Hey Alpha Draconis, it's been 5 months since I broke up with my ex and found myself trawling the internet to try and process her craziness.
I'm 99% sure she has BPD... and she's from WEST YORKSHIRE too! There could be some truth to your theory. which internet forum did you read this? btw Your ex wasn't called Gemma was she?
OP, as for re-engaging one, DONT BOTHER. I was with her for 5 months, the first month was amazing and then it started going downhill fast. I haven't spoken a single word to her in 5 months even though I think about her every day.
BPD's mirror you in the early stages, creating an illusion of a soul mate-like connection. Once you show them the love they crave and they know they have you on the hook, the head games will start. They will put you in constant no-win situations, lie, manipulate and infuriate you to the point of submission or walking out on them. Once the very short honeymoon period is over its all downhill and there is NO going back.
They crave love but are also terrified of abandonment so once they see your love for them they begin acting out, distancing, manipulating, because they think if someone LOVES them, they will ABANDON them.
They use INFANTILE strategies to cope with ADULT relationships because they are still emotionally 3 years old. There is no reasoning with them, there is no 'winning', there is no adjusting of your behaviour to appease them, NOTHING WILL WORK, they will always find a way to make things wrong between you.
They idolize you in the beginning because they crave your love, but then begin to devalue and resent you because you HURT them over and over due their unrealistic expectations of what a lover should be that NO ONE could ever live up to. For example, you don't return a text for an hour, or you go to the pub, you don't put enough sugar in her tea, these things = ABANDONMENT to them, and they will built up resentment towards you and then punish you. But not untill they see you are emotionally invested.
Also, they are full of shame and hate themselves, so as soon as you show them love, they lose respect for you, because how could you love such a worthless creature such as her, you must be even lower on the food chain.
They will project all of their self-loathing and resentment onto you and make YOU feel shameful and guilty about the whole relationship which is why you feel the intense need to RECONNECT with her and see her again, because you want to heal the shame and guilt she left you with.
She cannot heal these wounds, you have to process it within yourself because these feelings were ALREADY in you, which is why you gravitated to her in the first place. Emotionally healthy guys do not get involved and stay with BPD women, they get the fuck out of there. BPD women have a 6th sense for spotting guys with saviour mentalities, who have poor boundaries and will absorb all of their emotional bullshit.
Falling in love with a woman like this and then being put through the emotional treadmill is a massively painful experience but will also show you more about YOURSELF and make you stronger and more whole in the long run than any therapy or self exploration could. They are, in a weird way, an amazing opportunity for massive growth and healing of emotional pain from childhood. But like most things in life its no pain, no gain, so you have to endure massive pain to grow through into the other side where you will be a stronger, more emotionally strong person with more solid boundaries and self-esteem IF you process the pain they bring out within you.
I'm a better person for meeting her and wouldn't change a thing, but I still wouldn't advise anyone to get involved with a BPD, if you find yourelf gravitating to this kind of woman then you have issues and a distorted imprint of what a relationship is meant to be like, and if you don't address it and work through your shit, then you will find yourself again and again in painful fucked up relationships.
Look at all that shit I just felt compelled to write, and thats just a surface level skimming of whats in my head. Thats how much these girls fuck you up!
Once you break away, stay away! Unless you want more pain!