Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline is not the same as Narcissism, it's often developed because of (Narc.) abuse in childhood. It's extremely common for any female who is in or has been in an abusive relationship, or had abusive (N) parents, to be diagnosed with BPD if she voluntarily goes "inpatient", or has suicidal ideation. It is more common for a female in an abusive relationship or family to be diagnosed with BPD than for the treating psychiatrist or psychologist to focus at all on the partner's behavior or the family's behavior.
And since BPD is not like sociopath or bipolar, and is only a cluster of behaviors that are usually developed because of a lack of safety and guidance, it is quite treatable and curable.
People who display extreme and violent behaviors have other things going on besides BPD, such as addiction or Bipolar, but the mental health system is not very good at diagnosing or treating "comorbidity", and tend to throw medication at the person, which does very little to help actual BPD patients.
BPD can be "unlearned" if the person can surround themselves with very stable and healthy people who are mature enough to understand, and using guided therapy that untangles their emotional knots and skewed coping skills such as DBT and CBT. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy has shown to be very effective in untangling and even curing BPD symptoms.
A very large number of people who have been through abuse would be diagnosed with BPD if they went to see a psychiatrist today and described themselves, especially if they have ever blamed their depression on the abusive behavior of someone else. Let's stop demonizing BPD, it's counterproductive.

From a reader:

"I'm impressed with this, to whomever the author is. I have BPD, and it is waning, now that I am inching into my thirties. And I did grow up with a Narc mother - though she's a psychological dream compared to the Narc that is my husband's ex-wife. BPD, if left unrecognized and untreated, can be a nightmare! It's a nightmare for the loved ones of the BPD person, but multiply the size of the nightmare times 10, and it's that much for the BPD themselves, usually. I have had to work through DBT by myself, as I have no insurance and very little therapy...the mental health profession is *just now* catching on to just HOW treatable it really is - at least for the BPD who has the heart and the willingness to take responsibility - that is the key. It's the hardest thing I've ever done. BPD is a heavy filter through which EVERYTHING goes - from tiny things like inconveniences in life to the big things like interpersonal relationships. I have to work almost every moment of every day to keep mental HEALTH on top, and not let the filtered "truths" run things. It takes incredible self-vigilance, intense self-awareness, and endless ability to assess things objectively - a lot of humility and strength to know who you are. I am not my disease - as much as my disease would love to make me believe otherwise. My husband is my greatest support system, creating incredible safety and stability for me, which has taken the work I've already done for years and revved it up to super levels! Sometimes I can hide in him when my brain leaves me wide open for the emotional storms...I love being able to just say to him "This is being filtered and I'm not thinking straight and I can't see my way out right now. Please proceed with caution." :) We have a lot of happiness and calmness in our marriage - I never dreamed I would be able to have the wealth of spirit that I do. I am not abusive to him at all, and it's hard to see so much misunderstanding about BPD...frankly, when I get to the other side of it completely, I will have considered it an incredible blessing which has allowed me to be compassionate, intuitive, and observant to near-savant levels! /novel!" ~Denise Husted