Hi! Although my BPD diagnosis is relatively new, I have been working on myself for about 4 years now. I realized I was manipulative and toxic and have been striving to be better. I think I have come very far! But there's one thing I still really struggle with. I need verbal reassurance that people still like me. I used to need it almost constantly. I would go about getting it in the usual manipulative ways, by insulting myself to fish for compliments, or saying things like,"Oh i know you hate me you should just leave me" I wasn't actively trying to be manipulative at all, I really believed all the insults I said about myself, and I really believed that all my friends hated me and would leave me sooner or later. But intentional or not, I was being manipulative. After realizing this, it turned into me just asking,"Do you hate me?" Further along in my journey, it was usually like,"Do you still like me?" Now I usually say something along the lines of, "Hey, I'm not feeling great about myself right now. I could use some reassurance that you still like me." This is only really when I'm at a low point, one or two times a month maybe, which is absolutely nothing compared to the everyday need for reassurance I used to have. But it still does happen! Some of my friends get upset when I say this, because they take it as me implying they aren't a good enough friend for me to feel liked, or as me not trusting them. Which isn't the case at all! My friends are amazing, my brain just forgets that they love me sometimes and I need to be reminded! But no matter how many times I explain that, they still tend to get upset. I guess what I'm asking is, is it okay to ask for reassurance sometimes? Am I being toxic by doing it? What would be the best way to ask for it?