transient sociopathic behaviors - but what about....

[Guest guest]

The post about the theory that the borderline pd condition lends itself to

" transient " sociopathic (aka psychopathic) behaviors has got me thinking. I

think the guy really is onto something.

However, it made me remember something that the BPD in my life (though very XLC

because I moved several states away) used to say to me. (This is not my nada who

is dead.) This person would get very angry about something - or nothing really,

you know how that is - and then either ask me to leave her alone, or she would

put herself out. Her parting comment was that she was so angry she was afraid

she was going to hurt me and she didn't want to hurt me.

It was as if she had one foot in the sociopathic place, and the other in some

form of reality and trying to cling to that reality. Sadly, this was several

years ago and I guess those might have been the last vestiges of something that

might have resembled empathy - because I didn't hang around town to find out.

But the question is, has anyone seen this sort of thing? Is it drama queen

histrionics or some break into reality?

Flowers in Oz

[Guest guest]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I too wonder about such things.

I think that in the article I linked to that you're referencing, the author's

theory is that with borderlines, when they trigger into an extreme rage, their

capacity for empathy evaporates to nothing and that's what makes them have

transient psychosis.

Regarding psychosis in relation to schizophrenia, I recently watched a

documentary about the genius mathematician, Nash, who suffered from

schizophrenia. The film " A Beautiful Mind " was based on his life story. The

documentary was more authentic than the film (which is usually the case;

filmmakers usually want to make their protagonist more appealing and sympathetic

than he or she probably was in real life) and the documentary even included

interviews of Nash himself, his family and his wife.

Apparently with schizophrenia, its possible for the patient to be *aware* that

he or she has breaks with reality, and comprehend that the voices he's hearing

or the people he's seeing aren't really there. Nash became aware that parts of

his mind were " broken " and were making him see, hear, and believe things that

weren't rational or true. He was able to use his willpower to ignore the

hallucinations and delusions, accept that they were not real, and just force

himself to think rationally so he could work without taking meds that dulled his

intellect.

My nada (who has been formally diagnosed with bpd, twice) is now at a point

where she hallucinates much of the time. Apparently on some level she is aware

that the people she sees are not real (she mostly sees my dad and his mother,

whom she knows are both deceased) and yet she also says that they seem very real

and alive to her (as opposed to appearing to be ghosts or spirits.) She has

other delusions as well (that hidden cameras are stashed all around her home, so

that unknown " people " can spy on her) but apparently this seems more real to

her.

So, part of my nada's brain is betraying and deceiving her with very realistic,

believable images and beliefs, but part of her brain/mind realizes that these

are hallucinations and delusions that can't be real. Very perplexing and

amazing, the human brain and mind.

So, I'm reading about this sort of thing and like you, trying to understand more

about things like psychosis, or the state of not being able to tell whether

something is real or not.

-Annie

>

>

> The post about the theory that the borderline pd condition lends itself to

" transient " sociopathic (aka psychopathic) behaviors has got me thinking. I

think the guy really is onto something.

>

> However, it made me remember something that the BPD in my life (though very

XLC because I moved several states away) used to say to me. (This is not my nada

who is dead.) This person would get very angry about something - or nothing

really, you know how that is - and then either ask me to leave her alone, or she

would put herself out. Her parting comment was that she was so angry she was

afraid she was going to hurt me and she didn't want to hurt me.

>

> It was as if she had one foot in the sociopathic place, and the other in some

form of reality and trying to cling to that reality. Sadly, this was several

years ago and I guess those might have been the last vestiges of something that

might have resembled empathy - because I didn't hang around town to find out.

>

> But the question is, has anyone seen this sort of thing? Is it drama queen

histrionics or some break into reality?

>

> Flowers in Oz

>