These are the defining characteristics of PDs, each of which are different depending on the PD in question.
Triggering event(s).
The situations that triggeramaladaptive response that is reflected in the person’s behavioral, interpersonal, cognitive, and affective styles. Triggering events can be intrapersonal (e.g. failing an exam), or interpersonal (e.g. being criticised).
ASPD: Social standardsandrules.
AVPD:Close relationships; being social/in public.
BPD: The expectationofmeeting goals; maintaining close relationships; real or imagined abandonment.
DPD: The expectationthat they can rely on themselves; being alone.
HPD:Relationships, particularly with those they’re attracted to.
NPD:Self-evaluation, either by themselvesorothers.
OCPD:Unstructured situations; meeting other’s standards(in all aspects of life: work, family, etc).
PPD:Close relationships; personal questions.
STPD:Close relationships.
SZPD:Close relationships.
Behavioral style
The way in which the person reactsto a triggering event.
ASPD: Impulsive, irritable, aggressive; irresponsibleandstruggles to keep commitments; relies on themselves, uses cunningand force; risk-taking and thrill-seeking.
BPD:Self-damaging behaviours (self-harm, self-sabotage, suicidal ideation); aggression;achieve less than they could (e.g. in work or school); chronic insomnia& irregular circadian rhythms (”body clocks”); feel helpless&emptyvoid.
DPD:Docile,passive,non-assertive, insecure, and submissive; doubts themselves & lacks self-confidence.
STPD:Eccentric, bizarre; strange speech;struggles with work and school and often become driftersand wanderers; avoids long-term commitment and looses touch with society’s expectations; dissociative.
SZPD:Lethargic, inattentive, eccentric; slow and monotone speech; rarely spontaneous; indifferent.
Interpersonal style
The way they relate to others.
ASPD:Deceitful;irritable, antagonistic and aggressive; disregards their and other’s safety; distrustful; lacks empathy; competitive.
AVPD: Sensitive to rejection; want acceptancebut are too scared; withdraw and avoid when afraid; test people to see if they’re safe to interact with.
BPD: “Paradoxical instability”;splitting(idealise& cling vs devalue& dismiss); sensitive to rejection; “abandonment depression” & separation anxiety; superficial yet quickly developed and intense relationships; “extraordinarily intolerant” of being alone.
DPD:People-pleasers, self-sacrificing, clingy & needs reassurance; over-compliant & over-reliant on others; want others to be in control of their lives; avoids arguments; puts themselves down so they can receive the support of others; urgently seeks a new relationship when one ends.
HPD:Needs attention; flirtatious, manipulative; lacks empathy; overestimates intimacy of relationships.
NPD:Exploitative; self-indulgent; charming, pleasant & endearing;lacks empathy; irresponsible; jealous; needs approval and admiration.
OCPD:Very aware of social hierarchy;deferentialto superiors and haughtyto subordinates; polite and loyal; insist that their way is the right way to do things, because they are anxious to ensure perfection; stubborn; devoted to work which interferes with relationships.
PPD:Distrustful, secretive, suspicious, tend to isolate themselvesandavoid intimacy;hypersensitiveto criticism; bears grudges and blames others; reluctant to open up for fear of vulnerability.
STPD:Loners; socially anxious, apprehensive, suspicious and paranoid, which doesn’t fade as they get to know people; tends to live on the margins of society and relationships; often choose jobs with minimal social interaction that are usually below their skill level; indifferent to social norms.
SZPD:Aloof, loners, reserved, solitary; socially awkward; tend to fade into the background; happy to remain alone.
Cognitive style
How the person perceivesandthinksabout a problem and its solution.
ASPD: Impulsive; realistic; very aware of social cues; prone to executive dysfunction.
AVPD:Hypervigilant; distracted and preoccupied with their fears of rejection.
BPD: Inflexible (splitting) & impulsive; difficulty learning from the past; external loss of control leads them to blame others to avoid feeling powerless;emotions fluctuate between hope and despair; unstable self-image andfragmented sense of self; unable to tolerate frustration; brief psychotic episodes;dissociation; intense rage; difficulty focusing & processing information.
DPD:Suggestibleand persuadable; optimistic, sometimes to the point of naïveté; uncritical; minimises difficulties and are easily taken advantage of.
HPD:Impulsive, dramatic; vague; suggestible; relies on intuition; avoids reflection and introspection as so to avoid realising their dependency on others; needs approval from others; has separate real/inner/private &constructed/outer/publicselves; tendency to mimicspeech patterns.
NPD: Focuses on feelingsrather than facts; compulsive lying (to themselves as well as others); inflexible, impatient, persistent;superiority;unrealistic goals of success, power, ideal love.
OCPD:Rule & detail oriented; difficulty with prioritising; inflexible, unimaginative; conflictedbetweenassertiveness & defiance vs obedience & pleasing people.
PPD:Mistrustful;hypervigilant; focuses on feelings (of paranoia) rather than facts; brief psychotic episodes; their need to find evidence for their paranoid suspicions gives them a tendency for authoritarianism.
STPD:Scattered; obsessive and tends to ruminate;superstitious, bizarre fantasies; vague ideas of reference (thinking things are about them when they’re not, e.g. someone laughing is directed at them) and magical thinking (thinking they caused something to happen by thinking about it); dissociative.
SZPD:Distracted; difficulty organising their thoughts;vagueandindecisive; difficulty with introspectionandreflection.
Affective style
How the person expressesandexperiences emotions.
ASPD:Superficially expresses emotions; avoids emotions that will make them vulnerable;rarely feels guilt, shame or remorse; unable to tolerate boredom,depression, & frustrationandneeds stimulation.
AVPD:Shy & apprehensive; feels empty, sad, lonely & tense;depersonalisation.
BPD:Mood swings; inappropriately intense anger; feelings of emptiness, boredom, a “void”; emotional dysregulation.
DPD:Insecure & anxious;lacks self-confidence & fears being alone; fears abandonment & rejection; often sad or somber.
HPD: Displays intense, extreme emotions but may only feel them shallowly; sensitive to rejection; mood swings;need reassurance that they are loved.
NPD: Presents as self-confidentandnonchalant; when criticised or rejected (”narcissistic injury”) they experience extreme shame which is often redirected into anger (”narc rage”/shame redirect); splitting;lacks empathy and so has difficulty with commitments.
OCPD: Somber, difficulty expressing feelings; avoids emotions that will make them vulnerable; comes across as stiffand stilted.
PPD: Cold, aloof, humourless; difficulty expressing feelings; tendency for angerandjealousy.
STPD: Cold, humourless, aloof; difficult to engage with;suspicious and mistrustful; hypersensitive; may react inappropriately for the situation or not at all.
SZPD: Humourless, cold, aloof; indifferent; lacks empathy; emotionally and socially distant;difficulty responding to other people’s feelings.
Temperament
Theresponse pattern that reflects the person’s energy level, emotions andintensity of emotions, and how quickthey react.
The way they view the world, others, and life in general.
ASPD:Life is dangerousandrules get in the way of their needs. They won’t be controlledordegraded.
AVPD:Life is unfair; even though they want to be accepted, people will reject them, so they’ll be vigilant&demand reassurance; escapes using fantasiesanddaydreams.
BPD:Splitsbetween people and the world as either all-good or all-bad, resulting in commitment issues.
DPD: Other people need to take care of thembecausethey are unable to.
HPD: Life makes them nervous, so they need attention and reassurance that they’re loved.
NPD: Life is full of opportunities; they expect admiration and respect.
OCPD: Life is unpredictableandexpects too much, so they manage this by being in control and being perfectionists.
PPD: Life is unfair, unpredictable, demanding, and dangerous; they need to be suspiciousandon guard against others, who are to blame for failures.
STPD: Life is strangeandunusual; others have special magic intentions, so they are curiousbut also cautiouswhen interacting with the world.
SZPD: Life is difficultanddangerous; if they trust no oneandkeep their distance from others, they won’t get hurt.
One key criterion for each personality disorder, based on its ability to summarise all criteria for that PD,accurate description of behaviour, and the predictive value (ability to predict if the person has the PD or not).
(feel free to reblog with your results !! also disclaimer that this is not in any way a diagnostic tool and is just for fun for people who already know they have npd.)
any other borderlines find their impulsiveness getting worse on a higher dose of seroquel ?? i upped my dose recently on recommendation from a psych but my impulsive symptoms have been wreaking havoc on me- is this normal ? does it go away ?
The Histrionic Personality Disorder awareness flag by @bpd-zant
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This is an HD rendition of the HPD flag made by a deleted Tumblr account. A reblogged post of the original can be found here, and the original post itself can be found here, however the link is broken. I’m simply providing it just as a reference. If someone is able to find an archived version of the original post, please let me know!
Sadly, because the OP deactivated, the stripe meanings are unknown. If I remember right, I think the bottom stripe was meant to represent cluster b solidarity. But, because people with HPD get so little in both the community and in general, I wanted to make an HD rendition, and be able to show people this gorgeous flag so that it can still be remembered and used.
I have the occasion to start living alone beginning in january 2020 and it all seems very tempting,, but also I could just wait til I move country at the end of the year ? Because it’s really time consuming to just clean everything by myself and do groceries and all that shit that I’ll just do my whole life and ummm idK i could just try and see though.
Quiet bpd culture is wanting to threat suicide when someone’s leaving you but you’d feel worse cuz you think you’d be manipulating them into taking care of you when they really don’t want to so you just suppress your breakdown and suffer in silence instead
call me old fashioned, but in this household we don’t use eupd. we use bpd like the good Bimbo Pussy Disorder (or Boobs Pretty Dignormous) skanks we are!!
gimme attention!!! wtf why isn’t anyone paying attention to me!! i’m an attention whore!!! i need it to live!!!! give me the attention i so rightfully deserve!!
sorry for the lack of actually useful posts. i’ve been out of brain juice. there is nothing sloshing around in my head except brain, idk probably a lost sock from the washing machine, a couple moths, & spiderwebs. i have had No Thoughts and that is okay!
Please subscribe to my free email newsletter!! All you have to do is add your email to the list by clicking the link below and typing it in. It’s free and doesn’t require you to make an account. It’ll send my weekly newsletters right to your email inbox! I really enjoy writing, so I decided this would be a good outlet for me.
Please reblog this so people know where to find me even after I delete. I’d appreciate the support since I have 4K followers here. I’ve moved to these social media:
(This is my Space on my account since I can’t figure out how to link directly to my account. Interacting with my Space and following it gets me closer to being able to make money off it… I’d really like to get close to that since I’m in need of a way to make money but am severely disabled so having a job is extremely difficult - I’ve tried getting on federal disability but I don’t have enough work credits… and the reason I don’t have enough work credits ismydisabilities) - This is another reason I’d appreciate reblogs!
I’d really appreciate if y’all follow me on either one of these. I’m writing a book about NPD and ASPD and another book about DID and how I developed it. In the future, if you want to read my books then I’d follow on one of these accounts. I also am a lot more open there and explain things in more detail. My YouTube is especially very educational, and on my Quora I post frequently and am more vulnerable about the inner workings of my disorders.
what do you mean you don’t like me ???? i just matched your personality maybe you just don’t like yourself
babes i made this persona with my own two bare hands w all the fresh-picked ingredients that would make me perfect 4 u & also similtaneously a better version of u… babes y r u not desperately, all-consumingly in love w me yet … babes this is literally the one skill im confident in so why isnt it working… babes im trying my best 2 b my best self 4 u & this is srsly fuckin up the vibe
in the wake of the Depp/Heard trial’s presence becoming a nearly inescapable anywhere on the internet, please try extra hard to be kind to yourself. if you know that it’s bad for you to keep reading, please keep scrolling & block any tags people are using for this garbage. i’ll be leaving this here then disengaging too.
last night i reached a breaking point after accidentally getting into a conversation with my roommates about what purpose it serves as a publicized event. people either seem to be taking sides in what they see as a soap opera or taking the “mature, detached” approach of denouncing any real-world effect. this isn’t just celebrity drama. this is something that will deeply effect the way we look at both domestic violence and mental health. after years of academic research on personality disorders & years of following the personal experiences of people with personality disorders, as well as learning to manage my own bpd symptoms, reading the misinformation that’s being reported is so heartbreaking
here’s what happened & why it’s scary:
•mental illness has once again been used in a court of law to not only support abuse accusations, but also to delegitimize the opponent’s testimony
•the specific mental illnesses in question are all Cluster B personality disorders (BPD & HPD for Amber, NPD for Johnny), some of the most historically misunderstood & stigmatized disorders in the entire field of psychology
•it’s already very difficult to find professional help that isn’t dehumanizing - it just got harder (therapists often flat out refuse to treat people diagnosed or suspected of having a personality disorder)
•this is many people’s first time hearing these terms - abusiveness is now an inherent connotation
things to remember:
•throwing around the words “borderlines” or “narcissists” instead of “people with BPD/NPD” reduces a person to a diagnosis & reinforces stereotypes
•turning psychiatric terms into adjectives & using them in phrases like “narcissistic/borderline abuse” is the same as describing someone’s behavior as “bipolar” or “schizo” when it negatively affects you - it’s demonizing & ableist
•linking a particular style of abuse to a mental disorder allows anyone to look at an abuser and diagnose them with a mental disorder
•it also allows anyone to look at someone with a mental disorder and assign them the status of an abuser
•people (not diagnoses) are responsible for their actions & the effects of those actions
•diagnoses do not dictate personal ethics
•no one is a bad person because of their diagnosis or a good person despite it
•any type of abuse can be perpetrated by anyone, neurodivergent or neurotypical
•every person is different - celebrities in a disturbing legal battle are NOT the faces of personality disorders or really anything else that the general population should relate to
•this will continue to be an incredibly triggering topic for some people with a history of abuse, people with a personality disorder, & especially people with both
•people with personality disorders are much more likely to be abused than neurotypical people (certain symptoms + neurodivergence in general put us at greater risk) - not all of us are victims of abuse, but the majority are (sources below)
•please be sensitive & respectful - we’re humans too & feeling like our existence is being criminalized is really upsetting
•please educate yourself before you speak on the experiences of neurodivergency - bias is nearly unavoidable but it’s also pretty easy to detect even if academic resources are too dense for you
These are some of the ways I have learnt to cope with my splitting. While they may not work for everyone or in every instance, hopefully someone will find some use in these strategies.
When I feel myself splitting on someone, I acknowledge it. I tell myself that I’m splitting, and that it’s the disorder speaking, not me.
If I’m splitting on a person, I try to distance myself from them to stop me lashing out. Being around them just increases the chances that I’m going to say something I regret and make things harder on both of us.
Communicate with them. I have found a lot of success in actually telling the person that I’m splitting on them. “I’m getting really upset at you right now, but I know that it is irrational and just because of the BPD. I’m going to try to control it, but it might be best if I have some space until it blows over.” Surprisingly, a lot of people are far more understanding if I just tell them to truth.
Keep a log (even if it’s just a note in your phone) of the times you split, and what caused them. You might be able to notice patterns or triggers, which you can then work on avoiding.
splitting is sometimes reversible for a lot of us - please remember to not act on devaluation of a relationship until you have the space to analyze whether you want that person out of your life for good
I saw yesterday that people with BPD don’t fall in love they just get obsessed and then bored in a vicious cycle with different people and honestly I did not need to be called out like that.
you’re either that type of borderline or you’re the type to fall in love then stay totally in love w the concept of that person from behind bars after they’ve framed you for murder. there’s no in between. (✿ꈍ◡ꈍ)
anyway you guys understand what its like to completely have no sense of self and just mirror the personality of every new person you meet becayse you can psychoanalyze them within seconds of saying hello. and then theyre convinced that youre soulmates but youre literally just adapting to their every move and essentially becoming another version of them until eventuslly you collect enlugh traits to form one fucked up personality of your own… right?
unpopular opinion: if people with bpd literally have their brains wired differently from birth then they shouldn’t have to wait until they’re 18 to be diagnosed. I know a lot of people who are younger than 18 who definitely have bpd that would benefit from the proper way to treat it. now they’re just struggling and nothing is working because they aren’t in DBT. I’m not saying that that particular therapy is a cure-all, but it’s supposed to help, and the younger you implement it, the better it’s supposed to work. thank you for coming to my ted talk.
One reason mental health professionals should be cautious handing out PD diagnoses is the prevalence of stigma in mental healthcare communities. Another is the self-fulfilling-prophecy aspect of professional “labeling”. Symptoms should always be taken quite seriously and treated as such, often done best with DBT.
However, once a minor has a PD recorded recorded on their charts, it can be more difficult to find proper care, even if that person still has a lot more developing to do. The trend of telling Girls Who Have Intense Emotions that their core personality is inherently DISORDERED is more damaging than holding off on officiating a half-baked diagnosis and only treating symptoms in the meantime.
I am personally pro-self-dx for minors over the age of 15, but I think that mental healthcare professionals shouldn’t risk the safety and self-identities of minors.
I’m on a waiting list right now for my autism screening stuff and I’m very curious as to what is going to happen I hope everything goes well and I can get in
