FAQ: How common are personality disorders?

[BPDFamily.com]

I'm jumping in here because I'm shocked to see such high prevalance rates. I have pretty rich life experience. I know people from all walks of life. This pwBPD who I've known for the last year? I have NEVER met ANYONE like her. She is something else. And btw, I've worked with a TON of trauma survivors. This is the first severe pwBPD I've ever met. No way is it 6% of the population. No way.

[FeelingBitter]

I'm jumping in here because I'm shocked to see such high prevalance rates. I have pretty rich life experience. I know people from all walks of life. This pwBPD who I've known for the last year? I have NEVER met ANYONE like her. She is something else. And btw, I've worked with a TON of trauma survivors. This is the first severe pwBPD I've ever met. No way is it 6% of the population. No way.

[Matt]

I'm jumping in here because I'm shocked to see such high prevalance rates. I have pretty rich life experience. I know people from all walks of life. This pwBPD who I've known for the last year? I have NEVER met ANYONE like her. She is something else. And btw, I've worked with a TON of trauma survivors. This is the first severe pwBPD I've ever met. No way is it 6% of the population. No way.

I was married for 12 years to a woman with BPD;  she is pretty much a textbook example, with very extreme behavior at times.

Before we were married, I knew her for many years - worked with her - had a lot of the same friends.  It never entered my mind that she might be mentally ill!

BPD tends to show itself within intimate relationships - spouses, siblings, kids, parents.  Not so much in working relationships or among friends.

If you know 100 people, maybe 6 of them do have BPD... .but don't show it outside their homes... .

[gotbushels]

I'm jumping in here because I'm shocked to see such high prevalance rates. No way is it 6% of the population. No way.  

To add to what Matt said, it's somewhat accepted that high-functioning pwBPDs act normal unless the BPD behaviours are triggered. It's believed some high-functioning pwBPDs have tendencies not to show BP behaviours except to family and people close to them. This tendency is consistent with the suggestion that the 6% result is an underestimation. To balance--it's actually sometimes thought to be one of the most common PDs of all the PDs. E.g., a study showed that amongst 859 outpatients, BPD appeared by far the most prevalent out of Cluster B (Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic).*


*Source: Data from Table 3 from Mark Zimmerman, Louis Rothschild, and Iwona Chelminski, "The prevalence of DSM-IV personality disorders in psychiatric outpatients," American Journal of Psychiatry 162 (2005): 1911-1918. (link)