How are Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder Similar?
Some experts believe that Biploar Disorder and BPD may be related because they share a common feature of mood instability. Biploar disorder is associated with mood shifts within depression and mania. Manio is a mood where you are elated, have a decreased need for sleep and generally an increase in activity. People with Biploar Disorder can change from feeling great to feeling distressed in several minutes. Impulsive behavior is also experienced by people with biploar disorder and by people with BPD.
How are Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder Different?
Is there a difference between BPD and bipolar disorder? Some items separate the two conditions. While both are characterized by mood changes, the quality of the mood changes can be different. In BPD, mood changes are very short, they could last only hours at a time. With bipolar disorder the mood issues can last for days, weeks or months. Changes in the envrionment that stress the individual (disagreements or fights) tend to trigger mood shifts in BPD individuals. People with bipolar disorder can shift moods instantly, with no apparent cause triggering the mood shift. People with BPD will shift from feeling upset to feeling just ok - and not from bad to high or elevated. Biplolar disorder can shift from a low to a high mood.
Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder: The Bottom Line
So far, there is not enough research to suggest that BPD and bipolar disorder are related. Although there are definitely some shared features, there are also some marked differences between BPD and bipolar disorder. Also, the co-occurrence of BPD and bipolar disorder is not large enough to suggest that the two disorders are related. However, more research is needed on this topic. It may be that future research, for example on the genetic and biological causes of BPD and bipolar disorder, may reveal some undiscovered elationships between the two conditions.
Cited References:
About.com
Support Groups:
FacetoFace Health Biploar Support Groups