Chasing shadows: the borderline schizo chronicles. I have schizophrenia, but not BPD. So I’m half right! Whenever I tell someone I have schizophrenia, I get that look like “that explains it all.”
It gets very tiring. I’m an average person just like everyone else with a few twists. Therefore, if I wasn’t I can guarantee you I wouldn’t be able to do these posts. My words and thoughts would be all over the place.
Basically, I choose to not let those random thoughts and sights to interfere with my daily life. If it gets bad, I just stay to myself and wait it out.
Borderline schizophrenia is an outdated term that was sometimes used to describe someone who has both borderline personality disorder (BPD) and schizophrenia.
BPD and schizophrenia are separate mental health conditions that can share some symptoms, but they are very different.
Simple 6 Triggers for BPD Schizophrenia
Fear of Abandonment
Chasing shadows: the borderline schizo chronicles. I felt like there was abandonment by my mother because she was fighting her own demons. When I was younger, we were very close.
But as I grew up, we kept getting into fights. And then, I just hated her. Hence, she was always full of anger and hatred. Never any peace.
Things changed later on when she was diagnosed with dementia, which kind of explained some of the things going on.
Tip: Accordingly, open communication and reassurance can help alleviate fears of abandonment. It’s important to express intentions clearly and consistently.
Unstable Relationships
I had many of those. Besides, I always picked the wrong friends and the wrong boyfriends. No wonder I don’t have any friends now. Who wants to be with a out of control person?
I just took everything in stride, but it did hurt when they left. Right now, I have only one person I can talk openly to, that is Bryan.
He’s been through the wringer just like me, so he understands me. We were together for 5 years. We just grew apart, but we still communicate with one another.
Tip: Encourage healthy communication and set clear boundaries. It’s also helpful to work on conflict resolution skills and seek therapy to navigate relationship challenges.
Criticism or Perceived Rejection
Chasing shadows: the borderline schizo chronicles. Earlier, I had a lot of criticism and rejection when I was growing up. Mainly by my fellow classmates. I was always the odd man out.
Constant bullying. So, now, I don’t take criticism very well. I’ve become better at it over the last few years only because I changed my attitude of myself.
I look at myself more positively. Although, sometimes the other side comes out as you may have seen in some of my posts and the comment earlier.
Tip: Approach criticism gently and with empathy. Focus on positive reinforcement and provide feedback in a supportive manner.
Stressful Life Events
I created some of my stressful life events with my illnesses. Emphatically, sometimes I would create chaos to seek attention. I craved attention.
And basically, would do literally anything to get it. Even hurt myself. I believe that’s why I was in the hospital so many times.
At length, I never hurt anyone else, but myself. And I kept falling into that pit time after time. I adventually learned to climb out of the pit and stay out of there.
Tip: Provide extra support during stressful times. Encourage the person to seek therapy or counseling to develop coping strategies for managing significant life changes.
Feeling Unsupported or Misunderstood
Chasing shadows: the borderline schizo chronicles. I’ve never felt supported. Comparatively, the people that I thought were supporting me left me. There’s that feeling of abandonment again. I’ve come full circle.
I always felt misunderstood. Nobody understood what I was going through, nor did they try. Even more, I was not able to talk about my feelings except an hour with the therapist.
To this day, no one cares. Although, I’m grateful that I started caring about my own well-being. I’ve somewhat healed myself from the inside out.
Tip: Show empathy and validation. Listen actively and acknowledge their feelings, even if you don’t fully understand their perspective.
Perceived Loss of Control
Years ago, I was loosing control of my life. I lost control over my reactions to perceived threats. Henceforth, I thought everyone was out to get me.
I didn’t know any different until I realized I was spinning out of control. I was heading down a path I didn’t want to be on.
So I turned around, backtracted and I’m on the path I’m on right now. I’m in control of my life once again. It feels exhilarating and I want you to be there also.
Tip: Help them regain a sense of control by breaking tasks into smaller, manageable steps. Encourage them to focus on what they can control and seek professional help to develop effective coping mechanisms.
Symptoms of Borderline Schizophrenia
Chasing shadows: the borderline schizo chronicles. Borderline schizophrenia is a condition that can cause a variety of symptoms, including:
- Firstly, Emotional instability: Intense and rapidly shifting emotions, including anger, hate, and devaluation
- Impulsivity: Dangerous behaviors like spending sprees, reckless driving, or sex without a barrier method
- Negative symptoms: Reduced emotional expression, social withdrawal, or suspicion of others’ motives
- Fourthly, Self-harm: Cutting or other self-harming behaviors
- Suicidal thoughts: Recurring thoughts of suicide
- Psychotic symptoms: Visual or auditory hallucinations, delusions, or disorganized speech
- Dissociation: Feelings of being cut off from oneself or unreality
- Lastly, Relationship issues: Unstable or intense relationships with friends, family, or romantic partners
Altogether, the severity and presence of symptoms can vary from person to person. Psychotic symptoms in borderline schizophrenia are usually brief and occur in response to intense emotional stress.
Therefore, this is different from schizophrenia, where these symptoms are a common and enduring feature.
Other Borderline Schizophrenia Symptoms
- Firstly, Chronic feelings of emptiness and identity disruption.
- Cognitive impairments, such as poor memory and problem-solving abilities.
- Delusions (such as overly suspicious or grandiose beliefs).
- Additionally, Difficulty regulating emotions.
- Difficulty with stress management.
- Lastly, Disorganized or abnormal motor behavior.
Treatments for Borderline Schizophrenia
Medications
Mood stabilizing medications such as valproate, lamotrigine, lithium, and carbamazepine are often prescribed to people with BPD.
Also, they help with the temper anger and reduce mood swings as well as impulsive behavior – both common symptoms of borderline personality disorder.
Around 36% of people being treated with BPD take a mood stabilizer.
Antidepressants
Chasing shadows: the borderline schizo chronicles. Antidepressants (including tetracyclic, tricyclic, MAOIs, and SSRIs) help to reduce the symptoms of depression and are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the world. Explicitly, they can help with grief, sadness, low mood, anxiety and irritability.
It may take a certain amount deal of trial and error to find the right antidepressant for the individual patient as each comes with its advantages and disadvantages.
Antipsychotics
Particularly, the term “borderline” in borderline personality disorder refers to the belief that patients with the disorder are on the border between psychotic and unstable.
Antipsychotics like loxapine, haloperidol, and flupenthixol depot can help reduce some of the psychotic elements of BPD such as suicidal ideation, self-injurious behavior, anger, and psychosis.
While antipsychotics can be helpful to some, they can make symptoms of BPD worse and need to be closely monitored by a mental health professional.
Anti-anxiety
Anti-anxiety drugs work by increasing the amount of GABA in your system. In a word, GABA is a chemical made in the brain that produces a calm, soothing effect. Linking major depression to abnormal GABA activity is proven.
Drugs such as diazepam, alprazolam, lorazepam, and clonazepam are all used to reduce anxiety and panic disorders and can be used successfully to help people with BPD.
Health supplements
Chasing shadows: the borderline schizo chronicles. There’s growing evidence that Omega-3 can improve symptoms of borderline personality disorder, particularly impulsive behavior and emotional dysregulation.
It’s possible to purchase Omega-3 supplements in grocery stores, pharmacies, and online. You can also up your Omega-3 levels by eating oily fish like mackerel, herrings, sardines, and salmon.
Also, walnuts, soybeans, flaxseed, and chia seeds are other great sources of Omega-3.
Taking a Vitamin D supplement can also be hugely beneficial. Roughly 50% of the population is deficient in Vitamin D, which has been linked to depression, anxiety, and mood disorders
Other Treatments
Social Skills Training
Many people with schizophrenia have difficulties with effective social skills. Overall, social skills training aims to correct these deficits by teaching socially appropriate ways to express emotion and make requests, so individuals are more likely to achieve their goals, develop relationships, and live independently. Social skills are taught in a very systematic way using behavioral techniques, such as modeling, role playing, positive reinforcement, and shaping.
Family-Based Services
Chasing shadows: the borderline schizo chronicles. Mental illness affects the whole family. Particularly, family treatment and psychoeducation is one way families can work together towards recovery. The family and clinician meet together to discuss the problems they are experiencing. Nonetheless, families then attend educational sessions where they will learn basic facts about mental illness, coping skills, communication skills, problem-solving skills, and ways to work together toward recovery. Patients who participate in family interventions report fewer psychiatric symptoms, improved work functioning, and improved treatment adherence.
Supported Employment
Markedly, research shows that about 70% of adults with severe mental illness want to work and about 60% can be successfully employed when using Supported Employment. Supported Employment is designed to help people with severe mental illness find and keep competitive employment. Obviously, the approach is characterized by focus on competitive work, rapid job search, absence of prevocational training, and continued support once a job is obtained.
Illness Self-Management
Components of illness self-management include psychoeducation, coping skills training, relapse prevention, and social skills training. Notwithstanding, individuals learn about their psychiatric illness, their treatment choices, medication adherence strategies, and coping skills to deal with stress and symptoms. Likewise, relapse prevention involves recognizing situations that might trigger symptoms, tracking warning signs and symptoms of relapse, and developing a plan to cope with triggers and warning signs to prevent relapse. This treatment approach also teaches individuals social skills in order to improve the quality of their relationships with others.
Main Types of Schizophrenia
Chasing shadows: the borderline schizo chronicles. In particular, the main types of schizophrenia are categorized based on a person’s symptoms:
Paranoid schizophrenia. Thus, the most common type, often exaggerated in the media, this type is characterized by positive symptoms like delusions and hallucinations. Speech and emotions may not be affected.
Hebephrenic schizophrenia. Also known as disorganized schizophrenia, this type typically develops between the ages of 15 and 25. Symptoms include disorganized behaviors and thoughts, short-lasting delusions and hallucinations, and disorganized speech patterns.
Residual schizophrenia. This phase occurs after an episode when symptoms are not completely resolved but are less intense than during the episode. Subsequently, people with residual schizophrenia usually only have negative symptoms or very mild positive symptoms.
Other types of schizophrenia include: catatonic schizophrenia and undifferentiated schizophrenia.
Levels of Schizophrenia
In sum, schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness that usually has symptoms that occur in phases:
- Prodromal: The early phase when symptoms first start to appear
- Active: The phase when symptoms are most noticeable
- Residual: The final phase of schizophrenia
In general, diagnosing the stages of schizophrenia is important for helping people receive the right treatment to manage their condition.
The stages model can also help providers understand how long the condition has been present and how it has progressed.
Can you Have Schizophrenia and be Normal?
I say YES! I’m a perfect example of that. I’ve been taking medicine for years, but it has only somewhat helped. Also, I’ve been on many different meds.
When I have an episode, I try to isolate myself as much as I can, which is probably not the best thing. Put it this way, if they’re really bad, I call the doctor.
I’ve been ‘sober’ since mid-April and enjoying it. I’m still coherent when I have one, so I do know when it is happening.
Sum It All Up
Chasing shadows: the borderline schizo chronicles. In reality, BPD and schizophrenia frequently coexist, and this comorbidity has implications for diagnostic classification and treatment.
Levels of reported childhood trauma are especially high in those with a BPD diagnosis, whether they have schizophrenia or not. Also, this requires assessment and appropriate management.
I’m going to try microdosing as soon as I get paid. A lot of people have said it worked wonders for them. So, I’m hoping it will do the same for me.
I hope it helps with all my mental health problems. We’ll see. Until next time…
Articles About Borderline Schizophrenia
-What to know about borderline schizophrenia
-‘Borderline Schizophrenia’: Can Borderline Personality Disorder and Schizophrenia Cooccur?
https://psychcentral.com/schizophrenia/borderline-schizophrenia#causes
-What Even Is Borderline Schizophrenia?
https://www.charliehealth.com/post/borderline-schizophrenia
Have a Good One,
Cindee Murphy, One Voice In The Vastness Of Emotions
“I still get very high and very low in life. Daily. But I’ve finally accepted the fact that sensitive is just how I was made, that I don’t have to hide it and I don’t have to fix it. I’m not broken.”-Glennon Doyle Melton
“People with BPD are like people with third-degree burns over 90% of their bodies. Lacking emotional skin, they feel agony at the slightest touch or movement.”-Marsha M Linehan
“Having borderline feels like eternal hell. Never knowing how I am going to feel from one minute to the next. Hurting because I hurt those I love.”
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