Hm..yes, Subtype Discouraged Borderline Personality does have several similiar characteristics that do fit Dylan, and many of them are a spot-on matchup to Avoidant Personality Disorder though a bit more expanded including emotional, angry outburst issues. However, I think one of the central characteristics of this disorder appears to be the “co-dependent clinginess” factor which trips me up because I don’t think that entirely applies to Dylan. Actually, the “passive-follower” emphasis brings to mind a bit of Dave Cullen’s pigeonholing? 😉 Overall, I don’t see Dylan as clingy but just the opposite, he seemed more detached, disconnectly chill, in relationships (but who knows..this type of borderline trait might’ve kicked in full gear if he found a girlfriend who decided to break it off with him? ) Dylan had several friendships that he maintained throughout the years. Zach and Eric were Dylan’s two closest friends but he did not seem to be clingy in regard to either. Dylan’s loyalties shifted more towards Eric because Zach suddenly became preocuppied with his steady girlfriend but also because he had found a shared mutual necessity with Eric and that’s why he, by choice, stayed aligned with him. Dylan was sad and angry that his best friend, Zach was taken by a girlfriend but I think his mourning is within the normal scope of rejected feelings when the best buddy is no longer spending as much time with him. Eric, on the other hand, had more of the ‘clingy’ thing about him in comparison to Dylan, he was ‘all or nothing’ with the few friends he did have, and he also was super annoyingly clingy with various girls he tried to date – so in that respect, he was a dash Discouraged Subtype BPD but, really to me, Eric reads as more of a slam dunk for Petulant Subtype BPD 🙂 Anyway, I do agree with you that Discouraged BPD and Avoidant Personality Disorder have quite a lot of overlapping symptoms in common and can see why you say it’s essentially AvPD comorbid with BPD. I’m almost with you on it for Dylan – just a nope on the ‘clingy’ aspect of Discouraged BPD.
I think it’s a good possibilty that Dylan had Dysthymia coupled with double depression. The only thing that makes me not fully embrace Dysthymia is that some people described Dylan as being ‘hyper’ at times. I don’t know how often he was hyper but I recall that some observed him as the more “hyper active”one at work in comparison to Eric. I think this was described of him in school too but I cannot recall the specific instance but I’m thinking one of Robyn’s friends said this. Anyway, this makes me wonder if he had some lesser bipolar symptoms occuring along side the chronic major depressive disorder. Then again, it’s possible he could have been temporarily hyperactive a short period of time by way of external influences too. This was before energy drinks were big but maybe he bought over-the-counter speed dietary supplements which contained ephedra (banned since 2006) to boost his energy level so he could function. This might also explain his rapid weight loss. I’m reasonably sure that St. John’s Wort cannot cause that side effect.
The Everlasting Contrast 