i think i may have borderline personality disorder, how can i be sure?

Go to the doctors and explain your symptoms. Tell them you think you have bipolar and other people agree, and you'd like to see a mental health worker. All GP's surgeries have mental health professionals who frequent them, and they will easily be able to arrange an appointment for you. Only after you've seen a doctor and mental health professional can they diagnose you for sure. If you really do have BPD, then there is very effective medication to control it. But don't start taking any medication until you have seen a GP *and* a mental health professional. Sometimes GPs are overworked and will just throw pills at you before diagnosing you properly, so insist you need to see both. Good luck!

Borderline is a very stigmatizing diagnosis, among the worst. You don't want to shop for that diagnosis. Most people who have it are women who were molested as children, so there is a big controversy about whether or not this is a very sexist and destructive label. I think wikiepedia covers that issue. Often, mental health professionals use borderline diagnosis as a code to other therapists to avoid that patient like the plague. I learned this off psychiatry blogs and places like that. My social worker says she doesn't know about that part of it, but she says the discrimination against people with borderline is just terrible, from other mental health workers. She is a crusader in her office over that issue. Below is my stock answer: If you really want to go the route of getting a borderline diagnosis, then call around and find a therapist who teaches DBT, dialectical behavior therapy, first. A lot of therapists will not deal with borderline. then go to that therapist, and sign up for a DBT class. It's an intense educational program that lasts a year, or so, once a week, and you see your therapist once a week. You learn to identify your emotions, cope with them, communicate better with other people etc. Most people with borderline went thru really bad abuse as children - usually sexual abuse, but sometimes severe emotional abuse. So there are some really distorted thinking patterns that you have to train yourself out of, and that takes consistent effort over a long period of time. Even people without borderline benefit from DBT. My mental health worker & I have had many talks about DBT, cuz I use parts of the training to deal with my bipolar problems (I don't have abandonment or other issues, just severe chronic despair). the coping skills alone are worthy of learning - have helped me quite a bit.