Q. I'm a graduate student in clinical psychology and also have BPD. For my class in personality assessment, I was required to administer the MMPI2 to myself and found I had 3 elevations in with the highest in the area of psychopathic deviance, second was hypomania, and last was schizophrenia. Is this typical of someone suffering from BPD? Also, I was curious if my medication was typical for a borderline. I'm taking 200 of Luvox, 50 of Revia (substance abuse problem), 200 of Topamax, 5 of Zyprexa. Thank you for your time.
A. BPD is a hodgepodge of many illnesses. In this sense, it is not different from depression, asthma, diabetes, bipolars, headaches, and so on. Therefore, there is not a single elevation in MMPI scores that predict the illness. Your personal scores are not unusual for someone with BPD.
Normal meds for someone with BPD is a tougher question. Since the BPD is really a syndrome, there is not a single treatment. Luvox is very good, but I got better results at 300-400 mg daily. Topamax is good for weight loss. Zyprexa is not something I use much at all. I am not sure what it is being used for in your case, so I will defer from commenting on it. If it is for anxiety, you might want to consider using Serzone instead.