I have a friend with BPD but havent seen her in years we used to both volunteer at a mental health organisation - She would take time off when she needed it and had a group of friends as well as the 'org'. as 'spotters' watching for when she was on the way down or too up. She was cute enough to not argue with their assessments and took things easy at those times if someone told her she was on the way up or down she knew what she needed to do for herself and someone had taught her that but I don't know what it was-

Do some research on BPD. You will find it is a stigmatization and pathologizing of sensitive and depressed women, who have often experienced a trauma. By all means find a psychologist who wants to work with you on emotional control, and do CBT with you, but do not take lithium and find another phychiatrist for a 2nd opinion. It’s a hotly debated “condition” within both the feminist and mental health professional community. Get a 3rd opinion. Likely you are just a normal woman, who is very sensitive and finds herself in dramatic situations because you are depressed and traumatized. Hold on on labeling yourself. You are all good, promise!

Do not take lithium. That is kind of last resort even for those who need it. Nasty stuff.

Anyway any doctor that thinks there is medication for bpd is clueless. Bpd is a personality disorder. You cannot medicate away a personality disorder.

Other psychiatric conditions do often co-occur with bpd; they are "co-morbid." Depression and anxiety are par for the course, but need to be treated as depression anxiety.

There is only one way to help bpd. To explain, I have to explain what bpd actually is, in a nutshell. These are some of the ways good doctors have explained it:

"Bpd sufferers feel three times the pain as others"

"It is like starting out with third degree burns on your skin, only emotionally"

Basically, life HURTS. This is why 7/10 of bpd sufferers have attempted suicide (1/10 succeeds). You can measure this. It is not made up.

You know someone with bpd. Ever met a drama queen? She acted like every little thing was a catastrophe, just to get attention, right? No, not to get attention. Because it HURT. She was out of control, overreacting. No, she wasn't. She was more in control than you would have been if your body/mind gave you the same pain. It's just that it makes no sense to you because you don't know that she has so much pain.

So, how does one treat bpd? You can't medicate the pain away. You can't therapy it away. There will always be more emotional pain for a bpd than non, in the same situation.

All you can do is learn how to 1. Minimize the pain by not doing things to make it worse, and 2. Learn how not to show the pain. You still feel it, but you shield others from it.

Dialectical Behavioural Therapy is really the only thing that will help. And it is learn, learn, learn. This isn't a therapist's couch, it is a school. Literally. The true course of therapy for bpd, pioneered by Martha Linehann at the turn of the century, is a one year, five day a week, five hour a day, school, with no day off even for Christmas.

Medicate the comorbid psychiatric issues. But learn to create a normal life despite the pain, making neither your life nor that of the people in your life, worse than they have to be. That sounds awful, but I will tell you if your doctor diagnosed you correctly, it will be far better than now.

I have scizoaffective disorder, it's not the same but I do understand where you are coming from.

I've been diagnosed with BPD. I have never taken lithium for it, but my experience with just about anything is kinda unique. As a narcoleptic, lithium would be a very bad idea for me.

I take sertraline for it, now, after a running a long gauntlet of psych meds. But that's the thing--brains are so individual that what makes one person feel like a zombie make another feel like a normal, functional person. That's the reason why there are so many different psych meds. Just trying one and saying 'oh, they all do this negative thing to me' is kind of disingenuous. It's a tough row to hoe, but coming out the other end with the proper meds is worth it.

Also, DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy) does wonders for BPD and the emotion storms we so often have. It teaches you to recognise when you're in what they call 'emotion mind,' and how to mentally step back from it, calm your thoughts, and own the emotions so you can move forward. It's pretty much been, to use a religious phrase, a godsend for me.

I am on Social Security Disability because of my BPD. So far, I've been handling it without medication mainly because I have bad reactions to SSRI drugs (Prozac/Zoloft/etc). I have never taken lithium, and have never been prescribed it.

I have a friend who has it pretty bad. Not sure what she is on. I know she struggles pretty bad with it. I’m not sure what all it entails. I have major depressive disorder with OCD, panic disorder, and severe anxiety. I do know my friend with BPD has to take heavy sedatives for her manic periods when she can’t sleep. Lithium is a pretty heavy drug. I’d see if your psych can start you out with lower drugs before going to that extreme.

My son is on this scale.....bpd/bipolar. He sometime goes off his meds as he says they makes him feel like a zombie. He is on a new regime of some sort, and seems better at the moment but drinks too much in binges. He has a good job as an IT Technical Manager at the moment but in the past has lost several when off his meds. I don’t think he was ever put on Lithium, but in the UK treatment may be different. I wish you the best in finding someone to share this with. My son finds it hard to sustain long term relationships unfortunately, but at the moment does have a girlfriend.

Hmmm... Lithium is usually for bipolar disorder not borderline personality disorder. They have very similar symptoms but they are different, primarily different causes and triggers. I've been around two people with borderline and they did not take lithium. They ended up on several different medications before they settled on something that worked.
I'm not a health care provider but I would suggest strongly researching the treatment standards for borderline and think about your personal experience. It is not the same for all who are diagnosed with BPD.

I have heard of bpd never actually knew anyone diagnosed with it. Isn't that also multiple personality disorder