Topic Tuesday Focus Group // Treatment and support for people experiencing personality disorders // Tuesday 6 March, 7pm AEDT

[Mum2eight]

Very daunting and confusing but at the same time the more I understood the BPD it was kinda a relief

[Catcakes]

Although I had read widely and could see I fitted in to the BPD diagnosis criterior , I was still devastated to hear the diagnosis from my psychiatrist. I can’t emphasise what a negative impact this had on me because the disorder was becoming known in the community and carried such stigma... I was crushed

[OhanaSystem]

@EliseSunflower

I feel like the red panda in your image is laughing at both of us. 😄

It was pretty rough -- but it was actually not the roughest patch. That was just prior to my diagnosis, actually. A few years prior, my husband had told me he wanted a divorce -- literally within 7 days of my miscarrying our much wanted (on my part) daughter. I didn't grieve properly for either thing at the time, and instead it carried and added up over the next several years to culminate in a massive breakdown complete with hallucinations, very distorted thinking including homocidal ideation with the view to protect children, an average of 1 hour sleep a day over about 3 months... and an average of one suicide attempt every week over the same period. I was hospitalised for 3 weeks and diagnosed at that time.

I felt betrayed, to be given a BPD diagnosis, to be honest. At the time, there was only just starting to be awareness and acceptance of what BPD really is, and so a lot of the information I was receiving was that BPD was a life sentence, that it wasn't a real mental illness but rather just a bunch of evil manipulative jerkfaces with temper problems. Thankfully the situation has changed now and that's not as often how BPD is seen! The one good thing to come out of my diagnosis was that I was given a case manager with the public health system and that got me to some growth resources, and eventually, into DBT (for the first time).

[OhanaSystem]

I'm so sorry. I can definitely relate, though, and it sucks! ❤️

[EliseSunflower]

@BlueBay That's disappointing to hear you weren't given an explanation. 

Do you have any thoughts on what name you would prefer for the diagnosis instead of 'Borderline'?

[OhanaSystem]

I know this one wasn't to me, but I prefer Emotionally Dysregulated Personality Disorder to Borderline.

[BlueBay]

@EliseSunflower

I think maybe 'Emotional Disorder' 

[EliseSunflower]

Thanks for your reply and your insight @Phoenix_Rising. I know a lot of people (but not everyone, of course) who have found the diagnosis to be validating. It's a shame that some mental health professionals have such negative attitudes.

What improvements would you like to see in this area? 

[BlueBay]

@OhanaSystem

that's what i would prefer

[Phoenix_Rising]

Hi @EliseSunflower,

Regarding the term "borderline," I hold the position that BPD and C-PTSD are one and the same thing and that the powers that be made a mistake in not renaming BPD C-PTSD in the DSM-V. The overlap in diagnostic criteria between BPD and C-PTSD is so extensive that it is almost impossible to have one diagnosis and not the other. Thus it always mysterfies me when people say they have both BPD and C-PTSD. I believe that the idea of a personality disorder suggests that there is something WRONG with the person and thus invites negative attitudes, whereas the diagnosis of C-PTSD invites the question of what HAPPENED to the person, which invites empathy and understanding.