[Celyn]

Potentially.

Since BPD is often (not always) rooted in trauma, it may be that if you experienced hostile reactions or rejections when you've messed up (or felt that you have) in the past, you are more likely to jump to that conclusion in similar situations.

But as I said, it's subjective. It could even be part of the generalised anxiety.

It's also confusing when there's other people involved because it's easy to blame ourselves and think that we are quick to react when it may also be that the other person is strict/harsh, causing us to react (which would happen to anyone, not just people with BPD). For example, I was in a counselling group for people interested in becoming a counsellor and someone raised the topic of feeling that they were treated differently in class. Their tutor (a counsellor) and many of the group agreed that they should focus on how they reacted and what caused them to react that way (e.g. they were triggered from a past trauma, causing them to feel this way). But what few took into consideration is that there is a difference in feeling like you are treated differently and actually being treated differently.

So bottom line, before thinking that all reactions are because of your BPD/Bipolar, make sure that you aren't being treated negatively either (you might worry about being incompetent but good colleagues and managers should support you...if you are being made to feel incompetent then it's likely more to do with the other person rather than any of your diagnoses....that's my take on it anyway).