BPD and ADHD Explained: Unraveling the Connection

hi my name is dr. Daniel Fox licensed psychologist in state of Texas and an expert in the area of personality disorders and today we're going to talk about the intersection of BPD and ADHD and in this video we're going to examine that overlap now this is a complicated combination and it poses a lot of challenges to not only the individuals who have both of these diagnoses or one of the other and they're trying to tease them out but also those mental health providers and those health providers that are also trying to treat them and work with them so that they can do things differently and be able to have more control over themselves and their life and it is my hope that this video will help you do that and if you liked the video I hope you'll check out some of my other ones or subscribe and of course as always please leave any comments I try to read them as much as I can but also I know that the comments are really helpful to other folks who watch the videos as well so let's get to it so ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder and it is characterized by inattention hyperactivity and impulsivity now BPD is characterized by erratic and dramatic responses to internal and external stimuli and you think so okay you've described both these videos these videos both of these disorders and how can they overlap they're described so differently but there is a lot of confusion and we're gonna get we're going to keep going into that and what the research has found is that 60% of those that are diagnosed with BPD as adults were diagnosed with ADHD in children that's sixty percent that's a lot now about eighteen to twenty seven percent of adults with ADHD have comorbid BPD that's also a lot it can be as much as a quarter of those with ADHD also have BPD as well now individuals with ADHD and BPD tend to have more problems in school more problems at work they have greater they're at greater risk for substance abuse have more negative interactions with police so there's a lot of personal ramifications to this as well now they also have more issues with relationships and that's a very very complex area for them so you see that these two disorders even on their own can be very disruptive but together I think it really exacerbates and makes it much more complex and difficult for those individuals to manage to identify and build that sense of knowledge and control and that's what we're doing here we're building that sense of knowledge and control and there is a lot of confusion as I mentioned about that intersection between BPD and ADHD now in adolescents and adults it's difficult to distinguish ADHD and BPD because both disorders they share a lot of surface structure features such as disorganization impulsivity social intrusiveness emotional dysregulation and cognitive distraction and emotional dysregulation so I'm going to define emotional dysregulation cognitive distress dysregulation for you so emotional dysregulation now these are angry outbursts or behaviors such as destroying or throwing objects aggression toward self or others and threats to kill oneself now cognitive distraction this is paranoia and disassociation for example a so distinguishing characteristics between BPD and ADHD are those issues often seen in those with BPD so we need to do is we're going to separate BPD from ADHD to help you sort of identify that and this is where my approach and if you see them in other videos that I talked about core content and surface structure content and surface structure what we just talked about those surface structure behaviors right that they're very similar that's where a lot of confusion is I think that is for most disorders particularly when we determine personality disorders because personality disorders are driven by core content and core content for BPD tends to be abandonment emptiness worthlessness and it's different for everybody that's why it's so so important to identify what your core content is it really builds a sense of knowledge and that knowledge helps you build empowerment to control your behavior and have better control over your life okay but so that core content of BPD is driving that surface structure behavior but it's that overlap it's that complex combination that makes it so difficult that comorbidity of BPD and ADHD and impulsivity is the greatest overlap and we see this it's in a lot of the research I put to research studies citations at the end of the comments section for you to check out if you want to read more about this and impulsivity though it's consistently identified in both through the research now it is the tends to be the root of all of this confusion although it is it has the same name it is very different in surface structure presentation related to that core content so we're gonna do is we're gonna dive into it we're gonna talk about ADHD impulsivity BPD impulsivity as well to give you a flavor for it little flavor for you okay so ADHD now impulsivity in ADHD includes this you run around or you may climb in situations where it's inappropriate adolescents or adults it's often you get this feeling of being restless I gotta go I gotta go I gotta go okay on you're unable to play or engage in leisure activities quietly and so you're into a lot of things moving a lot of things disrupting a lot of things you're often on the go as it's driven by a motor now you're unable to be or you're uncomfortable for extended amount of time this can be like in restaurants airplanes or meetings for adults right that you're trying to sit quietly and listen but you can't you got to go right maybe you're a clicker pen clicker right or are you a tapper right it's this restlessness it's that impulsivity got to go gotta go and you can't relax you can't slow down now you may be seen as restless are difficult to keep up with because you're on the go go go these folks are on the go go go hey and talk successively you complete other people's sentences to try to hurry along that conversation you cannot wait for your turn in conversations you blurt out answers before the question is even completed being asked you have difficulty waiting your turn if you're in line playing a game or even for an event to come up you you're just ready like okay I'm ready I'm ready right I got to go gotta go gotta get in there got to get in there gotta get involved gotta get active gotta do - - so you go go go and the last one is that you butt into conversations games or activities now you interrupt or intrude on others in adolescents or adults you may interfere or take over what other people are doing so that's ADHD impulsivity now let's discuss BPD impulsivity now in BPD impulsivity it's in at least two potentially damaging areas okay so it can be on spending sprees it can be sex substance abuse reckless driving binge eating now this may sound like well isn't that a manic episode those can be components of a manic episode I did do a video on bipolar disorder and BPD I'll put that link here but this is different because what this is is that you see that it's a continuance of behavior to engage in these things whereas manic episodes tend to be episodic right so manic episodes you see that you hit that high high for a period of time and once that period of time is over it starts to slide down their episodic in in bipolar disorder BPD they're not their responses - go go go when you're impulsive and a lot of times there are there are situational triggers that set you off so that's where time right here that impulsivity okay and again just to quickly go over it right it's spending spending sprees sex substance abuse reckless driving and binge eating but it's also acting on the spur of the moment in response to immediate stimuli something shows up you do it hey you're acting on a momentary basis without a plan or consideration of outcome you have difficulty establishing or following plans it's a sense of urgency sometimes this can include self-harming behaviors when you're under emotional distress now another component to consider particularly for those with with BPD his anxiousness and anxiousness can drive impulsivity it's it's this teakettle all right so my grandma she used to have this old old coffee pot it was this big silver copper pot and you plugged it in right it wasn't a k-cup I mean you know this is the 70s come on but and it was this it was this coffee pot and you plug in this coffee pot right and then it had this little clear top you know tiny little clear top and when the coffee was ready it would start to you could see it percolate and pop in there and I think for for VPT this is an image that when I'm working with my clients or I'm talking to somebody and I think oh that's my grandma's coffee pot because it's percolating and I think this anxiousness is part of what studs off that percolate and if you were to pull off my grandma's coffee pot the coffee would pop out and that's BPD right it's that anxiousness going going going don't go and gotta go go go right and then you take off the top and and out you go and that's that impulsivity you know let's talk about anxiousness is that your drive to react carelessly that's kind of what it is we talk about anxiousness - impulsivity now anxiousness in BPD this is intense feeling of nervousness and tenseness or panic often in reaction to interpersonal stress or worry so you're worried about something something maybe about a friend a loved one attacks that was not responded we talked about social media just very recently I'll put a link here if you want to see that and about responding to social media or about some social interaction or an issue that happens at work or whatever that interpersonal world is that creates that anxiousness that drives that impulsivity so it also can be worried about the negative effects of past unpleasant experiences and future negative possibilities a lot of folks with with BPD they tend to be there pessimistic about the future they tend to think that this is something I'm going to have my whole life and then some of there's nothing I can do with and there's something I can't help and there's something that I'm just sort of stuck to and chained to I'm just gonna have to do what it tells me to do and I'm just gonna have to be forced to that that's when people come to me and we're gonna like whoa we got to slow it down because we've got to slow it down I'm gonna do a video on slowing yourself down so that your BPD that BPD lens we talked about that before as well that that doesn't have so much control so you can build this sense of control you can manage BPD because you can okay but I'm not done I got more on anxiousness hey and it's feeling fearful as well apprehensive or threatened by uncertainty it's also fears of falling apart or losing control it's like you can't hold it anymore so you engage in impulsivity right it goes back to my grandma's coffeepot now I hope that that this has helped you right does this help you get the difference between the two between ADHD and BPD you can really get a sense of the feel for it as as we went through it and now this is not to diagnose yourself this video is not for you to say okay see well I do have BPD I do have ADHD what this is its to help you gain knowledge and build insight to help you understand parts of yourself and your core content that drives that surface structure behavior because that is critical and we know that BPD an adult ADHD have distinct and specific underlying patterns of personality traits and personality pathology knowing this can help you identify the different aspects of your own personality right whether it's BPD BPD traits whether you also have 88 ADHD or if you don't and this can help you build that sense of understanding into those maladaptive and adaptive tendencies what we want to do is we want to decrease maladaptive tendencies and increase adaptive tendencies and that's where we get that sense of control that's where you get that sense of control on BPD okay and it's really critical and it is where this knowledge can help you feed your empowerment to get and gain a greater sense of control over yourself and your life I hope you found this video helpful please leave any comments and subscribe and thanks a lot take care bye bye

Channel: Dr. Daniel Fox

Views: 107,833

Keywords: bpd and adhd, borderline personality disorder treatment, bpd and stress, bpd treatment, dr daniel fox borderline personality disorder, dr fox borderline personality disorder, dr fox bpd, impulsive, impulsivity, life hacks, self improvement, ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, attention deficit disorder, adhd symptoms, symptoms of adhd, signs of adhd, bpd symptoms, mental illness, personality disorder, bpd, mental health, borderline personality disorder

Id: k1rmQfxw3tY

Length: 13min 21sec (801 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 09 2019