Approach this with some caution and reserve. One of the interesting things about Personality Disorders is that the people who have them are incapable of seeing themselves as dysfunctional. Therefore, recognizing yourself in these disorders almost certainly means you do not have them.

This information is not meant to help you diagnose yourself or someone else. Even if you are right, and someone you know has a personality disorder, there are few things less productive and more damaging than deciding to tell them about it.

Personality Disorders, particularly Borderline Personality Disorder, have many similar behaviors as codependents. The hallmark experience that unites them is a petrifying fear of abandonment.

This is negotiated by each major personality disorder controlling their loved ones in a different way. Borderlines manipulate, Narcissists use power, Dependents use pity, Histrionics use sex, and Bipolars are complicated.

Codependents often use a unique mix of some or all of these control strategies.