BPD & Autism: The Untold Connection! - The BPD Bunch S6E4

What if the emotional struggles you face with BPD are connected to undiagnosed autism?

Join Xannie, Carys, and special guests Toni and John, as they share what it’s like to live with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Autism, or both! This discussion unravels the nuances of living with both diagnoses, exploring how they manifest in daily life, emotions, and relationships. Whether you’re struggling with BPD, Autism, or know someone who is, this episode aims to shed light on common experiences and provide valuable insights.

Friday we'll wrap up this conversation, sharing how we manage our various diagnoses in social settings, like parties.

April 9th we'll be back to talk about BPD & Non-Therapy Tools for Recovery! Can't wait until then? Sign up for our "BPD Buddies" or "BPD Besties" tiers on Patreon to get early access to an exclusive extended cut of next week's episode NOW! https://www.patreon.com/thebpdbunch

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Criteria for an Autism diagnosis (in layman's terms):

A. Ongoing difficulties with social communication and interaction in different contexts, shown by problems with:

- Responding to others emotionally or socially.

- Using body language and facial expressions to communicate.

- Making and keeping relationships (romantic or platonic), and understanding social cues.

B. Restricted, repetitive behaviors, interests, or activities, shown by two of the following:

- Repeating certain movements, using objects in a repetitive way, or repeating phrases.

- Wanting everything to stay the same, sticking to routines, or following strict patterns in behavior.

- Having very specific interests that are much more intense than what is typical.

- Being hyper- or hypo- reactive to things you see, hear, or feel in the environment.

C. Symptoms need to appear in early childhood, but may not be fully noticeable until later when social situations become more challenging, or they might seem less obvious because of learned coping strategies.

D. These symptoms must significantly impact multiple areas of daily life, such as in social situations, work, or other important areas.

E. These issues cannot be explained better by a general intellectual disability or global developmental delay. Autism and intellectual disabilities can occur together, but for a diagnosis of both, social communication skills must be lower than expected for the person's overall development.

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About Us: The BPD bunch is a YouTube talk show, featuring a panel of people who are in functional recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder. Each week we discuss BPD-related topics to help give you insights into the different ways BPD can be expressed in someone’s life. We also cover the different paths we followed on our recovery journeys to give you hope and direction for your own ❤️ Thank you for being on this journey of healing with us!

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Disclaimer:Although several of our panelists work in the mental health field, we are all coming to you as people in functional recovery from BPD, and are not here to provide professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.