BPDFamily.com

Right,

Hate being on this part of the carousel... .mum has ruined all the kids (5) RSs/lives . Had to protect my children from her. LC to NC, could see her hurt them with her witch BPD words. Wouldn't have it, me ok, but not my kids. Didn't know BPD. Just she is so horrible. Brought up to love and respect her. Realised my messed up stuff leads back to her.

What's the difference between BPD witch and PTSD?

Gosh, I'm not sure about the difference. I do think some BPD's don't have shockingly unusual experiences that shape them, but do have trouble with emotional over-reaction to all kinds of stimuli.

Good to hear that you had the sense to protect your family. That's where I am, too.

I think PTSD as a child can lead to BPD? (or other PD). Many BPD people did have abusive childhoods so there could be a connection. I don't know the details though.

What exactly are you asking though? In the end it doesn't matter why they do what they do. If they are abusive and can't control themselves, I leave.

My understanding is that suffering from PTSD from childhood trauma (ummm, that would be me) is not a *cause* of BPD but it can greatly exacerbate the effects of BPD.  My sister is uBPD.

My SIL is uBPD.  Specificially I think she is OCD BPD.  She claims that her parents were abusive toward her.  But then I met her parents and her sister.  They are remarkably normal, gracious people with strong boundaries.  They are the only people I know of who do not walk on eggshells around her.  And from what I can gather, she made their lives very difficult.  By her own admission, they came close to disowning her.  With my SIL, everything has to be a certain way.  And if someone around her rebels against the role she demands they fill, she considers that a huge offense, something they did to purposely hurt her.  I think it was very difficult for her parents to discipline her, since she always sees herself as the victim and doesn't see the hurt she causes other people.  So just based on what I know of my SIL, that she always sees herself as the victim, I take claims of abuse by a BPD with a grain of salt. 

Judith Lewis Herman,at Harvard,  believed that complex-PTSD (C-PTSD) shold be used to describe a history of prolonged subjection to totalitarian control including sexual abuse (especially child sexual abuse), physical abuse, emotional abuse, domestic violence or torture. 

BPD is, then, a disorder with genetic predisposition.

The APA did not buy into this distinction and does not list C-PTSD as a mental disorder.

I was (very wrongly) diagnosed with BPD (which began my quest for more information on the disorder), and now I'm diagnosed w/ C-PTSD.  I went through a lot of physical abuse while I was growing up, at the hands of my uBPDm and my uNPDf (now deceased).  My life was a complete h*ll-hole until I got out and joined the Army at age 18. 

I say I was very wrongly diagnosed because although I had the emotional dysregulation issues, I never externalized them.  I never hurt others, or tried to avoid abandonment, or feared being alone.  I wouldn't fit the criteria in the DSM-V, now, because I don't have issues with relationships or unstable relationships, or the other interpersonal issues.  There a whole set of criteria for that. 

The symptoms I did have were the emotional lability, cutting, and my lovely doctor said that my weight issues were a symptom.  I would try to argue that I didn't meet the criteria for the disorder, and that was more or less a comfirmation that I had BPD, in his eyes.  I also didn't respond to medications, had chronic suicidal ideation, and at times, was suicidal.  But I also have a lot of empathy and never hurt others when I was dysregulated.  A book I read, by Simon Baron-Cohen (Sasha/Borat's cousin!) said that while people with BPD may be gentle and warm and caring at heart, their ability to empathisize with others went out the window when they were dysregulated.  The book is called The Science of Evil, and he was distinguishing between people with BPD and sociopaths. 

I agree, though, with the other posters who say that whatever the cause or disorder, it doesn't matter, and they can't treat you like crap.  I do have a little more sympathy for people who've survived abusive situations, and I know that my mom did experience sexual abuse as a kid (confirmed by another relative), and I do have a lot of sympathy for that, but it doesn't make it OK at all.  My mom is cold and cruel and calculating (witch/waif) and unable to empathize.