"Personality disorder diagnosis 'turned my life upside down'"

Personality disorder diagnosis 'turned my life upside down' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3w8517wd02o

"For some, the diagnosis of a personality disorder can be a route to treatment and understanding. But others have said their diagnosis has led to mistreatment and stigma."

There is an awful lot of stigma around the diagnosis of personality disorder. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) in particular, carries lots of stigma despite an estimated 1-3% of the population living with the condition.

The reason(s) for the stigma are complex but probably in part relate to the symptoms of BPD - emotional instability, disturbed patterns of thinking or perception, impulsive behaviour, intense but unstable relationships with others - and much like in other psychatric conditions, the 'fear' around something like BPD and (exaggerated) perceptions of 'unstableness' for those with a diagnosis.

This article talks about an important topic on the potential 'misdiagnosis' of personality disorder, often delivered when complex cases come to clinical attention. 'Autism' is also mentioned in this news piece, as a potential alternative diagnosis - "is now waiting for an autism assessment" - and illustrates some important points, not least that there is sometimes significant overlap between the presentation of BPD and some phenotypes of autism.

It's a difficult topic to discuss in some quarters, and science is still 'feeling its way through' such overlap and the hows-and-whys. The recent paper by Zavlis & Tyrer: The interface of autism and (borderline) personality disorder https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/interface-of-autism-and-borderline-personality-disorder/65B36665CFAE841DC852F68996AD9ED6 provides a really good 'where we're at' appraisal of this topic, not least highlighting that there is overlap and that needs to be taken into account when assessments are done.

I'm also coming around to the idea that in amongst the huge heterogeneity that is 'the autisms' for some, autism - a childhood developmental disorder - may well 'morph' into something more approaching a personality disorder. We know, for example, that in an estimated in 1 in 10 cases, autism 'progresses' to schizophrenia: Diagnostic progression to schizophrenia: A nationwide cohort study of 11 170 adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36057134/ It stands to reason that other 'progressions' are potentially possible, and certainly would account for some occasions of overlap between the two conditions. More study - minus hype, hesitency, or neurobabble - are required.