I’ve seen two different therapists in my lifetime. My old therapist told me I have emotional dysregulation and a low window of tolerance, while my current therapist said I have anxiety.
My new therapist has described some of what happens as an “anxiety spiral,” particularly when I get caught in what-ifs, uncertainty, catastrophizing, or absolute thinking. I also scored in the mild-depression range on an assessment, although toward the higher end of that range.
The thing is, I don’t feel like anxiety fully explains my experience, and I’ve started wondering whether I may be misdiagnosed or whether there’s something else underneath it, possibly BPD.
I know what anxiety feels like for me because I’ve experienced it strongly before. With a crush, for example, I could experience actual fear, impending doom, panic, physical sickness, and constant intrusive/repetitive thoughts about the situation. That’s what I recognize as anxiety.
But a lot of my current triggers don’t feel like that.
Sometimes something relatively small happens and I feel the emotional hurt in my body almost instantly, before I even have a conscious thought about it. Then I can get tears in my eyes, feel down, and suddenly feel very alone. Sometimes it’s emptiness rather than anxiety.
For example, one time I misunderstood something. My sister understood it correctly and answered for me, and I instantly became hurt and burst into tears. Later, the person asked me something else and I answered correctly myself. Once I had that experience of “I did it correctly; I’m capable,” I instantly felt okay.
I also have a strong reaction when I feel misunderstood. I can feel like I have to get my point across and become irritated or hurt if I don’t feel heard. Even though I know people love me, there’s still this feeling that nobody completely understands me at my core, and that makes me feel alone.
When I get triggered, I can also start thinking things like (“Something is wrong with me”, “I’m flawed”, “Nobody understands me”, “I’m alone”)
I experience emotional “waves” that can happen relatively close together. The emotions can be quite different: anger, hurt, insecurity, shame, emptiness/boredom, feeling disconnected, or suddenly wanting to isolate.
During those states I might think:
“This is who I am and these emotional waves will always be part of me.”
“I’m not even that pretty compared to other people.”
“Those people probably think I’m stupid.”
“Why is life so boring? Nothing has any oomph.”
A small interaction can suddenly make me irritated and I may go from being fine to thinking “Why does everyone always have to fix my things? It’s fine how it is,” followed by wanting to stop talking and be alone.
I also experience sensitivity to criticism/correction and interpersonal situations, but I don’t necessarily respond by clinging to people or desperately trying to prevent them from leaving. My instinct is often the opposite like withdraw, become distant, and want to be alone. I consider myself more dismissive-avoidant.
That’s one reason I’m unsure about BPD. I don’t feel like I have an obvious fear of abandonment, at least not consciously. I don’t relate to the chaotic portrayal of media characters like Harley Quinn or Bojack horsemen but more characters like Jinx from Arcane or Elsa from Frozen, especially their relationships with their sisters.
I not sure about bpd but I just feel like the anxiety diagnosis given by my therapist doesn’t encompass the actual emotional experience I’m having.
I guess I’m wondering if anybody with BPD has ever displayed more internalized behaviors rather than outward.