Yes, you're probably right. I thought she told my husband that she was bipolar (YES, she tracked down my husband on facebook and sent him messages, along with speaking to my biological mother on another site.) She told my husband a month ago that she was sorry for "ruining" my life (as if she has that much power) and that she would stop all the bullshit she's been pulling. Then she was on Twitter today calling me names (before I blocked her AGAIN.)

That diagnosis is very sad for her and all, meanwhile I've been living with her stalking and harassment for the last half dozen years. I don't know her from Adam - she became obsessed with me from my band days - and has been popping up every so often to screw with me. I have to block her once every month or so because she creates fake email addresses and accounts and keeps coming after me. Two years ago I filed a police report after she went on a harassment rampage and then sent me creepy messages talking about where I live(d.)

I cannot prove that she was behind this latest one, but it's totally her MO. What's an innocent victim of one of these BPD people supposed to do about this? I'm honestly concerned that she's a Mark David Chapman, and it's only a matter of time before she tries to hurt me or my family. Every time I think that's an over-reaction, she pops back in and does insane stuff like this. What would you do?

If you email me, I can send some good info your way. I have a lot of personal experience dealing with people with BPD.

You probably mean well, but maybe Gina shouldn't be emailing random people from the blog if there is a person stalking her who is known to make up personas in order to get into her life?

Here are a few links that may be helpful:
http://lessonsinawareness.com/bpd.aspx -- a good overview of BPD. Pay particular attention to the part about splitting -- people with BPD tend to see others as all good or all bad, switching from total love to total devaluation.
http://blog.bennettandbennett.com/2010/07/10-practical-rules-for-dealing-with-the-borderline-personality.html -- dealing with a borderline
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/MOSAIC-Gavin-de-Beckers-Online-Threat-Assessment-Tool -- stalking threat assessment tool (ignore the fact that it's on the Oprah website, it's actually really good.)
http://www.angelfire.com/ga/random/bordr.html -- borderlines are really prone to stalking

And also, I read what your biomom wrote and I think you should definitely take a look at these and see if they ring any bells. I wouldn't be surprised if your mom had BPD.

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Borderline-Mother-Unpredictable-Relationship/dp/0765702886

http://behavioralhealth.typepad.com/markhams_behavioral_healt/2007/06/children_cannot.html

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200707/borderline-walking-the-line

Thanks for all the links.

Oh yeah, my bio-mom has all kinds of problems, but I haven't had enough contact with her to understand WHAT problems they are, and no matter how many run-ins she has with the law, nobody has ever thought to diagnose or treat her (that I know of). I'm not interested in understanding her - she's done too much damage to me already in the very limited contact I've had with her over the last 33 years. I just know that lying, thievery, abuse, delusions, hypochondria, narcissism, and addiction are all a part of her personality, which is why I cut contact with her long ago. I have my own family and mental health to worry about.

BPD is actually my area of expertise, even though I'm now working primarily with people with psychosis. I just wanted to say that you've said that very well.

However, it is appropriate to hold borderline people accountable for their behavior (in a fashion appropriate for their condition.) It's not a free ride to do whatever you want. Taking responsibility for their own feelings is critical to getting better. Yes, they are driven by intense, overwhelming anxieties, and they need and deserve help to get better. They also don't have a free ride to hurt others.

If this is the person I think it is, she IS bipolar. She blogs openly about it. It's not my diagnosis, it's her doctor's, as she says. But I don't personally believe this particular behavior is a manifestation of bipolar disorder. It simply seems sociopathic to me, and THAT would be an armchair diagnosis. I can't think of any other way to make sense of it.

I think the term you're looking for might be sociopath. They know what they are doing is wrong and get their jollies from it, knowing it's wrong.
http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html

Bipolar is a pretty wastebasket diagnosis these days. I don't trust most of the diagnoses to be accurate. And even if she is bipolar, that doesn't mean every single thing she does is a result of bipolar behavior, as you said. Flat out sociopath (which is not a true mental health diagnosis, but rather a social descriptor) seems more accurate, though, we don't know.
What we do know is that it's mean, nasty behavior. Why isn't it enough to just say that? People can choose to do wrong things just because they are twisted and WANT to, not because they have mental illness.

It looks like she has borderline personality disorder (BPD, which I mistook to bi-polar disorder - my mistake.)

I have very personal experience with bipolar being a wastebasket diagnosis, as I was once diagnosed bipolar and medicated with Depakote until a much smarter doctor realized that I am NOT bipolar, I'm just a Type-A personality with depressive tendencies stemming from my abused childhood exacerbated by hormone imbalances and hypothyroidism. So, yeah. I know a little about that.

I googled the person's name out of curiosity and found her twitter account where she talks openly about having borderline personality disorder (BPD) which is different from bipolar disorder (although maybe she is also bipolar?).

Out of curiousity, what patterns do you see that indicate mental disorders on the Mama Tao blog? To me, it's satire- occasionally immature, to be sure, but still just satire. Are you a therapist? (Not trying to be snarky, I am actually curious).

I'm no expert, but after doing a quick google search of this person, I don't think "psychotic" is too far off.

I am an expert (my profession involves working with truly psychotic people daily), and psychotic is completely off.

I think you are seeing that based on what you happen to read. If you look at male dominate sites you see plenty of appalling behavior from guys. Also, on the internet you can claim to be anyone. She could actually be a man pretending to be a woman in the online persona. I don't think we need to dump the blame on women--sadly, there's plenty of deserved blame to go around.

I'd love to think of another word. Help me think of another word. What do you call a person who commits these types of behaviors? What is their condition, if not psychosis?

Gina, as I've said below, it's absolutely nothing like psychosis, which involves loss of contact with reality, usually with delusions and/or hallucinations. It can result in extreme mental and cognitive disorganization. This is completely well thought out, organized, and just plain mean. If you want a mental health term, it's exceedingly antisocial.

She knows it's wrong. She has no delusions, hallucinations, or anything of the kind. She's just wanting to mess with you. Sometimes the simplest words are best. She's mean, she nasty, she's pathetic.

As Maria implied here, it is ableist to assume that behaviour we don't like is automatically a result of some sort of mental illness, rather than that person simply being a jerk. I'd try words that have nothing to do with mental illness to be honest. Maria gave you a few.

I have reason to believe that this person is a long-time stalker named Lisa Ann Jarrett, who is clinically bi-polar, and writes a blog about it. I filed a police report against her for the same type of crap two years ago. She messages me (AND MY FAMILY MEMBERS) at least once a month, and every time I block her, she creates new accounts and finds new ways to contact me. She even knew where I lived and made threatening comments about coming to my last home (which is why I filed the report.) She sends messages telling me that she's sorry for trying to "ruin" my life, and then sends messages the next day calling me names. If she's not behind this, then someone very similar is, and based on all the communications I received from this person, I absolutely believe they are deluded. I believe they actually convinced themselves they were a CoM employee before I told them I knew better. I think THAT's when they snapped back to reality, and, as seen above, they clearly showed no remorse even when getting caught. This person doesn't think there's anything wrong with this behavior. Anti-social? Bi-polar? If it's Lisa Ann Jarrett, then all of the above, and that's the official diagnosis.

I couldn't have said it better myself. It was a silly contest to begin with. In a way I think they won Gina. Now they have a whole post. People are crazy and have nothing better to do. Just be thankful that you have 3 children, a husband, and classes to keep you moving forward.