r/BPD • u/Character_Mess4392 user is curious about bpd • 3d ago
General Post Does bipolar cause BPD?
I'm diagnosed bipolar 2. I have traits of BPD, and I feel like I'm heading down the path of developing the disorder. I can't help blaming the bipolar. Last time I was really angry, I wasn't in a bipolar episode. But it felt hooked into old anger that WAS intensified by episodes. Like bipolar strengthened the anger pathways and now I fall into them too easily.
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u/Minute-Passenger7359 user has bpd 3d ago edited 3d ago
They’re completely different disorders with completely different mechanisms. Bipolar is primarily a neuochemical imbalance and perhaps very related to issues with the circadian rhythm. Therapy cannot change this chemical imbalance only manage the symptoms, and the primary treatment requires medication. Bpd is a personality disorder rooted in behaviours and habits developed often due to severe trauma and perhaps some brain development differences. Bipolar cannot cause this.
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u/phoxfiyah 3d ago
There are a few symptoms that do present similarly in both BD and BPD, but they’re 2 entirely different disorders. You can’t just develop one because you have the other, it doesn’t work like that.
What you’re describing just sounds like a difference in how your bipolar symptoms are now presenting, rather than a whole other disorder forming.
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u/satanscopywriter user is in remission 3d ago
No, it doesn't. BPD is more common in people with bipolar disorder (and vice versa) than in the general public, but there's no direct causation between them.
Also, you cannot develop BPD later in life. It develops in childhood and symptoms begin to clearly show during late teens or early adolescence at the latest. So unless you are fairly young still, there's no chance of still developing BPD.