Only guessing because my impression is that Borderline Personality Disorder is considered primarily a "woman's" disease. Or at least most diagnoses are made when the patient is a woman. Tell me if I'm wrong.
Now on with the story:
Years ago, I saw a psychiatrist who prescribed Paxil to me. I was severely depressed at the time, and the Paxil didn't do much of anything for me. The doctor diagnosed me as having Borderline Personality Disorder, his explanation for why the Paxil didn't work. Then he raised the Paxil. Lo and behold! Depression gone -- and he told me he removed the BPD from my diagnosis, because he could see he'd been wrong. I've thought about that since then. Isn't it lovely, for the psychiatrists, that if they can't find an effective drug treatment for depression, it must be because of a personality disorder? And, with the new research saying that PDs improve with age and drug treatment, they never have to say they were wrong -- only that age and drug treatment have improved the patient's condition. Kinda makes you wish you'd gone to medical school, doesn't it? You'd never have to rethink your diagnosis, and if your treatment plan fails, it's the patient's fault anyway.
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I write a lot about my therapist on my blog, you can read some examples here
Why yes, I am, in fact, female. Which apparently is a symptom of Borderline Personality Disorder. It really does seem a dumping ground for difficult to treat female patients, too. I'm difficult to treat because I consistently respond to doses about twice as high as the doctor expects.
A good friend of mine works in a practice specializing in personality disorders, and she tells me how frustrating it is for them that BPD has become such a dumping ground. She gets quite upset at the numbers of women walking into their practice who don't meet ANY of the criteria for BPD, who've been given the diagnosis by male psychiatrists after one drug trial has failed. She also says that these women generally have a history of abuse -- whether child abuse, rape, domestic abuse, or some combination -- and fit many criteria for PTSD, yet that diagnosis is NOT made. (I wonder if that's because they're middle class, and don't "look" like abuse victims to the doctor?)
I do feel fortunate, after hearing these stories, that my former doctor didn't stop trying to help once he made his diagnosis. And profoundly grateful to him for admitting his error.
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