BPD diagnosis requires a thorough assessment by a mental health professional for these reasons:
- DSM-5 is strictly symptom-based and ignores genetics and neuroscience physiology, making it somewhat subjective,
- BPD is one of the most challenging conditions to diagnose because the symptoms of co-occurring mental illnesses and disorders mimic or hide the symptoms of BPD. BPD has symptoms in common with conditions like Bi-Polar Disorder, Multiple Personality Syndrome, Social Anxiety, Depression, Manic-Depression, Schizophrenia, and being a sociopath.
- In nearly 40% of the cases, people with borderline personality disorder have been initially incorrectly diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
- Symptoms present differently in each patient and even from day to day for the same patient.
- BPD affects young people, which makes it even more devastating and harder to diagnose because of teenage hormones and peer pressure. Often families and doctors think the teenager has ADHD, is just going through a “phase”, or is “rebelling to establish their independence”.
- Stigma associated with the diagnosis can have serious repercussions for the patient and lead to discrimination, so patients may avoid seeing a doctor and doctors may hesitate to give a diagnosis of BPD.