@shelleyw Thank you to @aneesa2632m for starting this Discussion. Do you know what symptoms and reactions you were having that led your mental health provider to diagnose Borderline Personality Disorder? In my opinion, personality disorders are very difficult to diagnose unless the therapist or doctor knows the patient very well over a period of time. I'd like to encourage you with this. A diagnosis, any diagnosis, does not mean that is fundamentally you. For instance, I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer in 2019 and I've had no evidence of disease for the last 2 1/2 year (I had a recurrence in 2021). I view myself as a cancer survivor and has a person who had cancer but not as a cancer. Do you see what I mean?

@shelleyw I have known people diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder who had secure childhoods with no history of abuse as a child or as a adult. I can understand whyat this age you wish you were never told about this diagnosis. I'll ask you the same questions I asked @aneesa2632m. Since a psychological diagnosis is a collection of symptoms I'm wondering if you are aware of the symptoms you were showing that led to this diagnosis? What did your psychiatrist say about this and why did his explanation make sense to you?