Member of my care team told me this, is it true?

Ellyx · 14-08-2012, 07:55 PM

There is still the question as to do i have Borderline Personality Disorder, and a psychatrist said to me today "Lots of people with BPD deliberatly seek hospital admissions"

Can anyone provide any links or give and experiance that could confirm or proove it to be not true? I don't believe it is true, but i just want it clarafying.

DollyPOP · 14-08-2012, 09:30 PM

I've heard something similar ,they're known to be attention seeking and threaten suicidal behaviour more than acting on it.

Tig · 14-08-2012, 09:52 PM

I haven't seen any reading on it either way but I think it's quite a common thought within mental health teams about BPD.

I don't think it's neccessarily about the attention, or at least not directly. So people with BPD aren't sitting at home thinking "I want attention so I will hurt myself to get it". It is usually because somebody with BPD might not have the skills to ask for help or to help themselves in a safe and effective manner. So in that case, they might go to behaviours that they have learnt to get through things in the past.

Quite often I think when treating somebody with BPD it's important to teach the patient new skills to get through a crisis but also ways to ask for help in a non-harming way, so for example setting up a detailed crisis plan.

My experience of this has been in discussion with psychotherapy because it really upset me hearing the common misconception surround BPD and attention seeking. It helped to hear that usually it was because of a lack of understanding in care professionals about why patients behave in a certain way.

Hope this helps. x

Imperfect.Star · 14-08-2012, 09:52 PM

It can be true. Of course even amongst people with BPD there are significant individual differences. Some do seek an admission in order to feel 'safe' or prolong them as they quickly become dependent on the support and attention available in hospital. This may not be a conscious thing though.

Azmodan · 15-08-2012, 10:01 PM

I'm not sure that this is the same, but last time I was in hospital (I was 18 and kinda fragile at the time) I was in for a long time, and half of that was purely because I couldn't face leaving.

Cacoethes · 15-08-2012, 10:34 PM

i have finally accepted that i am institutionalised, but at the same time really hate being in hospital?

so im not too sure if i subconsciously deliberately seek hospital admissions.

i think there are a lot of variables here and it cant really be said in such a black and white way.
but it probably can be true.

earthbound_misfit · 18-08-2012, 08:36 PM

I've had this said about me before, and it really annoyed me! At the time I did want to go to hospital, but only because I thought that meant I'd get treatment and thus get better. Bearing in mind I had struggled for a long time alone and thought seeking help was a sensible way forward.
I find the same thing across mental health care - often if you stand up for yourself and fight for treatment to help you get better you get labelled as demanding or attention-seeking.

Also with the hospital thing, I sometimes would like to go in when my depression is really bad just for some relief when I am struggling to even wash or eat. I also have hoped to be admitted at some crisis points for the same reason. I didn't like the hopsital the one time I was there so it's not as if I'd want to stay very long, or very often, just there have been points when it'd have really helped.

I find the mental health services in general seem to be rather conceited in thinking I want to spend lots of time with them/be heavily involved. The only reason I want to be involved with them is so I can get better and get the hell outta there cos I HATE being involved with them!

Oh I just thought of another thing - people with BPD feel things very deeply and I guess others can't understand their pain so can be quite dismissive, even nasty, rather than giving them a hug or whatever. So if they are admitted to hospital, people they know might begin to understand or show compassion because it validates their pain is 'real'. I have to say the people who found out I was in hospital last year were much more supportive than before.