After learning about BPD and reading a biography of Kurt Cobain, I suspect that, if he was not a borderline, he suffered from a similar disorder. So, here is a detailed analysis of the case for Kurt Cobain having Borderline Personality Disorder.
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Substance Abuse
I don’t think I have to cite any references on this one. The bio I read makes it clear that Cobain was a junkie and used consistently. Also, despite his slim frame (5’7″, 130 pounds), he used far more heroin than others in his final days and his body was, for the most part, able to take it. He did overdose numerous times. Abuse of pain killers (of which heroin is one), is not uncommon with BPD (sometimes called “Bellman’s Syndrome”).
His heroin use eventually began affecting the band’s support of Nevermind, with Cobain passing out during photo shoots. One memorable example came the day of the band’s 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live, where Nirvana had a shoot with photographer Michael Levine. Having shot up beforehand, Cobain nodded off several times during the shoot. Regarding the shoot, Cobain related to biographer Michael Azerrad, “I mean, what are they supposed to do? They’re not going to be able to tell me to stop. So I really didn’t care. Obviously to them it was like practicing witchcraft or something. They didn’t know anything about it so they thought that any second, I was going to die.”
Eating Disorder (or chronic pain leading to one)
Kurt Cobain had a chronic, undiagnosed stomach disorder from which he developed an eating disorder, being unable to keep down food.
Throughout most of his life, Cobain battled chronic bronchitis and intense physical pain due to an undiagnosed chronic stomach condition. This last condition was especially debilitating to him emotionally, and he spent years trying to find its cause. However, none of the doctors he consulted were able to pinpoint the specific cause, guessing that it was either a result of Cobain’s childhood scoliosis or related to the stresses of performing.
Volatile Relationships
His relationship with Courtney Love was volatile. He also had volatile relationships with others in his band and with managers and ex-girlfriends.
Love arranged an intervention concerning Cobain’s drug use that took place on March 25. The ten people involved included musician friends, record company executives, and one of Cobain’s closest friends, Dylan Carlson. But Bassist Krist Novoselic tipped him off as he considered the idea to be “stupid”. However, by the end of the day, Cobain had agreed to undergo a detox program. Krist Novoselic drove him to the airport to catch his flight, but Cobain was far from wanting to go, in a fit of panic, Cobain drew violence and the two fought at the airport, eventually Cobain freed himself and ran through the airport lobby screaming “fuck you”, this would be the last time Krist would see Kurt alive.
Shame and Unstable Self Image
His lyrics probably do the best for this…
All Apologies:
I wish I was like you
Easily amused
Find my nest of salt
Everything is my fault
I’ll take all the blame
Aqua seafoam shame
Sunburn, freezeburn
Choking on the ashes of her enemyDumb:
I’m not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone
But I have a light
The day is done
But I’m having funI think I’m dumb
Or maybe just happyRadio Friendly Unit Shifter:
What is wrong with me?
What is what I need
What do I think I think?This had nothing to do with what you think
If you ever think at all
Bi-polar opposites attract
All of a sudden my water broke
I love you for what I am not
Did not want what I have got
Blanket acne’d with cigarette burns
Speak at once while taking turns
And of course, there are probably twenty more examples in his various lyrics. The only other musician that I can think of off the top of my head who consistently used the words “shame” and “I’ll take the blame” is Ian Curtis (Joy Division’s lead singer who also committed suicide).
Suicide Attempts
I think these go without saying, considering his eventual actual suicide. But we know of at least one other:
Following a tour stop at Terminal Eins in Munich, Germany, on March 1, 1994, Cobain was diagnosed with bronchitis and severe laryngitis. He flew to Rome the next day for medical treatment, and was joined there by his wife on March 3. The next morning, Love awoke to find that Cobain had overdosed on a combination of champagne and Rohypnol (Love had a prescription for Rohypnol filled after arriving in Rome). Cobain was immediately rushed to the hospital, and spent the rest of the day unconscious. After five days in the hospital, Cobain was released and returned to Seattle. Love later stated that the incident was Cobain’s first suicide attempt.
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- New for May – Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month
- Does Britney Spears have Borderline Personality Disorder?
- Four reasons bipolar disorder is accepted and borderline personality disorder is not
- People with Borderline Personality Disorder over diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder
- Update on Britney Spears and Borderline Personality Disorder
- A New Name for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)?
- Angelina Jolie and Borderline Personality Disorder (again)
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My daughter idolized Kurt Cobain, and we were actually living in Seattle for a year when Cobain was found dead. It really upset her and almost made her become obsessed with him. It was right around that time when she began showing the first signs of mental illness. I miss the little girl she used to be.
I miss Cobain, too. Thankfully we still have his music, but he was a rare talent.
Peace – D
I loved his music as well. I’m certainly not criticizing him at all for all he gave to the world… I think it’s fantastic and tragic too.
I thought it was a welL known fact, Cobain being bipolar that is. That was my assumption. N welL, I would assume the same knowing that. It would b my lil more than an educated guess n my personal experience would confirm. Even thou I c it as a textbook case n find it too obvious for ANYONE to miss. Wouldve n shouldve even been predicted n prevented by any licensed healthprovider that couldve taken required action. 50% of bp (bi-polar, not borderline personality) people try to take their own life. Even a bigger percentage is or has been abusing substances, relations, themselves and anything else u can use effecting the rewardsystem n mood regulation.
Even the blind would c that the borderline personality disorder that perhaps ultimately nailed his cauffin was Cortneys. As a bipolar one has enough to deal with as it is to add alL that to it one has to deal with in a relation to a borderline. Emotional instability disorder, as it is correctly reffered as. Have myself been triggered in episodes by EID bf after long periods off ‘normality’. Made sure he understood that if I alL of a sudden turn psycho bitch on him. Slicing his clothes, throwing his things out the window n selLing his car on ebay as I break up with him for no reason, he had it coming. Somehow that was more effective than trying to make him aware of how destructive his behaviour could b for ME.
I have milLion thoughts n opinions in the issue. But only one more regarding Cobain. How come he hadnt gotten to an insight of his ilLness, in his ilLness. Damned! We alL have responsability of our own head here. Over our head. Do u think I would b alive n welL today if i had left it in the hands of the ones with the degrees. We alL have our demons, we alL have to fight.
I’ve no time to go into it now, but affective disorders run rampant in Borderline Personality Disorder – which has an innate hypersensitivity to others linked to it most definitely. This wonderful and terrible hypersensitivity to the world is most clearly reflected in Cobain’s lyrics. Whether or not he was bipolar does not rule out BPD. On the contrary Cobain for me was without a doubt on the internalizing-dysphoric spectrum of the BPD – probably one of the most painful subtypes of all.
BPD is not an insult. It’s an acknowledgment of the incredible pain and suffering that Cobain had to deal with (bipolars at least have their moments of euphoria) and we should admire and respect how he triumphed over it through being creative – if only for awhile.
I love Kurt. He was truly talented and turned his insecurities and struggles into wonderful, heartfelt music. I’m a Borderline Personality and a Bipolar as well so my heart (still) goes out to him….
Zephyr’s words do more justice to Kurt and BPD than any I have ever read.
Somebody should’ve gotten an Emergency Petition to evaluate Kurt Cobain, because he would’ve surely been hospitalized in a psychiatric ward like he desperately needed. His cousin confirmed Kurt was, indeed, diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, and that he exhibited frighteningly self-destructive behavior (he was mainlining $500 worth of heroin per day, he purposely engaged in self-harm by extinguishing cigarette butts on his body, particularly his forehead, etc.). It’s disgusting to see interviews with people like Michael Stipe (who planned to collaborate with Cobain in a last-ditch effort to “save” him) say there was no way to prevent his suicide. Kurt Cobain was an immature, mentally-imbalanced man, and he’s dead because people allowed him to rum amok without consequence like the spoiled brat he was. Once you take away control from an addict, especially a mentally-ill one such as Cobain, you can then reprogram them to not hate life, and when they don’t comply, you hospitalize them again and again until you break their will to destroy themselves.
ok so i was so obsessed with Cobain. I find it so strange how i have a bpd and also i was a heroin addict.
I feel that the patterns of addiction and bpd are so similar self harm, impulsive behavior, strange relationships, immature and suicidal behavior its all so the same and also since I stopped using heroin about a year ago. I don’t feel this way anymore but yet I’ve been diagnosed with this disorder twice both while using. so its a question i keep asking myself BPD or addiction.
Also a little reply to Dave I live in the uk and here we don’t have things called interventions
thank god but i have been to rehab about five times and it never worked why because I was unsure about recovery and i had to hit my own rock bottom but yet I kept putting myself through rehab and if someone else had try to put me in there i would walk out just to spite them and if someone tried to section me i would hate them even more.