Borderline Personality Disorder

It is hard to imagine that there is a more damingly stigmatized mental health diagnosis out there than borderline personality disorder. As one of our authors puts it, “My diagnosis is used synonymously with “a bad person you should probably avoid.” As our Executive Director, who used to work in a locked, inpatient psychiatric hospital can attest to; patients with this diagnosis were almost universally abhorred by inpatient staff; the very people who were charged with providing helpful, hopeful, empathic care to these individuals.

While people with borderline personality disorder can experience instability in relationships (both with others and with self), difficulty with regulating emotions, impulsivity and a fear of abandonment, this is not a “bad person” diagnosis, nor is it a death sentence; people with borderline personality disorder are people; worthy of love, care, trust, and hope. There are treatments for borderline personality disorder that can be very effective, such as dialectical behavior therapy and other modalities to help improve stability and relationships.

Because of the highly stigmatized nature of borderline personality disorder, we have precious few individuals in our Recovery Diaries community who have felt safe enough to come forward, with their real and full names, to openly talk about their experiences living with borderline personality disorder, and we are so, so grateful for every single one of them, because this is how the story changes. If people living with this disorder sit at home Googling their diagnosis and all they get for search results are cold, clinical articles written by practitioners and/or horror stories, then the hopelessness will only perpetuate and worsen. But if search results include hopeful, helpful essays by people with lived experience, who are living with their diagnosis, then stigma declines, and hope increases. That’s what we want; that’s what we need.