Borderline is Like Being Color Blind..... Kinda
Having Borderline is Like Being Color Blind..... Kinda.
Here's the deal: Borderline Personality Disorder is an emotion regulation personality disorder. At it's simplest form that means that a person with BPD has a very very hard time regulating emotion. And a really really hard time responding to stimuli properly. The reason we have a hard time responding appropriately is because we don't interpret reality the same way. We usually see it, but don't SEE it the same way, if that makes ANY sense. 😊
And this is where the color blind analogy comes in...
Everyone has rods and cones in their eyes. The jobs of the rods and cones is to convert light to something the brain can understand so we can see the world. The cones are for seeing things in the light. Rods convert information when we're in darker areas. Sometimes, in people that are colorblind the rods and cones are there, but they malfunction. They see some colors as all the same-ish color. My dad, for example, sees shades of blue, shades of green, and some shades of gray as all nearly the same color. Maybe a different hue, but it's still the same color. Light or dark gray, for example.
So let's imagine that the rods and cones are the brain and borderline personality disorder is like being color blind. Borderlines can look right at reality and not always interpret it the same way.
For example: You see two women talking to each other at a company picnic and they're close enough for you to hear.
Woman A: Oh wow. I hate when you wear those pants. I'm always jealous my butt doesn't look like that in jeans.
Woman B: Oh stop! I'm sure you look great in jeans!
That seems normal to you, right? Right. Essentially, yeah. That'd be a fairly normal exchange.
Now, let's see what happens when woman B has BPD.
Woman A: Oh wow. I hate when you wear those pants. I'm always jealous my butt doesn't look like that in jeans.
Woman B automatically jumps to thinking, "That bitch just said she hates me because of my jeans?! how petty!"
The stimulus is the same. Woman A said the same thing in exactly the same tone. But Woman B converts the information in a completely different way. A common theme for borderline personality patients is the difficulty to hear or translate positive or neutral information.
So this is the end of my analogy. :) Not sure if it makes a whole lot of sense, but it's what I've got. Have a great day!!
Here's the deal: Borderline Personality Disorder is an emotion regulation personality disorder. At it's simplest form that means that a person with BPD has a very very hard time regulating emotion. And a really really hard time responding to stimuli properly. The reason we have a hard time responding appropriately is because we don't interpret reality the same way. We usually see it, but don't SEE it the same way, if that makes ANY sense. 😊
And this is where the color blind analogy comes in...
Everyone has rods and cones in their eyes. The jobs of the rods and cones is to convert light to something the brain can understand so we can see the world. The cones are for seeing things in the light. Rods convert information when we're in darker areas. Sometimes, in people that are colorblind the rods and cones are there, but they malfunction. They see some colors as all the same-ish color. My dad, for example, sees shades of blue, shades of green, and some shades of gray as all nearly the same color. Maybe a different hue, but it's still the same color. Light or dark gray, for example.
So let's imagine that the rods and cones are the brain and borderline personality disorder is like being color blind. Borderlines can look right at reality and not always interpret it the same way.
For example: You see two women talking to each other at a company picnic and they're close enough for you to hear.
Woman A: Oh wow. I hate when you wear those pants. I'm always jealous my butt doesn't look like that in jeans.
Woman B: Oh stop! I'm sure you look great in jeans!
That seems normal to you, right? Right. Essentially, yeah. That'd be a fairly normal exchange.
Now, let's see what happens when woman B has BPD.
Woman A: Oh wow. I hate when you wear those pants. I'm always jealous my butt doesn't look like that in jeans.
Woman B automatically jumps to thinking, "That bitch just said she hates me because of my jeans?! how petty!"
The stimulus is the same. Woman A said the same thing in exactly the same tone. But Woman B converts the information in a completely different way. A common theme for borderline personality patients is the difficulty to hear or translate positive or neutral information.
So this is the end of my analogy. :) Not sure if it makes a whole lot of sense, but it's what I've got. Have a great day!!
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