Final Hearing - BPD or Psychopath?

[Family Court Strategies: When Your Partner Has BPD OR NPD Traits.]

Finally the final hearing is next week. Over a year of NC.

I'm doing alright, a lot better than a half year ago.

Thanks to BPD Family I am a lot wiser, too.

I have studied a considerable amount and lately have noticed the similarity between BPD and Psychopathic behavior.

I can't tell the difference

Anybody else notice this?

If sociopath is BPD and Antisocial PD, what is psychopath?

 

[oblivian2013]

Finally the final hearing is next week. Over a year of NC.

I'm doing alright, a lot better than a half year ago.

Thanks to BPD Family I am a lot wiser, too.

I have studied a considerable amount and lately have noticed the similarity between BPD and Psychopathic behavior.

I can't tell the difference

Anybody else notice this?

If sociopath is BPD and Antisocial PD, what is psychopath?

 

[momtara]

I don't know the degree of diffference - I bet there are different definitions on the web... .maybe a psychopath is completely devoid of any emotion or guilt

[birdlady]

There are definite differences between BPD and antisocial PD (also referred to sociopathy and psychopathy). In the US the only one of those three in the DSM (I believe IV and V are the same on this one) is antisocial PD.

As lay people, we can only identify traits.  There are some overlaps in traits between BPD and antisocial PD.  Also between antisocial PD and NPD.

But for us nons with undiagnosed partners it doesn't matter.  What matters is identifying the traits and the degree of impairment they present, and in some cases the degrees of danger to us they present. 

If you want to learn more about how a functional antisocial PD presents to the world, read "The Sociopath Next Door". That was a real eye opener to me.

My ex is emotionally and physically abusive, manipulative, lies frequently, lies with impunity, seems to believe his own lies, does not respect or recognize of the boundaries of others.  He is unbothered by the pain he causes to others (lack of conscience). He is also narcissistic, abuses alcohol, has no abiding friendships, has superficial relationships with family, and blames others for any shortcomings or failures in his life. He is currently on his third marriage, and has unstable romantic relationships. That's just the short list. 

So does he have antisocial PD? BPD? NPD? I can't diagnose.  But the traits add up to someone who is not trustworthy and from whom I'm better off being apart. It is recognizing there are serious problems and removing yourself from a distressing to dangerous situation that counts.

[ForeverDad]

My ex never cursed when we met, but after about 5 years she started cursing during her periodic rages.  I was shocked to say the least.  I asked her once whether she was cursing in English because her stepfather, a huge trigger of her issues, had cursed and if so, did he curse in English?  She said, no, he cursed in Spanish.  It made me wonder how she had learned such foul gutter language.  Mind you, we were religious volunteers at the time, I couldn't even bring myself to tell others.  At the time I chalked it up to "rages of past child abuse".  I had no knowledge of Personality Disorders or Dysfunctions at that time, not until about 4 months before we Separated.

But it got worse.  She had troubles with co-workers, but of course she denied ever doing what was reported.  We had a child, I naively hoped she would be happier and better, but it got worse and she was more distant as well.  I learned the hard way that having children doesn't fix problems, it makes them vastly more complicated.  In time she had more and more incidents with friends and my family, to the point where we became isolated from nearly everyone, she had an US vs Them mentality.  Then when there was no one left, she started looking that way at me... .I knew The End was approaching and sure enough we separated within months.  It was when I called the police that It Was Finally Over.  And then began the Legal Struggle.

My divorce lawyer called my ex different things over time depending on the latest antics... .crazy, sociopath, F- Nuts, etc.  Both my lawyer and the court weren't interested in understanding why she behaved as she did nor in fixing her, they all dealt with her as she was while also simultaneously studiously ignoring her poor behaviors.  I can only assume the court figured that once the changes and emotions of divorce were over they expected her to act more normal.  Didn't happen.  Sadly, it took years for that fact to percolate into the orders.

It was clear my court, as with most courts, wasn't interested in what the problems were, they just gradually modified the orders while dancing around her behaviors.  What is better than waving around an insightful diagnosis is to have documentation of the poor behaviors.  Court has a tendency to lump it all together and call it "high conflict".

[maxen]

maybe a psychopath is completely devoid of any emotion or guilt

my stbxw has gobs of emotion but no guilt

[toomanytears]

maybe a psychopath is completely devoid of any emotion or guilt

my stbxw has gobs of emotion but no guilt

my stbxh appears to have no guilt whatsoever. However his blaming, abusive behaviour and rewriting of history tells me that he is seriously guilty deep down.