Was my mother BP?

[Guest guest]

I just joined this forum. Would like to say how much I like that

members respond to and support each other. My mother has been dead

for 12 years now, but her legacy lives on. I am 49 and still looking

for solutions. About 6 months ago, I came across the concept of BPD.

I thought that it fit her pretty closely.

She was under psychiatric treatment a few times in the 60s and 70s,

twice for attempted suicide which she much later claimed were just for

getting attention from her spouses. Once she told me that the doctors

couldn't

diagnose her. She was like the manic-only part of bipolar. She was

always up, never, to my knowledge, depressed. She was a rage and

violence addict only directed at her immediate family. With

" outsiders " she was the picture of propriety and style. She didn't

seem to have a coherent personality in the family context. It was

like we, the core family, were reflections of different parts of her

personality. She could not comprehend, much less respect, the concept

of personal boundries with her family members. Any form of negative

feedback (i.e. critisism) sent her into a violent temper tantrum, like

she was trying to beat out her demons reflected in us. She didn't use

splitting, everyone was the enemy. She did not have an addictive

personality, didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't overeat. She ate

health food and exersized. She was compulsive (out of control) with

money and drove dangerously (we joked that she was the only person who

could red-line in reverse). I would sum up that she was, from sun up

till sun down, like a two year old having a temper tantrum. She was

also verbally abusive and belittling. A good trait, as far as

managing the relationship, was that she worked on the basis of " out

of sight, out of mind " . That is, if you weren't physically present,

she didn't pursue you. I never had phone tirades like some people

report. Fortunately/unfortunatly, I had to NC when I could in my

adolescence (or be beat to a pulp), and didn't get to know her very

well.

Does this description fit the bill? It will be nice to finally put a

name to her disorder.

Thanks for your insight.