QUESTION:

Dear Dr. Heller,

My daughter was diagnosed with BPD some five years ago after displaying many of the features of the disorder in a fulsome horrendous form. However, I have recently read an article by "Mind" (UK) and a reference to your opinion that it is a "neurological illness" and probably a form of epilepsy.

Although my daughter has displayed none of the usual symptoms of epilepsy my late husband, her father, was a diagnosed epileptic with, as we later discovered because it was kept a closely guarded family secret, a well established family pattern of the complaint. His maternal grandfather, a life long sufferer, died during a series of seizures, and his nine children and one daughter displayed a mild form but five of his grandchildren, four females and my husband, inherited the illness - some more acute than the others.

Does the above inherited aspect of the above correspond to your understanding of the BPD in any way?

DR. HELLER'S ANSWER:

Epilepsy means nerve cells firing inappropriately and out of control. Some individuals have a genetically unstable neurological system that can cause epilepsy in different areas. This instability in the instinctual "trapped, cornered, wounded animal" response causes the BPD. Some other common disorders are likely epileptic in origin including bipolar disorder, diabetic neuropathy, trigeminal neuralgia and migraines.

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