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BPD under 18

Gia's picture

According to my psychology teacher:

Children and teenagers are not supposed to be "diagnosed" with Borderline Personality Disorder.

This occured as I tried to pick BPD in children as my school research paper, and she said that, therefore I did not pick that topic.

According to my research, only if the symptoms persist for a year or more, it is possible to diagnose BPD.

I hear the term BPD a lot in this forum, and I wonder, do you just "assume" and "assign" the child/teen this disorder due to the behavior patterns? or is it a formal diagnose?

Orange County Ca's picture

There's a lot of that stuff going around, pop psychology that is.

Age 18 is relatively relative I would say.

And I'm serious about both of those statements.

*********************

There's an exception to everything I say.

now4teens's picture

"The DSM-IV (1994) provided new guidlines for diagnosing BPD in people younger than 18. It states that children can be diagnosed as long as the bordeline traits have persisted for at least one year, and the behavior is not better accounted for by either normal developmental stage, the effects of substance abuse, or a more transient condition, such as depression or an eating disorder.

However, many professionals are still reluctant to diagnose a child or adolescent with BPD because of the stigma associated with the disorder."

These statements are taken from "Stop Walking on Eggshells: Taking Your Life Back When Someone You Care About Has BPD"

Hope it helps.

"Of course things worked out nicely for Carol Brady...she had a live-in maid and Mike's first wife was DEAD!"