Is BPD so prevalent that it is personality type rather than a disorder?

[Think About It...]

Having said that...culturally, I really do worry sometimes that as a whole we are moving more toward a cult of personality that embraces and even  worships immature 'child-like' behaviors and in essence we are creating a personality disordered culture... meaning, as a culture, it has become more acceptable to lack empathy, look and act young all the time, be selfish and self absorbed, have your cake and eat it to, enjoy getting over and one-upping others,  have to get all your childish "id" needs met instantly,  feel entitled,  absolutely no deferred gratification (eg., total and instant access to drugs, porn, instant contact w/ the mother ship at all times, shallow communication all the time w/ little or no depth etc.), we don't want to raise our own kids, everything that takes time and patience is downplayed as just a pain in the ass, we want to feel 'good all the time' and if we don't it someone's fault...we are in a way...becoming a very childish " borderline" society.  But that is just my humble, worried opinon.  [/color]

I agree with this, and one of the reasons I see for it is a lack of societal consequences for bad behavior.  Used to be adultery was frowned upon.  So was abandoning your family.  Thieves were called thieves, cheats and liars were called such as well and no one wanted to be around them.  If you acted like a jerk, you were called out for it.  People faced consequences for their behavior.  We live in a society now where when people are victimized, instead of shunning the perp, we chastize the victim, tell them to buck up and get over it and figure out why they were victimized, while the perp goes off completely unscathed to victimize again.  Tough luck. 

Cannot agree more with the points above. Think we are becoming a notably more 'borderline' society. As the saying goes 'In the world of the blind the one-eyed man is king' - perhaps it could be re-said as 'In a borderline world the fully-blown BPD is king!' Goodness I think I have just depressed myself!

[whydoIcare]

Having said that...culturally, I really do worry sometimes that as a whole we are moving more toward a cult of personality that embraces and even  worships immature 'child-like' behaviors and in essence we are creating a personality disordered culture... meaning, as a culture, it has become more acceptable to lack empathy, look and act young all the time, be selfish and self absorbed, have your cake and eat it to, enjoy getting over and one-upping others,  have to get all your childish "id" needs met instantly,  feel entitled,  absolutely no deferred gratification (eg., total and instant access to drugs, porn, instant contact w/ the mother ship at all times, shallow communication all the time w/ little or no depth etc.), we don't want to raise our own kids, everything that takes time and patience is downplayed as just a pain in the ass, we want to feel 'good all the time' and if we don't it someone's fault...we are in a way...becoming a very childish " borderline" society.  But that is just my humble, worried opinon.  [/color]

I agree with this, and one of the reasons I see for it is a lack of societal consequences for bad behavior.  Used to be adultery was frowned upon.  So was abandoning your family.  Thieves were called thieves, cheats and liars were called such as well and no one wanted to be around them.  If you acted like a jerk, you were called out for it.  People faced consequences for their behavior.  We live in a society now where when people are victimized, instead of shunning the perp, we chastize the victim, tell them to buck up and get over it and figure out why they were victimized, while the perp goes off completely unscathed to victimize again.  Tough luck. 

Cannot agree more with the points above. Think we are becoming a notably more 'borderline' society. As the saying goes 'In the world of the blind the one-eyed man is king' - perhaps it could be re-said as 'In a borderline world the fully-blown BPD is king!' Goodness I think I have just depressed myself!

[diotima]

Why: I have been wondering about this too, i.e., creating more BPDs living in a world (modernized) that worships warp-speed change that militates against forming attachments, especially in young children. Individualism and narcissism, etc. Someone posted an article awhile back (by a psychiatrist who is also interested in philosophy and cultural studies) who links postmodernism to BPD. It certainly seems as though BPD traits, at least, are rampant in certain cultural changes connected with the loss of "traditional" cultures. I see the "hook up" culture of the young as a manifestation of this. I also see a growing interest in meditation as a countervailing force but have no statistics on how widespread this is.
Diotima