Hi theitcrowd,

I think that what she was trying to articulate is " fear of engulfment" with suffocation, that's one way of looking at it. The fear of engulfment, is a fear of intimacy, fear of losing your identity in the r/s.
A pwBPD will push because they fear being engulfed, the distance then triggers the fear of abandonment, then the pull behavior follows, this push / pull behavior can feel like crazy making behavior. I hope that helps.
What does "fear of engulfment" mean?