• Dealing with BPD

    Top 30 Q+A’s To Help You Understand BPD (For Loved Ones)

    Understand BPD: FAQs

    In this post, I’m going to answer the top 30 questions searched online that can help a loved one, friend, mentor, coworker, etc. better understand BPD. If you’re new here, my name is Audrey Harper and I was diagnosed with BPD in 2019. I created BPD Beautiful shortly after to document my treatment and BPD recovery progress. After struggling with BPD for over 2 decades, I’m currently in remission and do not meet diagnostic criteria. My hope is that this post will help spread BPD awareness and help you – a loved one of someone with BPD, more effectively deal with the condition and be a better support person.

    Without further ado, here are 30 questions and answers to help you understand BPD; written from the perspective of someone who was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and successfully treated it.

  • Q+As

    Understanding BPD: Finding the Light at the End of the Tunnel (Q+A)

    Seasoned mental health professional Jaymi Dormaier hosted a seminar about the separate myths, facts, signs, BPD symptoms, causes and treatment options of the often misunderstood diagnosis known as borderline personality disorder. 

    “Borderline personality disorder is diagnosed on the basis of a pervasive pattern of instability, of intrapersonal relationships, self image and affects,” said Dormaier, who is a licensed master social worker, during her Sept. 12 Eventbrite seminar titled “Understanding BPD.” 

  • Other Relationships

    A Guide to Favorite Person Relationships (for BPD)

    All You Need to Know About a ‘BPD Favorite Person’

    People with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) often struggle to form and maintain meaningful relationships. In many cases, they may develop an intense attachment to one person in particular, known as a favorite person (or FP). This is a complex relationship that can be incredibly rewarding and yet full of difficulty for both the BPD individual and their favorite person.

    In this blog post, we will explore what it means to have a favorite person relationship for those living with BPD and their loved ones. We’ll look at signs of splitting on a favorite person, how to manage challenging behaviors in these relationships, and tips for developing healthier coping strategies when dealing with difficult emotions connected to your favorite person as well as tips for the person with BPD’s loved ones. By understanding the unique dynamics of favorite person relationships, you can work together towards creating a more secure connection built on trust and respect.

  • Dealing with BPD

    How to Make Plans Without Triggering Your Partner with BPD

    saying no to someone with borderline personality disorder living with someone with bpd bpd spouse (decorative image of house at night)

    A Common BPD Trigger Seen in Borderline Personality Disorder Relationships

    If you’re new here, I’m Audrey: a mom, wife and blogger formerly diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. My goal for this blog is to help raise BPD awareness, dispel common BPD myths and help other people with BPD and their BPD relationships. This post touches on a common BPD trigger and is written for both people with BPD and their partners. So you can easily share this post with your partner and go over it together.

    A trait of healthy relationships is spending time apart—either alone or with friends. However, going out without your BPD spouse or partner can be a huge trigger for some. Like saying no to someone with borderline personality disorder, leaving someone with BPD alone can lead to intense emotional responses or blow up fights. This isn’t because the person with BPD wants to be difficult. It’s because of their fear of abandonment.

    Even though I’ve been in therapy for over a decade and I, as of 2022, do not meet the criteria for a BPD diagnosis (after suffering with untreated BPD for 17 years), the trigger of having my husband make plans without me has only significantly improved in the last year. This was such a debilitating trigger for me for the longest time, with every single partner I had. Simply being aware of the trigger wasn’t enough to stop the feelings that ate at my core and it wasn’t enough to keep me from reacting.

    Something else had to be done.

  • Love Life

    BPD Relationships: 12 Key Differences Between Toxic Relationships + Healthy Relationships

    bpd-relationships-bpd-blog-borderline-personality-disorder-relationship

    Being in a Relationship with Someone who has BPD

    BPD relationships (borderline personality disorder) tend to be intense. Oftentimes a relationship with someone who has BPD is compared to being on a rollercoaster. A ride full of extreme highs and lows, twists, turns and loops. If you’re in a relationship with someone who has borderline personality disorder it may be the most passionate but also the most complex relationship you’ve ever been in. 

    If you’re in a relationship with someone who has borderline personality disorder, you may already know that BPD causes an overwhelming fear of abandonment. After this ingrained fear has been triggered, people with BPD may make frantic efforts to avoid facing the trigger or they may act out in a rage. 

  • Living With BPD

    What Happens During a BPD Episode: Borderline Thoughts & Feelings Recorded

    bpd episode bpd triggers what bpd splitting

    Trigger Warning: Suicide, perceived abandonment, hopelessness, negative self-talk, rejection, forever alone, self-sabotage. Read at your own discretion.

    Disclaimer: I’m not a mental health professional. My experience with borderline personality disorder, triggers or symptoms do not necessarily reflect another person with BPD’s experience, triggers or symptoms. Post may include affiliate links or sponsorships at no extra cost to you.

    If you’re new to BPD Beautiful, I’m Audrey Harper and I have borderline personality disorder (“BPD”). This is my Emotional Wellness and BPD Blog where I document my BPD recovery. I’m publishing this post in hopes to help loved ones and caregivers understand BPD and to spread BPD awareness. People with BPD are often labelled as dramatic, attention seeking or crazy. While it may look that way from the outside sometimes, what’s going on inside is A LOT more complex. What people with BPD need—especially during a BPD episode, is patience, validation, support and reassurance.

    What Causes a BPD Episode

    In my case—a BPD episode usually happens after my fear of abandonment or fear of rejection are either triggered by…

    • An outside stimulus: an innocent joke taken the wrong way or being left out of a conversation my BPD brain deems important (even if it’s really not when I think about it later, logically).
    • My own distorted thought processes: obsessing over a stressor before it even happens, reliving a traumatic or upsetting memory that causes me to “split” (the infamous BPD splitting).  

    BPD episodes (for me at least) are usually started by the former and drawn out by the ladder. They can last anywhere from a couple minutes to several hours.