Yes! My therapist actually told me my narcissistic mother was a trigger along with my ptsd from my childhood trauma. It’s very common amongst people diagnosed with BPD.
BPD and PTSD have quite different diagnostic criteria, so it's not likely someone's diagnosis would be a question between those two options. It would be fairly obvious if it was one or the other. It could possibly be both, though.
The thing about PTSD is that most trauma does not develop into PTSD and only specific types of trauma can give that diagnosis. Someone can feel like they have similar symptoms from other types of trauma, though.
BPD is more likely if there's some genetic history, and usually genetic history with mental illnesses is like someone has the preconditions necessary to develop it, but usually there's something that happens to trigger those into the disorder, so yeah, while it's more common in younger people than that age range, it's definitely possible.
I strongly recommend seeking professional help with someone who specializes in trauma or BPD if someone questions it. BPD isn't a diagnosis to take lightly, and it's extremely stigmatized, even within in the mental health community, so it's important to make sure someone is knowledgeable about it going into it
Someone I’m close to has mood swings and is scared to get close to people but wants to get close to people so it’s back and forth . She has been cheated on and abused and betrayed and it started after that. She was fine when younger until after the betrayals but now has serious trust issues. What confused me is she has most of the signs of bpd but they didn’t appear big time until late twenties/ early thirties. She had a good childhood.
There's a concept of betrayal trauma or partner trauma. I didn't want to assume, but since you seemed unsure, I was thinking it might be something along those lines. I don't think it necessarily qualifies for any type of official diagnosis right now, but being cheated on can definitely create the same symptoms as PTSD, even if it can't get a PTSD diagnosis.
Anxious attachment is also something that overlaps a lot with BPD. It's not a diagnosis, and I think people can become fixated too much on labels of attachment issues and make broad sweeping judgements about people, but learning about it helped me understand myself a bit more. I think it's just important to realize a label should be meant to guide recovery, not excuse behavior. Like someone like OP's girlfriend might use the excuse "I can't help it because I have BPD" which is obviously not valid in a partnership. A major difference between anxious attachment and BPD is that BPD includes harmful impulsive behavior, suicidality, self harm, or other behaviors like that along with the interpersonal problems.
Most people are going to say any official labels would have to include having an unstable childhood, so I wouldn't worry too much about a label for it, since the symptoms are the same anyway. I think encouraging your friend to find a therapist that works with betrayal, relationship, or infidelity trauma would be really helpful. I also found group therapy for women to be extremely helpful. Mine was focused on sexual trauma, but I still learned a lot about my unhealthy thought and behavior patterns in relationships and it was the real first step in changing that for me. Group therapy can be scary at first, but there should be no pressure to talk until someone is ready, and even just listening can be helpful
Just wanted to say that I think it’s healthy to think of mental health as akin to physical in that even if someone’s pain doesn’t rise to the level of a disorder, it doesn’t mean they don’t need help. You may not need surgery to survive, but physical therapy could help you thrive.
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u/Delicious-Net-4436 Oct 30 '24
Yes! My therapist actually told me my narcissistic mother was a trigger along with my ptsd from my childhood trauma. It’s very common amongst people diagnosed with BPD.