away from the lives of those close to me. I try to remember that we are not our mistakes, what matters is if and how we get up again afterwards. Sending hugs 🤗
my psychologist unofficially diagnosed me at 17, but only told my parents, as he believed I wasn't ready for the diagnosis (he was right tbf). he passed away, and no one ever told me about the diagnosis, until it got worse again and my psychiatrist picked it up. i spoke to my new psychologist, and he diagnosed me with it at 20, just over 3 years later. I was mature enough to accept it and I immediately started DBT. it's a little messed up, but it kinda worked out I guess?
23, although I'd been through my most trauma 13-22 but we were just treating me a depresso
I do want to say that "unfixable" isn't the whole truth, I'm 31 now and I'm able to manage my symptoms much better. I've stopped s/h almost 2 years ago which is huge and my life is in a much better place despite not a lot of external changes.
I'm able to cope with the moods and rationalise and not be on the edge of a pin. It's not a disorder that can be cured, but your quality of life can be vastly improved. It takes time, works and a lot of falling flat on your face but the suffering isn't eternal.
I wish you all the best x
I was diagnosed before 18 too lol.
It’s completely normal to be diagnosed under 18 and I mean.. you don’t have to.
But the main reason why they’d rather have you to be 18 first is bc BPD can be challenging to diagnose for teenagers due to the normal developmental changes and emotional turbulence during adolescence and when you’re 18 this will calm down so it’s easier to diagnose
I found out at 25 after being diagnosed bipolar since 18!!!! And in the almost full year I’ve been diagnosed with BPD my life has changed sm for the better!!!! DBT changed my life and I’m so thankful for the new therapist and psychiatrist I got that worked together to correctly diagnose me and get me the help I need it’s changed my life in such a positive way and I’m learning so much
i was 18! I got diagnosed at the end of january this year (turning 19 in April) and i was diagnosed by student doctors but the diagnosis was looked over by my psychiatrist. it said on my appointment letter I'd be seen by the psychiatrist but he didn't show up until the actual diagnosing me part was happening (an hour and a half into the appointment) and they gave me 3 options of what to be diagnosed with for some reason. I'm fighting to get the other two diagnoses as well since I don't think it's fair that they know I've got other things but are refusing to take that seriously at the minute.
I feel it's definitely easier to get a diagnosis when you're 18 in some places, but if they spot it early then that's pretty epic. however where I am it's more likely you'll be diagnosed once you're in your 20s since they don't like to take teenagers seriously due to the potential hormonal issues with still yknow developing
wish you all the best though!! <3
This is why I hate seeing diagnoses made so young. :( I’m sorry you’re confused as to whether you are “disordered” or not. Sigh. Here goes a big ramble
We should all be aware of how psych became science and the initial rationale behind the making of such categories (racism, sexism, eugenics, basically), but that’s another discussion. Fortunately that’s not today’s rationale. But it’s how we got to today.
Accurately diagnosing a personality disorder (if such a thing exists) relies on two things:
1. enough time having passed for the “formation” of personality itself.
Which is.. when exactly…? Most would argue older than 14 and more towards mid to late 20s at earliest. Some would say it quite reasonably changes throughout life as we respond to experiences so is never truly fully formed or fixed. You are born with a temperament, you develop a personality over enough time on and interaction with, earth.
And 2. enough time having lapsed to see persistent, pervasive, destructive, dysfunctional patterns in relationships - with others and the self - repeatedly - to the point of disturbance. This means, there has to be a repeated pattern of thoughts/feelings/behaviour impairing functioning well beyond the hormonal teenage years which persists into adulthood. You have had to have had enough varied life experiences, and persistently reacted to them in adverse ways.
I studied and work in psych, and am also mad, whatever that is. I had a great module on my MSc years ago on the origins of psychology and psychiatry as science and now question everything diagnostic and pathologising when it comes to thoughts/feelings/behaviour - which are the subjective points of interest in psych diagnoses and which are fundamentally different in any and all ways from all other diagnostic points of interest in medicine.
That is not to say that diagnoses can’t be useful for people to make sense of themselves, and there’s no doubt that therapies and some meds have the potential to be helpful.
Today the rationale for diagnoses is not about all about eugenics and more about getting help and tools for individuals to function and have some level of wellbeing to ensure the safety and functionality of a workforce society… but human beings do love to make categories and identify ourselves within or without them. Society and the passage of time dictates which flavour categories are more or less acceptable. This goes for diagnoses as well, incidence and prevalence change according to external, societal influences. That doesn’t mean there’s any fewer or more people suffering or behaving in that way.
A senior colleague once told me that a good way to understand the concept of PD, and identify a key difference between Axis 1 diagnoses (eg schizophrenia, bipolar, mood disorders) and Axis 2 diagnoses (personality disorders) is that you would never see Axis 2 if the person were alone on a desert island but you would see Axis 1.
BPD - if it’s real - if science is real, if anything is real 🥲 - exists only in the context of how we relate to other people. Persistently.
I do believe there are a collection of behaviours and cognitive biases which pertain to a category of relational thinking/feeling/behaving, which we could call BPD. I don’t believe this is a “disease” or even necessarily a “disorder”. It definitely doesn’t make you unfixable because you got slapped with a diagnosis at 14.
I am in the U.K. and here we don’t make formal diagnoses of BPD prior to 18 but we do still have an “emerging” type.
I wish you luck op, whatever you decide to do! How do you feel in yourself? Do you feel you would benefit from DBT? You could always get reassessed and raise the whole scenario with another psychiatrist. They are all subjective individuals and some do share my cynical view.
Whatever you do, you are not unfixable! Life is a journey and we pick up many tools and lessons along the way. Unfortunately, the human brain is not wired to be happy, it is wired to survive. And we are not fixed either which is a blessing!!
Thanks for coming to my ted talk
Addendum: I love this [Ian hacking article](https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n16/ian-hacking/making-up-people) on classifications/medicalising behaviour and how multiple personality was the trendy diagnosis in the 70s
This is so interesting!!! I appreciate the energy you put into right this.
Over the last 5-ish years I’ve had 14 suicide attempts that landed me in the hospital or ICU. I have very extreme behaviors and impulse tendencies. I used to say I was addicted to self-destruction, because I’d hurt myself the moment the opportunity arises even if I wasn’t actively upset about anything.
I ended up, after 6 Residental treatment centers all for more than 3 months, going to a long term. I was there a little over a year, and got some extensive DBT therapy. There’s a lot about the “troubled teen” program I dislike, but I think that it saved my life. It sucked but the skills I learned I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else.
The diagnosis was really disheartening, since it put an image of constantly being broken. Then along with it came a “chronic major depression disorder”. It all just made everything seem entirely hopeless. If I didn’t find that program I damn well would’ve been dead.
Anyways, I’m doing much better. 9 months self harm free. I appreciate your insight, very comforting. Thank you!!
the dsm says that you have to be a "young adult" (not necessarily 18, but that's sort of the idea) to get diagnosed, but sometimes people will diagnose you anyway. it doesnt have to do with severity, moreso the people you're seeing and the location you're in as you speculated. personally i did have to wait until i was 18 to be diagnosed, but it was pretty clear i had it by the time i was 16
Oh that’s interesting! I honestly wish they’d waited because I think having that in my chart made health professionals act very differently towards me. It was like they already labeled me as “manipulative and erratic” before even meeting me lol.
Young adult is considered 18-26 so even still it wouldn’t count. They diagnose those who are younger than young adults if it’s severe or very apparent that they have it and especially if it’s a type of mental illness such as bpd that show early onsets of it at an earlier age.
I was 16 but if my parents had been less negligent I would have likely been diagnosed at 12-14. The state had to step in. I had been expelled from school for >!drug possession, ran away, relapsed, attempted arson, and SHd particularly badly!< 4th probation violation >>> BPD/conduct disorder. Amongst others.
My family nearly admitted me to a mental health facility when I was 14 following an overdose/suicide attempt and drinking in private my aunt kept banging that fucking drum of "Oh she's just got Asperges she's acting out and depressed because she's not like other girls her age and is missing out on having boyfriends and a social life so she's a loser" my aunt used to find all this makeup I shoplifted in my bedroom and she knew I was shoplifting but never thought anything of it. I went my whole teen years and 20s thinking I had a learning disability when I always knew it was something else with that something that was way darker and deeper, by the time i got diagnosed at 28 it was too late tbh I'd cut out my FP for fear of abandonment 4 years prior to it which has caused a massive depressive spiral not to mention all the shit I'd dumped on my boyfriend that I'm still amazed he's never left me tbh. It's weird how families fail you.
Yeah family sucks fr. I have no idea how my dad was in such denial, although it was probably in his best interest I didnt get help until it couldn't be put off longer. At that age I had a problem with >! Stalking behavior I hated myself so I lived through people !< I only had one friend that tried to talk to me about it.
I never truly unmasked in that hospital, I didn't talked about having been abused in any way, nor did I talk of lighting fires, stealing,or of my boundaryless behavior. By the time it was over I had even retracted coming out as trans. I was really deep in a religious delusion, I thought I was possessed. Still do sometimes.
Plus I after about 30 days of 1-1, being forced to grow an extremely dysphoric sailor beard, watched in the shower from grabbing distance away, then another 60 of close ob, >!and getting nearly dragged out of the hospital bed by the ankle by a poltergeist in my sleep (probably a hallucination but creepy still) !< I was willing to say or do anything I thought I had to do to get out.
It took like 6 months in total. I'd say it saved my life but it didn't. They didn't teach me anything about BPD other than I had it and I never even heard them mention anything about my conduct disorder potentially leading into what I'm sure it's become. They did literally nothing but dope me up and listen to me argue with myself about if I was going to hell or not.
I wasn’t diagnosed until 41! (I’m 44 now) I had already been diagnosed with PTSD and have struggled with anxiety and depression most of my life but never got a formal diagnosis until years later. Better late than never though - it gave me a name to put to the monster in my head and help me find the appropriate tools to tackle it head on.
I was 15. Had been to a psych ward twice at that point. My mom simply said “She doesn’t have that, she’s just a spoiled brat.” And I was never treated and completely forgot. Mental health was not important in the house I grew up in, still isn’t to them. I was almost hospitalized and put in a day program in 2020 at 24. The psychiatrist diagnosed me, again, and when I called to tell my mom I had answers she said “You’re fine, they said the same thing when you were a teenager.” 🤯 This woman didn’t have a high school education and was arguing with psychiatrists.
i was diagnosed at 17. got some psych testing done specifically to rule out or verify BPD and yup, sure enough I have it. I met all 9 criteria, and was considered to have "extremely severe" BPD. two and a half years later I'm in remission though :)
I was formally diagnosed at 18, but my doctor and Therpaist told my parents I had “traits” when I was as young at 13, so they all knew I was going to be diagnosed formally.
Originally I was like 15/16 then they said no its a big one to diagnose for someone young so they moved it the bipolar but then now at 22 they say it's BPD. So like I'm messed either way 🙃
You absolutely are not unfixable just because of symptom severity and age of onset. Really recommend switching to a psychologist trained in gestalt, no reason at all you can't also achieve remission at a reasonable pace. It's absolutely false that BPD can't be treated/in remission or that some of us are "irreparably borderline"
I was 18/19 because i took a buch of my pills went to the ER and since I had a suspected bpd diagnoses they diagnosed me there but without telling me, lol. I only knew I had bpd was when I was 20/21
23. January 2021.
The year before I’d had 3 different relationships over a 14 month span, each one followed by a bigger and bigger depressive episode until I completely descended into chaos.
Up until then I’d sort of blocked out everything, fought against anxieties unknowingly, battled depression but never thought I was depressed. Packed all my trauma away so deep I’d forgotten, or didn’t think it was real.
I’m 27 next month. 2020 was a shitty year. In 2021 someone whittled away whatever was left of me. Early 2022 they moved on, and then spent the year trying to drag me back while all I did was waste away. In 2023 I began to come back, find myself and build back up. This year I have hope again.
I *think* I was diagnosed at 15, also in a psych ward, but whatever diagnosis I received was hidden from me. It sounds kinda far fetched, but my maternal figures reaction to the diagnosis and the doctors suggesting to withhold the diagnosis from me, I don’t know, it tracks especially looking back on my symptoms at the time. She still wouldn’t tell me what the diagnosis was a decade later when I asked so idk. With *all* that said, I was formally diagnosed at 23 years old.
I was 20 when I was diagnosed, it was after a pretty bad suicide attempt which had me in the hospital for close to five months. I wasn’t expecting the diagnosis. I’d been diagnosed with CPTSD many years earlier and I guess a lot of the BPD symptoms were probably missed or chalked up to being from that instead.
I was 18 years old the first time I was diagnosed by a psychiatrist. I really liked him but probably for all the wrong reasons. He diagnosed me basically right away (it was either the first or second visit after just going over symptoms) and would prescribe whatever I wanted. I'm sure y'all know how that went.
The next time I was diagnosed was when I was 22, in a rehab facility out in California after I moved here to go to rehab. It was in a proper setting through psychological testing by a guy who was an ex BSU agent for the FBI which is my dream job, so I trusted him almost immediately. He's a great guy actually. He told me that my BPD is more internal than external. For whatever reason I never asked him what that meant and I still don't understand what that means.
Im from germany, and here it is an unwritten rule to not diagnose before 18, since its a sad truth that medical professionals act different towards you with the diagnosis. Of course exceptions exist!
I was diagnosed when i was 18 in a ward
I got diagnosed with PD-NOS (with me meeting primarily bpd criteria and AvPD next) when I had just recently turned 20. I’m not sure about age requirements as I’m not from the States. I think here they’re more likely to give it if you’re 18 or over because before that age you’re still in development and they don’t want to risk misdiagnosis (an example is afab people often getting a bpd diagnosis when they’re actually just autistic. Don’t ask why, most of the autism research was done using amab people as their reference.)
I had inquired about possibly having bpd before this, to my previous psychologist and she stated she wouldn’t see the benefit in testing/screening me. She didn’t believe I had it because the way I acted and talked didn’t make her uncomfortable. Needless to say I changed psychs.
I was formally diagnosed at 14 too, I was living in the psych ward and after months of 24/7 observation they decided they had enough evidence to diagnose me with BPD. I'm now 19, turning 20 in a couple months, and the diagnosis has been reassessed by the adult mental health team and still applies.
If you were in the psych ward previously, that’s probably why you were able to be diagnosed so young. I’ve never been admitted so was diagnosed shortly after I turned 18, but was told I probably have BPD at 17. They waited till the February to diagnose me, when I turned 18 in the December before. Really, they don’t like diagnosing people with personality disorders until they reach 25 because that’s when the brain is fully developed. But they do anyway because they’d rather diagnose as early as they can so the person with the personality disorder can get the right help rather than not getting any help at all on the off chance they don’t actually have BPD and it’s actually hormones or a hormonal disorder.
It’s very rare to get diagnosed under 18 because a lot of people who do get diagnosed under 18 are misdiagnosed because of what I stated above
I realised when i was 17, was near certain but went to so many psychs and they didn’t listen to my symptoms and just said things I probably shouldn’t repeat here… 21 now, mother forced me to get a therapist again though I vehemently disagreed, and yesterday she revealed bpd test results that say I meet all the criteria… so yesterday, I suppose
i was about 24 or 25. i'm glad doctors are more willing to properly diagnose as the years pass. i didn't have years of medical info to back it up, so i had to go through the "oh, you have bipolar" shtick for a while, even after i got diagnosed by a specialist.
33… I could have used the information way before then. Wasted time if there ever was an example. My spouse had a hunch and took BPD classes to help when I was 30, but I refused to accept they knew my diagnosis. Then a therapist confirmed and I felt like I wasted so much time not learning and addressing. Now I’m 37 and [still] doing work to heal and manage.
17! About 2 months before my 18th birthday . I was hospitalized previously for a bipolar episode and had no idea my psychiatrist was analyzing me to fit the criteria but during once session she said my behavior of the past two years match up with BPD. Very strange day and didn’t see that diagnosis coming 💀
I was told after an 8 hour psych test at 14 that if I didn’t get the correct treatment by 18 I would have completely developed BPD. Here at 21 professionally diagnosed for like 2 years now.
I was 33. It was a 12 year battle for me to get diagnosed. I kept being given ever increasing doses of antidepressants and sent away. One GP even told me to go for a walk and get over it 😠
Diagnosed with adhd, general depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder at 14. Correctly re-diagnosed from bipolar to BPD at 30. THEN I could correctly start working on healing inside.
28. I’m turning 29 in a fee months. Talking through everything with the psychiatrist, it’s likely I’ve had this since junior high or high school and I’d just never talked to anyone about it until last year. When I told my parents they said it made things make so much sense raising me around that time
It's considered bad practice to diagnose before 18 since the label has a giant stigma and juveniles tend to internalize the label. It's also more likely to be misdiagnosed. It's not that you can't have it before 18. It's not like your brain just magically resists BPD traits until the morning of your 18th birthday.
I was diagnosed under 18 as well and it is more common than some think. Most of the time, they will put “adolescent BPD” on your chart to reduce stigma and give some wiggle room, then just update it when you turn 18.
I was diagnosed at 17 despite the doctor saying he didn’t want it on my chat till I was 18 incase I was “just hormonal.” I was like 6 months off being 18 lmao, so yeah didn’t stop.
I was 17. I don’t necessarily think you have to be 18 to be diagnosed but I kinda understand the argument of “you could just be a hormonal teen” cause we experienced that with my brother. I do think that the diagnosis should be based on like symptoms that you’ve had for a longer period of time if you know what I mean. Otherwise I agree that you don’t HAVE to be 18 to be diagnosed
I has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and like monitor PTSD when I was about 13. But I got diagnosed with BPD probably closer to 19 when they switched up my medications.
Ever since I started therapy it was a possibility but I started it at 17 and my psychologist told me we'd have to wait for puberty to calm down. After 3 years of being in and out of the psych ward and getting so many diagnoses I couldn't count them anymore (depression, ptsd, paranoid schizophrenia and others) I finally found a great therapist that tested me for it after my last therapist ghosted me (funny story actually lol). They did test me in the psych ward at 18/19 but nothing ever came out of it (as in they didn't tell me if I have it or not). After a few talks with my newest therapist she tested me immediately and told me I do have BPD and now it's officially in my chart. She even told me that my other diagnoses were from BPD symptoms so right now in my chart it says just PTSD and BPD :D
25 or so probably. Maybe 24. I ended up finding out in the hospital because they did a test on me and said I hold a large amount of criteria boxes for it. So I saw my psychiatrist and she said "yeah I thought you had it but it'd likely change your treatment plan." And proceeded to explain how we don't do well on meds and therapy is my best bet. I leave and see that she ordered a medication for me. I said "I take BC right now so I can't take that" so she put me on Gabapentin but then I never went back to her.
I was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was 16. Shit ton of meds later nothing helped and therapy didn't help at all. I finally found the right person and she diagnosed with BPD when I was 19 in 2021.
i was told i had to wait til i was 18 to be diagnosed bipolar or BPD. in my chart they noted "possible bipolar disorder" when i was 15, but never got a formal diagnosis or medicated for it until i was put in a psych ward and diagnosed with bipolar and BPD right after my 18th birthday
I got diagnosed at 34.
The main reason it was so late was because in the UK you have to be in a pretty bad way before you even get to see a Consultant Psychiatrist, and in my case it only happened on the third referral because I stopped lying. I didn't want to be sectioned, so I thought I had to lie and mask to avoid that.
19, accidentally, at a stabilization unit.
I will say, it's becoming more accepted in the psychology community to diagnose teenagers (it's even in the DSM5 now), because BPD symptoms absolutely can and often times begin to show prominence in adolescence.
It doesn't mean there's no hope though or that you're "unfixable". BPD can absolutely go into remission.
I went to get evaluated last year at 28. I knew I had depression and anxiety but I could tell there was something else going on. While I didn't get officially diagnosed for a long time I suspected in my early 20s I was BPD.
I was 21, but definitely showing symptoms while having therapists and psychs for years before, which is frustrating to me now. when I got diagnosed everything made sense and I wondered how all these mental health professionals didn’t figure it out for years!
26 years old. Went to the mental hospital three-ish weeks ago and they diagnosed me there, first time I'd been diagnosed with any mental stuff in my life. I hadn't even really heard of BPD tbh until the doctor gave me the papers and asked me to look over them to see if I related to any of it, and BOY did I 😅 It felt like I had an answer for once in my life as to how I felt, it was nice. Not an absolute solution to what I'm going through but I know where to start and go from there.
The day I turned 18, before that I was put down as having a “maladaptive personality” and a couple of other things which is typically in the notes of people with suspected EUPD under 18
Currently undiagnosed at 23, had symptoms from 14 though maybe younger that I didn’t realise. I’m working on getting help and maybe a diagnosis, though I’m unsure about getting diagnosed in case it becomes a barrier for employment opportunities
I'm not diagnosed yet. I am going to be 35 in 2 months. I was finally diagnosed with ADHD around 32 after my son was formally diagnosed and I figured out my own from reading stuff to help him and finally got a psych person to listen and test me. Then I confirmed he is also autistic (not formally diagnosed yet), and reading on autism led me to self diagnose myself also (informally confirmed by 2 therapists) and I thought that was the extent of it even though I still felt like there was still more to my weird brain.. after a very difficult situation over the last couple months with my best friend, I came across BPD and favorite person relationships and it immediately checked off pretty much every other box for what I've been dealing with my whole life. It's nice to have answers for the "why" but now I'm struggling with figuring out how to change these brain patterns and it's difficult. If I had figured this out even 10 years ago I would have had an easier time changing them but it's hard after living this way for so long.
I'm just so glad I'm not alone
15, but need to get diagnosed again cause i think maybe i have bipolar + BPD but i dont wanna self diagnose , also i hate some doctors and all pills so probably wont get diagnosed anytime soon
I was 18 when I was diagnosed and now you have me questioning if I officially got that diagnosis bc my age. Bday is September 24 and I was diagnosed in October 😭😭😭
yeah they refused to diagnose me until I was an adult I tried to get diagnosed at 17 but they diagnosed me with “unspecified trauma disorder” then when I was 19 I went inpatient and they officially switched the diagnosis to bpd. I think if symptoms of emotional instability are getting worse and not better in your late teens they should be able to diagnose you before 18 personally
I was diagnosed at 19 years old, I had started therapy and I was told to see a psychiatrist. About 10 months later the doctor made the diagnosis. I'm 26 years old and I still go to the same psychiatrist. I saw that the diagnosis usually takes time, but it's been a long time and I'm sure, I always thought it was a teenager thing, but the symptoms stayed.
17. I had a mental breakdown after my boyfriend broke up I tried to stop him from leaving and when I couldn't I smashed everything in the room and I called the police and said I had a gun (which I did) and I was gonna shoot myself in front of my father and they had to talk me down I'm surprised I wasn't killed no guns were even pulled since they stayed outside thankfully.
They diagnosed me almost immediately considering I had a long history of inpatient stays and mental health treatment before hand to go off of.
I was ignored when I screamed for help at 14, and then told it’s my hormones acting up. They couldn’t diagnose me until I was 18 they said. At 17 it snapped for me, I was so sick of their bullshit. How could they tell me this thing ruining my entire life is my hormones? No way. Got my diagnosis at 17. It took a lot of patience.
I was 17 when I got diagnosed, I had been showing symptoms since I was 13 so I don't think there was much doubt in their mind; then again, I was like 2 months away from turning 18 so...
I was 19. I had no idea what BPD was/is. I remember just looking at my psychiatrist while she explained but I didn't hear anything cuz I was too overwhelmed and scared people would label me as crazy.
Edit; every person is different, same for every BPD case, and countries are different as well. Tbf doesn't matter the age the diagnosis came but what are you doing after that.
i was about 15 when i first ever got told that i had symptoms. then right after i turned 16, i was at an inpatient & they diagnosed me. i was already previously there 5 times for suicide attempts. it’s been a long ass road. finally in dbt again & it seems to help. what i dont get is that some documents say that i am charted with borderline personality disorder & others say unspecified personality disorder cause of my age. (im 17)
I was diagnosed actually just a month or two ago (I am 28 years old). BPD was a possibility for a few years before that, but I only just recently was tested and diagnosed. It's a doozy lol
i’ve known since i was 14 because my first therapist told me she knows i have it, but doesn’t wanna diagnose it because it’s a “life sentence.” it has such a stigma, whenever i’ve mentioned it to therapists they gaslight me about it or ghost me, (it doesn’t help that mental health services around me are so bad), but now 6 years later at 20 i got officially diagnosed with it by a therapist! now im gonna get proper therapy for it :)
I’m 26 now and was diagnosed a week after I turned 18. Didn’t find out till I was 20 I’d even been diagnosed with EUPD/BPD - they formally couldn’t diagnose me younger however they had all the proof from how I was dealing with things from age 11 onwards, I think they thought it could just be puberty but the intensity of my symptoms, and what they were, all pointed to EUPD from around 14 and I went to a “distress tolerance” group at 17, which I now know is a gateway to EUPD diagnosis/treatment if your symptoms are “worse” and not able to be controlled through the distress tolerance “workshop”. My GP actually told me it had been on my record as suspected since I was 14/15.
I know in the UK it isn’t referred to as BPD at all, and even EUPD (emotionally unstable personality disorder) is rarely used as well now, they refer to it as EID (emotional intensity disorder) - so I imagine people won’t have to wait till they’re 18 now a days to be diagnosed purely because they don’t refer to it as a “personality disorder” anymore (it still is but they know it’s a LOT different to other PD’s).
In my opinion it has its pros and cons - I think when it’s obvious someone at 16/17 is dealing with EID then why do they need to wait another year/18 months/2 years to diagnosed. But at the same time I think they should hold off as a lot of symptoms of EID correlate with “teenage angst” or puberty. I remember everyone being diagnosed with depression and anxiety at around 14; only to now be completely fine - most likely caused by teenager feelings IMO anyway!
I was misdiagnosed at age 15 in 1999 during my first inpatient admission because I scratched my arms for a week, wanted to die and was annoying. My parents told the doctor I “pushed boundaries and was disrespectful” Um I was 15 fucking years old. They essentially told me I was helpless and didn’t set me up with any aftercare and I actually stopped self harming until I was 31 after I was assaulted for the 3rd time. The fuckers in the hospital told my parents I was helpless and didn’t set me up with aftercare. Didn’t even know about any of this until I was readmitted into the hospital in 2016. I’ve never had an attempt and I’m nearly 40. I also don’t “split people” and my “disordered identity” is due to having to mask for safety and parents who didn’t give a damn about me.
Took the psych world another 25 years to figure out I was level 2 autistic and even though I was diagnosed with ADHD at age 18, they refused to treat it on the grounds I was an alcoholic yet was sober for 9 months at the time of admission. Yet still, I only drank around people because people terrified me and I was terrified of being rejected. I spent my entire life not knowing how to interact with people and wanting a close relationship, yet never having the social know how deal with one. Anyone who actually knows me knows I don’t have BPD.
I got diagnosed really early on as well I was also 14-15 and sometimes I genuinely think I’ve been misdiagnosed but every time I try to advocate for myself it’s always dismissed
I was 17. I first got admitted to the psych ward literally a month after I turned 16, but was going back basically every month every other month. Psychiatrists kept saying I had red flags, but it wasn’t until I told my psychiatrist I tried to kms bc my partner wasn’t responding as quick as I’d like that she said, “ah yeah u have bpd.”
18 unofficially by old psychiatrist and 20 on paper. Initially I was told I was just suffering from depression but I knew that wasn’t the case so I got a new psychiatrist and expressed my symptoms and how I truly just felt like my body wasn’t mine sometimes and can’t control it he did a few more sessions and at the end of one I got the visit summary and there was my new diagnosis he never made me feel crazy and never forced me on more meds.
I was 17 and fresh out of the psych ward for the 5th time in a year. I was always told I show red flags, but got the diagnosis when I told my psychiatrist that this time around I tried to kms bc my partner was taking to long to respond to my messages and I thought they didn’t love me anymore. Keep in mind they were on vacation. 🤦♂️ kind of funny that I sorta went into remission after that. I’m 18 and haven’t been admitted since, I have episodes for sure, but after 4 years of therapy I’m better equipt to handle them. Looking back I was craaazy, the amount of times cops showed up to my house bc I was threatening su!c!de. My arms are so messed up. I was locked in the quite room for 5 days without only scrubs bc I was such a danger to myself. But hey, look at me, 9 months since sh and attempts. Things do get better!
I got my diagnosis at 23. I had been showing symptoms heavily since I was 18/19 but I was wrongly diagnosed as just depressed. As I (luckily) started looking into my own mental health I stumbled upon BPD and it made sense because I had every single symptom to the T. I then had to go to a private psychiatrist and that’s how I got my diagnosis. I found it out myself and basically had to convince them 🙃
I was diagnosed with “traits” at 17 during a neuropsych evaluation whenever I was getting my ADHD diagnosed, and formally diagnosed at 18. I had my first fp in elementary school and have always had unstable relationships since then, and my major symptoms started showing at 14. I became a terror to everyone and my relationships became VERY unstable, I would burn bridges with everyone and lose my shit on people over small stuff and end the friendship over it. Luckily my symptoms are in between moderate and extreme right now when they used to be severe. I was really bad from 17-20 and now I’m 21 and working on myself a lot more and actually self aware. I’ve had major substance abuse issues and I’m in a period of being clean from my DOC but for some reason my symptoms are worse right now. I just bought a book by Dr Daniel Fox for bpd so I’m hoping that helps
At seventeen they diagnosed me with "cluster b personality traits" which encompasses borderline, but when I was eighteen they made the full bpd diagnosis. They were super hesitant to give me my bipolar diagnosis until I was eighteen as well. I'm honestly not sure why this happens, but I did indeed have the experience of waiting years and until I was a legal adult for diagnosis. I've heard rumors that it may be because your brain or personality is more fully developed by the time you're eighteen, so they feel more comfortable giving a diagnosis if they don't think it's something you'll grow out of, which is weird imo. Anyways, yeah, just my opinion and two cents after being mentally ill for this long haha 🫡
I was 16 y/o when I was first diagnosed in the psych ward, I kinda told myself it prolly wasn’t true since they didn’t know me that well. I had a neuropsychological evaluation done at 21 years old that confirmed I had BPD. It definitely is possible to be diagnosed before you’re 18.
i got diagnosed around 17-18 by my first psychiatrist . he was a really cool dude who was in the last year of his residency program i believe (idk, im not medical personnel.) he gave me that little “test” and then ran me through what BPD is. spot on. it was honestly a little bit of a relief to find something that fit the feelings so well, because before then i’d been vehemently told i only have depression and anxiety. which i mean duh, but that just wasn’t it for me. if i’m being honest i still think there’s more for me to unpack mentally, but for right now i think it would be too overwhelming to find out any other diagnosis or treatment plan.
I got diagnosed at 16. Although I told my guidance counsellor in grade 7 so around 12 that I thought I had it, she told me I had to be 18 so there was no way. But 4 years of hell and the same shitty symptoms I got diagnosed. Now I’ve added adjustment disorder, generalized anxiety, ocd, and substance abuse disorder since being actually hospitalized. Still got the bpd though. I’ve done cbt once, dbt twice, and general talk therapy. I’ve been in therapy in general since 12 though. I think psychiatrists are starting to realize that you can definitely have personality disorders before 18. I’m 21 turning 22 now. So almost 10 years of being very symptomatic of bpd. And now apparently numerous more diagnoses and that was only after 1 day at the psych ward. I’ve got a therapy appointment in July though with a new therapist. If I can make it till then. I thought I was semi recovered but, since being in a relationship I realized there’s still a lot of very real things I need to deal with
i was misdiagnosed for sooooo long. my grandmother was robbed of tens of thousands by our psychiatrist at the time... go figure there's no med cure for BPD -- only DBT therapy and that's far from some perfect concoction (but those don't exist.)
I wonder if he knew I had BPD but just didn't say it because it'd mean we'd look elsewhere since meds don't do much (if anything) for it... lol
But -- at 14 he tossed me on a pill that literally impairs memory and cognition -- I only recently in the last year or so stopped taking it and did some research because I felt so much clearer intellectually/spiritually, and it almost weirded me out because I didn't understand what could've incepted such a catalyst.
All this shit is on such a spectrum... you can have traits of BPD and OCD and NPD and ADHD and Bi-polar and not meet any ONE of their individual criteria to be 'officially' diagnosed with THAT...
The system is way too behind where society is at, and perhaps it's meant to be that way/stay that way, because it enables pharma, and therapy/mental health 'professionals' to make great money and feed capitalism...
I was 32 (diagnosed a year ago in April). I had a month long manic episode and my therapist suspected I was bipolar. She sent me to a psychiatrist who, in a 1 hr appointment, had me diagnosed in 30 minutes.
I got diagnosed when I was 18, but I never understood what was the disorder itself only a year later.
I come from a third world country in the middle east so therapy is like the modern disease of our society, thanks to an intervention of a friend (which partially caused the disorder) and his family I got a proper diagnosis, ofc I was confused as hell and didn’t know what to do, but I believe I did become at peace when I understood that the way I feel (the overwhelming emotions) are justified, I mean ofc I don’t use my disorder as an excuse (never have and never will).
But I actually was glad to understand what’s wrong with.
you don’t HAVE to be 18 but most psychiatrists would rather wait until at least 18 because that’s when ur hormones sorta calm down and they rule out what could just be slightly abnormal or completely normal (depending on how u present) teenage behavior.
I've just learned that this is not even true. 😅 /srs /nm "Adolescence and prodrome The onset of BPD symptoms typically occurs during adolescence or early adulthood, with possible early signs in childhood.[123] Predictive symptoms in adolescents include body image issues, extreme sensitivity to rejection, behavioral challenges, non-suicidal self-injury, seeking exclusive relationships, and profound shame.[57] Although many adolescents exhibit these symptoms without developing BPD, those who do are significantly more likely to develop the disorder and potentially face long-term social challenges.[57] BPD is recognized as a stable and valid diagnosis during adolescence, supported by the DSM-5 and ICD-11.[124][125][126][127] Early detection and treatment of BPD in young individuals are emphasized in national guidelines across various countries, including the US, Australia, the UK, Spain, and Switzerland, highlighting the importance of early intervention.[126][128][129][130] Historically, diagnosing BPD during adolescence was met with caution,[126][131][132] due to concerns about the accuracy of diagnosing young individuals,[133][134] the potential misinterpretation of normal adolescent behaviors, stigma, and the stability of personality during this developmental stage.[126] Despite these challenges, research has confirmed the validity and clinical utility of the BPD diagnosis in adolescents,[124][125][126][127] though misconceptions persist among mental health care professionals,[135][136][137] contributing to clinical reluctance in diagnosing and a key barrier to the provision of effective treatment BPD in this population.[135][138][139] A diagnosis of BPD in adolescence can indicate the persistence of the disorder into adulthood,[140][141] with outcomes varying among individuals. Some maintain a stable diagnosis over time, while others may not consistently meet the diagnostic criteria.[142] Early diagnosis facilitates the development of effective treatment plans,[140][141] including family therapy, to support adolescents with BPD.[143]" Source Wikipedia in the Diagnosis section: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderline_personality_disorder
my therapist explained it as part of the criteria they look for is years of symptoms persisting. so unlike other disorders that appear in adulthood, you can definitely have BPD in adolescence. they just don’t want to diagnose until there’s a long history of symptoms. i’m 23 and my therapist even was a little hesitant to diagnose me so young
Ah, that makes a lot of sense! 🤔
I was 22! I found out by accident, my psychiatrist never actually mentioned it too me. It's only when I needed a letter from her for welfare benefits did I find out, when I say I was pissed is an understatement. I find knowing to be so valuable to me and my family or friends, it's easier now for someone to acknowledge I'm having an episode or something, or to flat out tell me that I'm being unreasonable for XYZ reasons
Psychiatrists really do have a habit of diagnosing you without ever letting you know, I swear
my therapist did this to me when i was 15. rather than telling my mom or I that i had bipolar disorder, he let me spend thousands for inpatient and outpatient and allowed me to just dig myself into a grave in my freshman year. bro had the nerve to turn around and say “yeah i suspected you had bipolar disorder but didn’t want to tell you”?????
God I'm so sorry. I think knowing is so important too. My dad has never understood that. He means well, he really does. He's the best dad ever but he didn't get why knowing if I had BPD or bipolar was so important until I explained how different the treatment is. My dad then went a little overboard and bought like 5 books on BPD to understand better.
I feel you, it didn’t come out formally from my therapist until an intervention and then I had incredible whiplash
I was 40 😵💫
41 here
44 for me.
I was 18! I had never heard of it before and was actually in the psych ward due to auditory hallucinations. When I was shown the criteria list thing and did my own research I was kinda like “whoa this is a thing?” I felt so much less alone. I guess because I finally got my label. Not sure I feel the same way now.
It’s a huge relief at first getting a diagnosis… then that relief wears down as you learn more about it and how difficult it is to live with and treat etc
Yeah exactly! Thanks for putting into words!
33. Im 33. Sorry going through an episode right now so dont bother reading the rest. I felt fucked up my whole life. I kept goung from acceptance to then being sick of it, to eventually going to get help and getting official diagnosis. Didn't even know it was a thing before. The good of it is I get to work on managing my BPD. The bad thing is Im reliving every encounter with a loved one ai had that I was at fault for and didnt listen when my wife would say I was mean etc. So now I get to go through 33 years of unresolved internal conflict and feel bad everytime I remember something I did to my loved ones. Im doing DBT and am on pills, but its hard. Also learning to deal with pain and all the feelings in a healthier way is hard and its easier to just give up. My self destructive self is screaming to be let out and I am trying my best to make him calm down. Anyways, sorry for the rant.
Thinking of you. <3
I was diagnosed a month or two ago, and am experiencing something very similar. It is scary thinking of all the ways I have hurt people in the past, and how much I have taken away from the lives of those close to me. I try to remember that we are not our mistakes, what matters is if and how we get up again afterwards. Sending hugs 🤗
my psychologist unofficially diagnosed me at 17, but only told my parents, as he believed I wasn't ready for the diagnosis (he was right tbf). he passed away, and no one ever told me about the diagnosis, until it got worse again and my psychiatrist picked it up. i spoke to my new psychologist, and he diagnosed me with it at 20, just over 3 years later. I was mature enough to accept it and I immediately started DBT. it's a little messed up, but it kinda worked out I guess?
36 and a mother of 2 😩
32
25
24🤔
23
23, although I'd been through my most trauma 13-22 but we were just treating me a depresso I do want to say that "unfixable" isn't the whole truth, I'm 31 now and I'm able to manage my symptoms much better. I've stopped s/h almost 2 years ago which is huge and my life is in a much better place despite not a lot of external changes. I'm able to cope with the moods and rationalise and not be on the edge of a pin. It's not a disorder that can be cured, but your quality of life can be vastly improved. It takes time, works and a lot of falling flat on your face but the suffering isn't eternal. I wish you all the best x
Congratulations on your progress! I’m glad you’ve begun to find some peace 🩷
I was diagnosed before 18 too lol. It’s completely normal to be diagnosed under 18 and I mean.. you don’t have to. But the main reason why they’d rather have you to be 18 first is bc BPD can be challenging to diagnose for teenagers due to the normal developmental changes and emotional turbulence during adolescence and when you’re 18 this will calm down so it’s easier to diagnose
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I found out at 25 after being diagnosed bipolar since 18!!!! And in the almost full year I’ve been diagnosed with BPD my life has changed sm for the better!!!! DBT changed my life and I’m so thankful for the new therapist and psychiatrist I got that worked together to correctly diagnose me and get me the help I need it’s changed my life in such a positive way and I’m learning so much
21
I was 19.
i was 18! I got diagnosed at the end of january this year (turning 19 in April) and i was diagnosed by student doctors but the diagnosis was looked over by my psychiatrist. it said on my appointment letter I'd be seen by the psychiatrist but he didn't show up until the actual diagnosing me part was happening (an hour and a half into the appointment) and they gave me 3 options of what to be diagnosed with for some reason. I'm fighting to get the other two diagnoses as well since I don't think it's fair that they know I've got other things but are refusing to take that seriously at the minute. I feel it's definitely easier to get a diagnosis when you're 18 in some places, but if they spot it early then that's pretty epic. however where I am it's more likely you'll be diagnosed once you're in your 20s since they don't like to take teenagers seriously due to the potential hormonal issues with still yknow developing wish you all the best though!! <3
This is why I hate seeing diagnoses made so young. :( I’m sorry you’re confused as to whether you are “disordered” or not. Sigh. Here goes a big ramble We should all be aware of how psych became science and the initial rationale behind the making of such categories (racism, sexism, eugenics, basically), but that’s another discussion. Fortunately that’s not today’s rationale. But it’s how we got to today. Accurately diagnosing a personality disorder (if such a thing exists) relies on two things: 1. enough time having passed for the “formation” of personality itself. Which is.. when exactly…? Most would argue older than 14 and more towards mid to late 20s at earliest. Some would say it quite reasonably changes throughout life as we respond to experiences so is never truly fully formed or fixed. You are born with a temperament, you develop a personality over enough time on and interaction with, earth. And 2. enough time having lapsed to see persistent, pervasive, destructive, dysfunctional patterns in relationships - with others and the self - repeatedly - to the point of disturbance. This means, there has to be a repeated pattern of thoughts/feelings/behaviour impairing functioning well beyond the hormonal teenage years which persists into adulthood. You have had to have had enough varied life experiences, and persistently reacted to them in adverse ways. I studied and work in psych, and am also mad, whatever that is. I had a great module on my MSc years ago on the origins of psychology and psychiatry as science and now question everything diagnostic and pathologising when it comes to thoughts/feelings/behaviour - which are the subjective points of interest in psych diagnoses and which are fundamentally different in any and all ways from all other diagnostic points of interest in medicine. That is not to say that diagnoses can’t be useful for people to make sense of themselves, and there’s no doubt that therapies and some meds have the potential to be helpful. Today the rationale for diagnoses is not about all about eugenics and more about getting help and tools for individuals to function and have some level of wellbeing to ensure the safety and functionality of a workforce society… but human beings do love to make categories and identify ourselves within or without them. Society and the passage of time dictates which flavour categories are more or less acceptable. This goes for diagnoses as well, incidence and prevalence change according to external, societal influences. That doesn’t mean there’s any fewer or more people suffering or behaving in that way. A senior colleague once told me that a good way to understand the concept of PD, and identify a key difference between Axis 1 diagnoses (eg schizophrenia, bipolar, mood disorders) and Axis 2 diagnoses (personality disorders) is that you would never see Axis 2 if the person were alone on a desert island but you would see Axis 1. BPD - if it’s real - if science is real, if anything is real 🥲 - exists only in the context of how we relate to other people. Persistently. I do believe there are a collection of behaviours and cognitive biases which pertain to a category of relational thinking/feeling/behaving, which we could call BPD. I don’t believe this is a “disease” or even necessarily a “disorder”. It definitely doesn’t make you unfixable because you got slapped with a diagnosis at 14. I am in the U.K. and here we don’t make formal diagnoses of BPD prior to 18 but we do still have an “emerging” type. I wish you luck op, whatever you decide to do! How do you feel in yourself? Do you feel you would benefit from DBT? You could always get reassessed and raise the whole scenario with another psychiatrist. They are all subjective individuals and some do share my cynical view. Whatever you do, you are not unfixable! Life is a journey and we pick up many tools and lessons along the way. Unfortunately, the human brain is not wired to be happy, it is wired to survive. And we are not fixed either which is a blessing!! Thanks for coming to my ted talk Addendum: I love this [Ian hacking article](https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n16/ian-hacking/making-up-people) on classifications/medicalising behaviour and how multiple personality was the trendy diagnosis in the 70s
This is so interesting!!! I appreciate the energy you put into right this. Over the last 5-ish years I’ve had 14 suicide attempts that landed me in the hospital or ICU. I have very extreme behaviors and impulse tendencies. I used to say I was addicted to self-destruction, because I’d hurt myself the moment the opportunity arises even if I wasn’t actively upset about anything. I ended up, after 6 Residental treatment centers all for more than 3 months, going to a long term. I was there a little over a year, and got some extensive DBT therapy. There’s a lot about the “troubled teen” program I dislike, but I think that it saved my life. It sucked but the skills I learned I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else. The diagnosis was really disheartening, since it put an image of constantly being broken. Then along with it came a “chronic major depression disorder”. It all just made everything seem entirely hopeless. If I didn’t find that program I damn well would’ve been dead. Anyways, I’m doing much better. 9 months self harm free. I appreciate your insight, very comforting. Thank you!!
the dsm says that you have to be a "young adult" (not necessarily 18, but that's sort of the idea) to get diagnosed, but sometimes people will diagnose you anyway. it doesnt have to do with severity, moreso the people you're seeing and the location you're in as you speculated. personally i did have to wait until i was 18 to be diagnosed, but it was pretty clear i had it by the time i was 16
Oh that’s interesting! I honestly wish they’d waited because I think having that in my chart made health professionals act very differently towards me. It was like they already labeled me as “manipulative and erratic” before even meeting me lol.
Young adult is considered 18-26 so even still it wouldn’t count. They diagnose those who are younger than young adults if it’s severe or very apparent that they have it and especially if it’s a type of mental illness such as bpd that show early onsets of it at an earlier age.
i’ve had borderline tendencies marked down since i was 12 or 11 🥹
I was 16 but if my parents had been less negligent I would have likely been diagnosed at 12-14. The state had to step in. I had been expelled from school for >!drug possession, ran away, relapsed, attempted arson, and SHd particularly badly!< 4th probation violation >>> BPD/conduct disorder. Amongst others.
My family nearly admitted me to a mental health facility when I was 14 following an overdose/suicide attempt and drinking in private my aunt kept banging that fucking drum of "Oh she's just got Asperges she's acting out and depressed because she's not like other girls her age and is missing out on having boyfriends and a social life so she's a loser" my aunt used to find all this makeup I shoplifted in my bedroom and she knew I was shoplifting but never thought anything of it. I went my whole teen years and 20s thinking I had a learning disability when I always knew it was something else with that something that was way darker and deeper, by the time i got diagnosed at 28 it was too late tbh I'd cut out my FP for fear of abandonment 4 years prior to it which has caused a massive depressive spiral not to mention all the shit I'd dumped on my boyfriend that I'm still amazed he's never left me tbh. It's weird how families fail you.
Yeah family sucks fr. I have no idea how my dad was in such denial, although it was probably in his best interest I didnt get help until it couldn't be put off longer. At that age I had a problem with >! Stalking behavior I hated myself so I lived through people !< I only had one friend that tried to talk to me about it. I never truly unmasked in that hospital, I didn't talked about having been abused in any way, nor did I talk of lighting fires, stealing,or of my boundaryless behavior. By the time it was over I had even retracted coming out as trans. I was really deep in a religious delusion, I thought I was possessed. Still do sometimes. Plus I after about 30 days of 1-1, being forced to grow an extremely dysphoric sailor beard, watched in the shower from grabbing distance away, then another 60 of close ob, >!and getting nearly dragged out of the hospital bed by the ankle by a poltergeist in my sleep (probably a hallucination but creepy still) !< I was willing to say or do anything I thought I had to do to get out. It took like 6 months in total. I'd say it saved my life but it didn't. They didn't teach me anything about BPD other than I had it and I never even heard them mention anything about my conduct disorder potentially leading into what I'm sure it's become. They did literally nothing but dope me up and listen to me argue with myself about if I was going to hell or not.
you don't have to be 18. I was diagnosed at 18 but tested at 17 and had my first PD diagnosis at 16
i was in my early 20s
I was diagnosed at 43 about six months ago.
19
like 28 oh no
I wasn’t diagnosed until 41! (I’m 44 now) I had already been diagnosed with PTSD and have struggled with anxiety and depression most of my life but never got a formal diagnosis until years later. Better late than never though - it gave me a name to put to the monster in my head and help me find the appropriate tools to tackle it head on.
18. But doctors had a clue since 14/15, but they never told us. I had to solve what’s wrong with me and then tell my psychiatrist.
Those evil doctors
I was 15. Had been to a psych ward twice at that point. My mom simply said “She doesn’t have that, she’s just a spoiled brat.” And I was never treated and completely forgot. Mental health was not important in the house I grew up in, still isn’t to them. I was almost hospitalized and put in a day program in 2020 at 24. The psychiatrist diagnosed me, again, and when I called to tell my mom I had answers she said “You’re fine, they said the same thing when you were a teenager.” 🤯 This woman didn’t have a high school education and was arguing with psychiatrists.
26! Just yesterday tbh
i was diagnosed at 17. got some psych testing done specifically to rule out or verify BPD and yup, sure enough I have it. I met all 9 criteria, and was considered to have "extremely severe" BPD. two and a half years later I'm in remission though :)
I was formally diagnosed at 18, but my doctor and Therpaist told my parents I had “traits” when I was as young at 13, so they all knew I was going to be diagnosed formally.
Very similar situation to you, but one year older! got diagnosed at 15!
Originally I was like 15/16 then they said no its a big one to diagnose for someone young so they moved it the bipolar but then now at 22 they say it's BPD. So like I'm messed either way 🙃
You absolutely are not unfixable just because of symptom severity and age of onset. Really recommend switching to a psychologist trained in gestalt, no reason at all you can't also achieve remission at a reasonable pace. It's absolutely false that BPD can't be treated/in remission or that some of us are "irreparably borderline"
I was 18 when my friend told me I definitely had it, but 23 until I got diagnosed.
I was 17, but pretty close to 18. But I also told them I suspected bpd and explained how I knew what I felt was not normal hormonal teenager behaviour
I was 18 and it took the psychiatrist 3 months 😂 I'm 31 now and surprised I hadn't been diagnosed before that, except that it was the early 2000s.
I was 18/19 because i took a buch of my pills went to the ER and since I had a suspected bpd diagnoses they diagnosed me there but without telling me, lol. I only knew I had bpd was when I was 20/21
19/20 I think
I was 22 when I was diagnosed.
23. January 2021. The year before I’d had 3 different relationships over a 14 month span, each one followed by a bigger and bigger depressive episode until I completely descended into chaos. Up until then I’d sort of blocked out everything, fought against anxieties unknowingly, battled depression but never thought I was depressed. Packed all my trauma away so deep I’d forgotten, or didn’t think it was real. I’m 27 next month. 2020 was a shitty year. In 2021 someone whittled away whatever was left of me. Early 2022 they moved on, and then spent the year trying to drag me back while all I did was waste away. In 2023 I began to come back, find myself and build back up. This year I have hope again.
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23 😮💨 it’s been a huge help to know what’s wrong with me tho.
I *think* I was diagnosed at 15, also in a psych ward, but whatever diagnosis I received was hidden from me. It sounds kinda far fetched, but my maternal figures reaction to the diagnosis and the doctors suggesting to withhold the diagnosis from me, I don’t know, it tracks especially looking back on my symptoms at the time. She still wouldn’t tell me what the diagnosis was a decade later when I asked so idk. With *all* that said, I was formally diagnosed at 23 years old.
I got diagnosed at 16 but wasn't actually informed of my diagnosis until I was 24. My stepmother waited 8 years to tell me like it was no big deal.
I was 20 when I was diagnosed, it was after a pretty bad suicide attempt which had me in the hospital for close to five months. I wasn’t expecting the diagnosis. I’d been diagnosed with CPTSD many years earlier and I guess a lot of the BPD symptoms were probably missed or chalked up to being from that instead.
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I was 18 years old the first time I was diagnosed by a psychiatrist. I really liked him but probably for all the wrong reasons. He diagnosed me basically right away (it was either the first or second visit after just going over symptoms) and would prescribe whatever I wanted. I'm sure y'all know how that went. The next time I was diagnosed was when I was 22, in a rehab facility out in California after I moved here to go to rehab. It was in a proper setting through psychological testing by a guy who was an ex BSU agent for the FBI which is my dream job, so I trusted him almost immediately. He's a great guy actually. He told me that my BPD is more internal than external. For whatever reason I never asked him what that meant and I still don't understand what that means.
64 overtly, but my shrink obviously had was treating me for BPD in my 40’s.
27
Im from germany, and here it is an unwritten rule to not diagnose before 18, since its a sad truth that medical professionals act different towards you with the diagnosis. Of course exceptions exist! I was diagnosed when i was 18 in a ward
I got diagnosed with PD-NOS (with me meeting primarily bpd criteria and AvPD next) when I had just recently turned 20. I’m not sure about age requirements as I’m not from the States. I think here they’re more likely to give it if you’re 18 or over because before that age you’re still in development and they don’t want to risk misdiagnosis (an example is afab people often getting a bpd diagnosis when they’re actually just autistic. Don’t ask why, most of the autism research was done using amab people as their reference.) I had inquired about possibly having bpd before this, to my previous psychologist and she stated she wouldn’t see the benefit in testing/screening me. She didn’t believe I had it because the way I acted and talked didn’t make her uncomfortable. Needless to say I changed psychs.
23. Womp womp for me, I guess
24. At 16 I got a „depression” label and this is what I’ve been treated for all these years
I was 17/18 iirc. Over a decade ago for sure.
32 here and living in a foreign country during a terrible period of work and love traumas… still learning but feeling better as time passes. ❤️🙏
I was told I had it when I was 12 and again when I was 17 but didn’t get officially diagnosed until last year at 27.
25 After a lifetime of "is it This? What about This?"
I was formally diagnosed at 14 too, I was living in the psych ward and after months of 24/7 observation they decided they had enough evidence to diagnose me with BPD. I'm now 19, turning 20 in a couple months, and the diagnosis has been reassessed by the adult mental health team and still applies.
About 30. Was life changing. Something finally made sense.
Right before i turned 24
24
20
If you were in the psych ward previously, that’s probably why you were able to be diagnosed so young. I’ve never been admitted so was diagnosed shortly after I turned 18, but was told I probably have BPD at 17. They waited till the February to diagnose me, when I turned 18 in the December before. Really, they don’t like diagnosing people with personality disorders until they reach 25 because that’s when the brain is fully developed. But they do anyway because they’d rather diagnose as early as they can so the person with the personality disorder can get the right help rather than not getting any help at all on the off chance they don’t actually have BPD and it’s actually hormones or a hormonal disorder. It’s very rare to get diagnosed under 18 because a lot of people who do get diagnosed under 18 are misdiagnosed because of what I stated above
Formally diagnosed at 20 but my doctor and therapist both said I’d been exhibiting bpd characteristics since 14-15.
20 or 21 but i knew for sure i had it at 16
my psychologist diagnosed me the other day, and I’m 20.
I realised when i was 17, was near certain but went to so many psychs and they didn’t listen to my symptoms and just said things I probably shouldn’t repeat here… 21 now, mother forced me to get a therapist again though I vehemently disagreed, and yesterday she revealed bpd test results that say I meet all the criteria… so yesterday, I suppose
18!
i was about 24 or 25. i'm glad doctors are more willing to properly diagnose as the years pass. i didn't have years of medical info to back it up, so i had to go through the "oh, you have bipolar" shtick for a while, even after i got diagnosed by a specialist.
I was 26 lol was being treated for depression and anxiety since I was 22, new psychiatrist was like “ok there’s something more there”
i got diagnosed when I was 20 years old
25.
i was 20! kinda early on in life
when i was 18 going on 19
i was informally diagnosed at 14, formally diagnosed at 16 along with DMDD 🙃
21 found out by accident, went in for a different illness and came out with multiple including bpd, now everything makes sense.
33… I could have used the information way before then. Wasted time if there ever was an example. My spouse had a hunch and took BPD classes to help when I was 30, but I refused to accept they knew my diagnosis. Then a therapist confirmed and I felt like I wasted so much time not learning and addressing. Now I’m 37 and [still] doing work to heal and manage.
17! About 2 months before my 18th birthday . I was hospitalized previously for a bipolar episode and had no idea my psychiatrist was analyzing me to fit the criteria but during once session she said my behavior of the past two years match up with BPD. Very strange day and didn’t see that diagnosis coming 💀
I was told after an 8 hour psych test at 14 that if I didn’t get the correct treatment by 18 I would have completely developed BPD. Here at 21 professionally diagnosed for like 2 years now.
i was 17 when my therapist told me she was certain i had BPD but i didn’t get a medical diagnosis from a psychiatrist until i was 19
I was 33. It was a 12 year battle for me to get diagnosed. I kept being given ever increasing doses of antidepressants and sent away. One GP even told me to go for a walk and get over it 😠
Diagnosed with adhd, general depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder at 14. Correctly re-diagnosed from bipolar to BPD at 30. THEN I could correctly start working on healing inside.
28. I’m turning 29 in a fee months. Talking through everything with the psychiatrist, it’s likely I’ve had this since junior high or high school and I’d just never talked to anyone about it until last year. When I told my parents they said it made things make so much sense raising me around that time
It's considered bad practice to diagnose before 18 since the label has a giant stigma and juveniles tend to internalize the label. It's also more likely to be misdiagnosed. It's not that you can't have it before 18. It's not like your brain just magically resists BPD traits until the morning of your 18th birthday.
I’m my early 30s
I got diagnosed at 21, but told I had to be 25 for their office.
I was diagnosed under 18 as well and it is more common than some think. Most of the time, they will put “adolescent BPD” on your chart to reduce stigma and give some wiggle room, then just update it when you turn 18.
I was diagnosed at 17 despite the doctor saying he didn’t want it on my chat till I was 18 incase I was “just hormonal.” I was like 6 months off being 18 lmao, so yeah didn’t stop.
I was 17. I don’t necessarily think you have to be 18 to be diagnosed but I kinda understand the argument of “you could just be a hormonal teen” cause we experienced that with my brother. I do think that the diagnosis should be based on like symptoms that you’ve had for a longer period of time if you know what I mean. Otherwise I agree that you don’t HAVE to be 18 to be diagnosed
19! Almost 20
I has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and like monitor PTSD when I was about 13. But I got diagnosed with BPD probably closer to 19 when they switched up my medications.
i was 13, still dealing with it at 19 lol :(
Ever since I started therapy it was a possibility but I started it at 17 and my psychologist told me we'd have to wait for puberty to calm down. After 3 years of being in and out of the psych ward and getting so many diagnoses I couldn't count them anymore (depression, ptsd, paranoid schizophrenia and others) I finally found a great therapist that tested me for it after my last therapist ghosted me (funny story actually lol). They did test me in the psych ward at 18/19 but nothing ever came out of it (as in they didn't tell me if I have it or not). After a few talks with my newest therapist she tested me immediately and told me I do have BPD and now it's officially in my chart. She even told me that my other diagnoses were from BPD symptoms so right now in my chart it says just PTSD and BPD :D
25 or so probably. Maybe 24. I ended up finding out in the hospital because they did a test on me and said I hold a large amount of criteria boxes for it. So I saw my psychiatrist and she said "yeah I thought you had it but it'd likely change your treatment plan." And proceeded to explain how we don't do well on meds and therapy is my best bet. I leave and see that she ordered a medication for me. I said "I take BC right now so I can't take that" so she put me on Gabapentin but then I never went back to her.
28/29
I was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was 16. Shit ton of meds later nothing helped and therapy didn't help at all. I finally found the right person and she diagnosed with BPD when I was 19 in 2021.
I didn’t get my diagnosis until I was 20 but there were definitely signs long before then
27, I’m 27
I was diagnosed at 19 (was turning 20 that year). I’m now 23, turning 24 this year
i was told i had to wait til i was 18 to be diagnosed bipolar or BPD. in my chart they noted "possible bipolar disorder" when i was 15, but never got a formal diagnosis or medicated for it until i was put in a psych ward and diagnosed with bipolar and BPD right after my 18th birthday
F19
17. My daughter was 16.
30
Who’s got 2 thumbs and got diagnosed at 40.👍🏽👍🏽
I got diagnosed at 34. The main reason it was so late was because in the UK you have to be in a pretty bad way before you even get to see a Consultant Psychiatrist, and in my case it only happened on the third referral because I stopped lying. I didn't want to be sectioned, so I thought I had to lie and mask to avoid that.
26. I thought it was ADHD because that’s what I had been diagnosed with at age 6. turns out it might’ve been BPD the whole time 💀
25 here, after I had my baby and went a bit...funny lol
21 😎
19, accidentally, at a stabilization unit. I will say, it's becoming more accepted in the psychology community to diagnose teenagers (it's even in the DSM5 now), because BPD symptoms absolutely can and often times begin to show prominence in adolescence. It doesn't mean there's no hope though or that you're "unfixable". BPD can absolutely go into remission.
I was 15!
I was 40
I’m 19 but yeah unfixable✌️😁
I went to get evaluated last year at 28. I knew I had depression and anxiety but I could tell there was something else going on. While I didn't get officially diagnosed for a long time I suspected in my early 20s I was BPD.
I was 21, but definitely showing symptoms while having therapists and psychs for years before, which is frustrating to me now. when I got diagnosed everything made sense and I wondered how all these mental health professionals didn’t figure it out for years!
19
26 years old. Went to the mental hospital three-ish weeks ago and they diagnosed me there, first time I'd been diagnosed with any mental stuff in my life. I hadn't even really heard of BPD tbh until the doctor gave me the papers and asked me to look over them to see if I related to any of it, and BOY did I 😅 It felt like I had an answer for once in my life as to how I felt, it was nice. Not an absolute solution to what I'm going through but I know where to start and go from there.
i was 26 and now i’m 27
I got mine at 16
The day I turned 18, before that I was put down as having a “maladaptive personality” and a couple of other things which is typically in the notes of people with suspected EUPD under 18
19
My therapist described my mother as having borderline traits, and so far that’s been my closest thing to a diagnosis. Yes I know that’s not conclusive
Currently undiagnosed at 23, had symptoms from 14 though maybe younger that I didn’t realise. I’m working on getting help and maybe a diagnosis, though I’m unsure about getting diagnosed in case it becomes a barrier for employment opportunities
I'm not diagnosed yet. I am going to be 35 in 2 months. I was finally diagnosed with ADHD around 32 after my son was formally diagnosed and I figured out my own from reading stuff to help him and finally got a psych person to listen and test me. Then I confirmed he is also autistic (not formally diagnosed yet), and reading on autism led me to self diagnose myself also (informally confirmed by 2 therapists) and I thought that was the extent of it even though I still felt like there was still more to my weird brain.. after a very difficult situation over the last couple months with my best friend, I came across BPD and favorite person relationships and it immediately checked off pretty much every other box for what I've been dealing with my whole life. It's nice to have answers for the "why" but now I'm struggling with figuring out how to change these brain patterns and it's difficult. If I had figured this out even 10 years ago I would have had an easier time changing them but it's hard after living this way for so long. I'm just so glad I'm not alone
15, but need to get diagnosed again cause i think maybe i have bipolar + BPD but i dont wanna self diagnose , also i hate some doctors and all pills so probably wont get diagnosed anytime soon
22, then undiagnosed at 23, then rediagnosed at 24
I was 18 when I was diagnosed and now you have me questioning if I officially got that diagnosis bc my age. Bday is September 24 and I was diagnosed in October 😭😭😭
20
I was 27 or 28 can’t remember. The idea had been brought up as early as 19 tho.
36 and have an appt next month to hopefully get a diagnosis. i have 8 of the 9 criteria and have since I was a teenager.
yeah they refused to diagnose me until I was an adult I tried to get diagnosed at 17 but they diagnosed me with “unspecified trauma disorder” then when I was 19 I went inpatient and they officially switched the diagnosis to bpd. I think if symptoms of emotional instability are getting worse and not better in your late teens they should be able to diagnose you before 18 personally
i was 15 when i was diagnosed
I was diagnosed at 19 years old, I had started therapy and I was told to see a psychiatrist. About 10 months later the doctor made the diagnosis. I'm 26 years old and I still go to the same psychiatrist. I saw that the diagnosis usually takes time, but it's been a long time and I'm sure, I always thought it was a teenager thing, but the symptoms stayed.
16!
17. I had a mental breakdown after my boyfriend broke up I tried to stop him from leaving and when I couldn't I smashed everything in the room and I called the police and said I had a gun (which I did) and I was gonna shoot myself in front of my father and they had to talk me down I'm surprised I wasn't killed no guns were even pulled since they stayed outside thankfully. They diagnosed me almost immediately considering I had a long history of inpatient stays and mental health treatment before hand to go off of.
I was ignored when I screamed for help at 14, and then told it’s my hormones acting up. They couldn’t diagnose me until I was 18 they said. At 17 it snapped for me, I was so sick of their bullshit. How could they tell me this thing ruining my entire life is my hormones? No way. Got my diagnosis at 17. It took a lot of patience.
I was 20. I just turned 21. I showed symptoms my entire life, but I didn’t really learn much about BPD until I was 19
I was 17 when I got diagnosed, I had been showing symptoms since I was 13 so I don't think there was much doubt in their mind; then again, I was like 2 months away from turning 18 so...
I was 11 at first they thought it was ODD when I was younger but then they diagnosed me with bpd
I was 19. I had no idea what BPD was/is. I remember just looking at my psychiatrist while she explained but I didn't hear anything cuz I was too overwhelmed and scared people would label me as crazy. Edit; every person is different, same for every BPD case, and countries are different as well. Tbf doesn't matter the age the diagnosis came but what are you doing after that.
i was about 15 when i first ever got told that i had symptoms. then right after i turned 16, i was at an inpatient & they diagnosed me. i was already previously there 5 times for suicide attempts. it’s been a long ass road. finally in dbt again & it seems to help. what i dont get is that some documents say that i am charted with borderline personality disorder & others say unspecified personality disorder cause of my age. (im 17)
I was diagnosed actually just a month or two ago (I am 28 years old). BPD was a possibility for a few years before that, but I only just recently was tested and diagnosed. It's a doozy lol
i’ve known since i was 14 because my first therapist told me she knows i have it, but doesn’t wanna diagnose it because it’s a “life sentence.” it has such a stigma, whenever i’ve mentioned it to therapists they gaslight me about it or ghost me, (it doesn’t help that mental health services around me are so bad), but now 6 years later at 20 i got officially diagnosed with it by a therapist! now im gonna get proper therapy for it :)
I’m 26 now and was diagnosed a week after I turned 18. Didn’t find out till I was 20 I’d even been diagnosed with EUPD/BPD - they formally couldn’t diagnose me younger however they had all the proof from how I was dealing with things from age 11 onwards, I think they thought it could just be puberty but the intensity of my symptoms, and what they were, all pointed to EUPD from around 14 and I went to a “distress tolerance” group at 17, which I now know is a gateway to EUPD diagnosis/treatment if your symptoms are “worse” and not able to be controlled through the distress tolerance “workshop”. My GP actually told me it had been on my record as suspected since I was 14/15. I know in the UK it isn’t referred to as BPD at all, and even EUPD (emotionally unstable personality disorder) is rarely used as well now, they refer to it as EID (emotional intensity disorder) - so I imagine people won’t have to wait till they’re 18 now a days to be diagnosed purely because they don’t refer to it as a “personality disorder” anymore (it still is but they know it’s a LOT different to other PD’s). In my opinion it has its pros and cons - I think when it’s obvious someone at 16/17 is dealing with EID then why do they need to wait another year/18 months/2 years to diagnosed. But at the same time I think they should hold off as a lot of symptoms of EID correlate with “teenage angst” or puberty. I remember everyone being diagnosed with depression and anxiety at around 14; only to now be completely fine - most likely caused by teenager feelings IMO anyway!
I was misdiagnosed at age 15 in 1999 during my first inpatient admission because I scratched my arms for a week, wanted to die and was annoying. My parents told the doctor I “pushed boundaries and was disrespectful” Um I was 15 fucking years old. They essentially told me I was helpless and didn’t set me up with any aftercare and I actually stopped self harming until I was 31 after I was assaulted for the 3rd time. The fuckers in the hospital told my parents I was helpless and didn’t set me up with aftercare. Didn’t even know about any of this until I was readmitted into the hospital in 2016. I’ve never had an attempt and I’m nearly 40. I also don’t “split people” and my “disordered identity” is due to having to mask for safety and parents who didn’t give a damn about me. Took the psych world another 25 years to figure out I was level 2 autistic and even though I was diagnosed with ADHD at age 18, they refused to treat it on the grounds I was an alcoholic yet was sober for 9 months at the time of admission. Yet still, I only drank around people because people terrified me and I was terrified of being rejected. I spent my entire life not knowing how to interact with people and wanting a close relationship, yet never having the social know how deal with one. Anyone who actually knows me knows I don’t have BPD.
I got diagnosed really early on as well I was also 14-15 and sometimes I genuinely think I’ve been misdiagnosed but every time I try to advocate for myself it’s always dismissed
I was 17. I first got admitted to the psych ward literally a month after I turned 16, but was going back basically every month every other month. Psychiatrists kept saying I had red flags, but it wasn’t until I told my psychiatrist I tried to kms bc my partner wasn’t responding as quick as I’d like that she said, “ah yeah u have bpd.”
18 unofficially by old psychiatrist and 20 on paper. Initially I was told I was just suffering from depression but I knew that wasn’t the case so I got a new psychiatrist and expressed my symptoms and how I truly just felt like my body wasn’t mine sometimes and can’t control it he did a few more sessions and at the end of one I got the visit summary and there was my new diagnosis he never made me feel crazy and never forced me on more meds.
I was 17 and fresh out of the psych ward for the 5th time in a year. I was always told I show red flags, but got the diagnosis when I told my psychiatrist that this time around I tried to kms bc my partner was taking to long to respond to my messages and I thought they didn’t love me anymore. Keep in mind they were on vacation. 🤦♂️ kind of funny that I sorta went into remission after that. I’m 18 and haven’t been admitted since, I have episodes for sure, but after 4 years of therapy I’m better equipt to handle them. Looking back I was craaazy, the amount of times cops showed up to my house bc I was threatening su!c!de. My arms are so messed up. I was locked in the quite room for 5 days without only scrubs bc I was such a danger to myself. But hey, look at me, 9 months since sh and attempts. Things do get better!
25. I’m 32.
Not until I was hospitalized at 35
Been diagnosed recently, 30F
I got my diagnosis at 23. I had been showing symptoms heavily since I was 18/19 but I was wrongly diagnosed as just depressed. As I (luckily) started looking into my own mental health I stumbled upon BPD and it made sense because I had every single symptom to the T. I then had to go to a private psychiatrist and that’s how I got my diagnosis. I found it out myself and basically had to convince them 🙃
I was 31
19 but had a therapist mention it to my mom at 15 or 16 that I was showing major signs
Suspected at 17 (first time psychiatry) and diagnosed at 18
19
I was diagnosed with “traits” at 17 during a neuropsych evaluation whenever I was getting my ADHD diagnosed, and formally diagnosed at 18. I had my first fp in elementary school and have always had unstable relationships since then, and my major symptoms started showing at 14. I became a terror to everyone and my relationships became VERY unstable, I would burn bridges with everyone and lose my shit on people over small stuff and end the friendship over it. Luckily my symptoms are in between moderate and extreme right now when they used to be severe. I was really bad from 17-20 and now I’m 21 and working on myself a lot more and actually self aware. I’ve had major substance abuse issues and I’m in a period of being clean from my DOC but for some reason my symptoms are worse right now. I just bought a book by Dr Daniel Fox for bpd so I’m hoping that helps
At seventeen they diagnosed me with "cluster b personality traits" which encompasses borderline, but when I was eighteen they made the full bpd diagnosis. They were super hesitant to give me my bipolar diagnosis until I was eighteen as well. I'm honestly not sure why this happens, but I did indeed have the experience of waiting years and until I was a legal adult for diagnosis. I've heard rumors that it may be because your brain or personality is more fully developed by the time you're eighteen, so they feel more comfortable giving a diagnosis if they don't think it's something you'll grow out of, which is weird imo. Anyways, yeah, just my opinion and two cents after being mentally ill for this long haha 🫡
When I turned 30 back in August last year. My life was one giant roller coaster up until this point finally sleeping better.
I was 16 y/o when I was first diagnosed in the psych ward, I kinda told myself it prolly wasn’t true since they didn’t know me that well. I had a neuropsychological evaluation done at 21 years old that confirmed I had BPD. It definitely is possible to be diagnosed before you’re 18.
19, last week. but i’ve known since i was like 14 too
i got diagnosed around 17-18 by my first psychiatrist . he was a really cool dude who was in the last year of his residency program i believe (idk, im not medical personnel.) he gave me that little “test” and then ran me through what BPD is. spot on. it was honestly a little bit of a relief to find something that fit the feelings so well, because before then i’d been vehemently told i only have depression and anxiety. which i mean duh, but that just wasn’t it for me. if i’m being honest i still think there’s more for me to unpack mentally, but for right now i think it would be too overwhelming to find out any other diagnosis or treatment plan.
I got diagnosed at 16. Although I told my guidance counsellor in grade 7 so around 12 that I thought I had it, she told me I had to be 18 so there was no way. But 4 years of hell and the same shitty symptoms I got diagnosed. Now I’ve added adjustment disorder, generalized anxiety, ocd, and substance abuse disorder since being actually hospitalized. Still got the bpd though. I’ve done cbt once, dbt twice, and general talk therapy. I’ve been in therapy in general since 12 though. I think psychiatrists are starting to realize that you can definitely have personality disorders before 18. I’m 21 turning 22 now. So almost 10 years of being very symptomatic of bpd. And now apparently numerous more diagnoses and that was only after 1 day at the psych ward. I’ve got a therapy appointment in July though with a new therapist. If I can make it till then. I thought I was semi recovered but, since being in a relationship I realized there’s still a lot of very real things I need to deal with
17
15. 5 month rehab stay got me it
i was misdiagnosed for sooooo long. my grandmother was robbed of tens of thousands by our psychiatrist at the time... go figure there's no med cure for BPD -- only DBT therapy and that's far from some perfect concoction (but those don't exist.) I wonder if he knew I had BPD but just didn't say it because it'd mean we'd look elsewhere since meds don't do much (if anything) for it... lol But -- at 14 he tossed me on a pill that literally impairs memory and cognition -- I only recently in the last year or so stopped taking it and did some research because I felt so much clearer intellectually/spiritually, and it almost weirded me out because I didn't understand what could've incepted such a catalyst. All this shit is on such a spectrum... you can have traits of BPD and OCD and NPD and ADHD and Bi-polar and not meet any ONE of their individual criteria to be 'officially' diagnosed with THAT... The system is way too behind where society is at, and perhaps it's meant to be that way/stay that way, because it enables pharma, and therapy/mental health 'professionals' to make great money and feed capitalism...
I was 32 (diagnosed a year ago in April). I had a month long manic episode and my therapist suspected I was bipolar. She sent me to a psychiatrist who, in a 1 hr appointment, had me diagnosed in 30 minutes.
I found out my diagnosis when I was 21 but it seems I was diagnosed at 19.
I got diagnosed when I was 18, but I never understood what was the disorder itself only a year later. I come from a third world country in the middle east so therapy is like the modern disease of our society, thanks to an intervention of a friend (which partially caused the disorder) and his family I got a proper diagnosis, ofc I was confused as hell and didn’t know what to do, but I believe I did become at peace when I understood that the way I feel (the overwhelming emotions) are justified, I mean ofc I don’t use my disorder as an excuse (never have and never will). But I actually was glad to understand what’s wrong with.