Article from ADDitude - ADHD &/or BPD

https://www.additudemag.com/adhd-and-bpd-women-borderline-personality-disorder/

Title -When Women Battle ADHD and Borderline Personality Disorder

A bunch of QUOTES" (just added more)

Does BPD Camouflage ADHD Symptoms?

There is a lot of overlap between the symptoms of the two disorders. The experience of women with ADHD, BPD, or both is characterized by difficulties in self-regulation; feelings, behavior, relationships, and sense of self are chronically unstable. They are challenged by impulsivity and emotional volatility, especially in managing anger. In both disorders, impulsivity can lead to gambling, financial troubles, eating disorders, substance abuse, and unsafe sex.

Both groups are hypersensitive to sensory changes. With either or both disorders, the battle to self-regulate leads women to feel ashamed, unsupported, and alone, struggling with anxiety, depression, rage, panic, and despair. In some cases, the more dramatic BPD symptoms can camouflage the more classic ADHD symptoms.

There are clear differences between the two diagnoses as well. The core symptoms of ADHD, such as persistent inattention, distractibility, and hyperactivity, are not among the criteria for BPD. Stress-related dissociative symptoms and paranoid thoughts that may occur in BPD are not ADHD symptoms. While women with either disorder may experience despair, women with ADHD are more likely to be responding to the shame and demoralization they feel about the choices they’ve made. Women with BPD are more likely to feel hopeless and frantic in response to perceived losses in relationships.

Does Trauma Contribute to BPD?

It is not surprising that childhood neglect and abuse increases the risk for developing a range of disorders as adults. In fact, studies have found that women with ADHD and BPD often have traumatic early histories. It is likely that early childhood trauma can exacerbate ADHD symptoms and contribute to the development of BPD. ADHD histories are more strongly associated with neglect and physical and emotional abuse, while BPD histories are more likely to involve emotional and sexual abuse. At least a quarter of those women with BPD will suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There is also a high degree of overlap between PTSD and ADHD behaviors, including inattention, impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, and restlessness. Women with ADHD and BPD have been shown to have the highest levels of neglect in their histories.

The presentations of ADHD and PTSD can be remarkably similar. The state of hyper-arousal that typifies trauma survivors closely mimics the appearance of hyperactivity. Similarly, the dissociative state that can typify other trauma survivors closely mimics inattention. 
Stress-related dissociation is often a response to trauma in Borderline women, but it is usually not seen in ADHD. Since many women with ADHD are predominantly inattentive, differentiating between inattentive symptoms of ADHD and dissociative symptoms of trauma is challenging. Some women diagnosed with ADHD may have BPD, and may be manifesting the symptoms of early chronic trauma.

Take-Home Messages for Women

As emotional dysregulation becomes more widely accepted as a core symptom of adult ADHD, its overlap with BPD becomes of greater importance. For women with ADHD, emotional hyper-reactivity is a prime symptom that undermines their sense of control. As an ADHD comorbidity, BPD heightens the chaotic experience of understanding the self and managing relationships. Managing the symptoms of ADHD and BPD gets more difficult as time goes on.

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oh so interesting - I know this all seems much of a muchness in some ways & why is it important to know..... most of the causes involved are the same, either neglect or trauma on some or other level......so in that respect natural treatment is going to be broadly the same......guess i'm just curious