Bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder (BPD) can often be confused with each other. Both typically develop in adolescence, involve intense emotions and dramatic mood swings, and can lead to dangerous behavior.
Sometimes, teenagers might be misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder – which is more widely understood – when they might in fact be struggling with BPD.
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The Child Mind Institute has shared some resources about the key differences between BPD and bipolar disorder. For example, episodes of mania or depression last weeks or months with bipolar disorder and can arise without a clear trigger.
In BPD, emotional shifts are rapid and reactive, with moods lasting only minutes or hours and typically triggered by interpersonal stress, rejection, or disappointment.
The Child Mind Institute’s resources explain how to recognize the earliest signs of both disorders in teenagers and why it’s important to catch them as soon as possible. Treatment for the two disorders are very different, and the longer they go untreated or misdiagnosed, the more disruptive they can be to a person’s life.
The resources include:
