Comorbidity: Having Multiple Disorders

     Many of you may be aware of the fact that Borderline Personality (or other mental health problems) is not the only thing causing you grief and illness in your life.  Often a mental illness is accompanied by one or more additional diagnoses.  These illnesses may go undetected when they are lost in the shadows from the limelight cast on the main problem, whether it be depression, anxiety, BPD, etc.

     Doctor Leland Heller specifies some of these comorbid disorders in his teachings/literature about BPD.  He has focused on Attention Deficit Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder among others, but I would also like to add some extra conditions I have found to be common.  The importance in explaining these hidden disorders is to make people aware that even when they are treating the prevailing illness they struggle with, it is also necessary to treat underlying problems as well.  By underlying problems, I don't mean just talk therapy or addressing past traumas.  I want to stress the need for medical attention to all of the illnesses that can plague one's mental health.

     Because the main disorder is so hideous to deal with, the accompanying disorders are often forgotten in the treatment process.  The disorders listed above are common with Borderline, but the tendency is the same in many cases.  Some other things I have noticed with BPD are low self-esteem, self-destructive disorder, dissociative disorders, other mood disorders, and eating disorders.  Once you think of the effects of having Borderline, it seems natural that they would accompany our illness.

    Although there is a multitude of studies, information, and treatment processes, I cannot fit all this information into this blog.  I encourage you to look up some of the research.  Most importantly, though, I encourage you to address ALL of your body's issues.  You don't want a portion of mental health, you want it all!!!  And you can have it when you are willing to acknowledge and seek treatment for the multitude of complications that come along with having a mental disorder.  It's a long, hard fight, but I assure you, it is worth it!

What kind of combinations of illnesses are you experiencing?