Borderline personality disorder vs bpd features whats the diffrence? please answer !!

Question

my Psychiatrist has dignosed me with BPD And PTSD and i suffered some abuse some time ago but when my Psychiatrist writes letters he refers to my illness as borderline features? does that mean i still got BPD? Or only Traits of? please help me understand.

Britney

Answer 1

Usually when they say features or traits it means you don't have enough of the symptoms to have full-blown borderline personality disorder, For example.instead of having five or more of the nine indicators on a regular basis, perhaps you meet four of them.  However, your psychiatrist may just be being careful since even among professionals those with BPD get a bad rap, so he may be putting traits to save you from that.  If you want to know for sure, ask him.  Just saw your answer...so you know what he thinks, ask him why he puts the different diagnosis and what he considers the difference.

Answer 2

its all the same honey

Answer 3

Hey. It is not all the same....

It means that you have features and some symptoms related to BPD but do not fit the criteria 100% for full diagnosis of BPD. To be diagnosed BPD, you need to have 5 of the 9 criteria listed in the DSM IV.

Since you have "features," you might only have a couple of the citeria.

Maybe you have 2 of the criteria like self-harm and fear of abandonment. Those are borderline features. But to be diagnosed 100% BPD, you need 5 of the 9 listed criteria in the DSM IV.

ETA:

In "abuse psychology" alot of practioners do not use BPD straight as a diagnosis because they feel it is a negative stima for clients that have been abused.  Therefore, they use PTSD with Borderline Features or Complex-PTSD.  

Also, many insurance companies will NOT cover BPD because the therapy can take along time.  Therefore, clinicians might write PTSD with Borderline Features, because PTSD is considered "more treatable."