BPD Stigma

violet8 wrote:Hey biologygeek,

Just FYI, you HAVE BPD, you ARE not BPD (or even borderline). Know what I mean? So you might identify with what your friend is describing, even the negative stuff, but that't not who you ARE. That's the disorder that you HAVE. Sorry for all the caps, but just wanted to point out the difference. People with mental illness are labeled as being something whereas say a person with cancer is not called cancerous or that they are cancer. Everyone says they have cancer not that they are cancer.

WORD. Important point! I'm a person with BPD not "a borderline" or "a BPD". It drives me nuts to see that. My disorder is a part of who I am but it is not who I am. I think being able to define yourself outside of your illness is a great way to combat the internalization of stigma. Know that you're your own individual person and the negative experiences people may have had with PwBPD are not negative experiences with you. What they say is colored by experiences with a different person.

Oh, absolutely! I have started to come to get that the last couple of days, it's just that the comments make me feel like I am. That's why I have to say something!

Thank you, that really validates me.

SBBro wrote:We can't control our emotions...


Npd = emotional 5 year old
Bpd = emotional 3 year old

I found this also fascinating, as I too faced my first life trauma as a very young child. I know that this has majorly affected my life, but I have also learned the hard way that we also can make our lives far worse...

None of my friends even know what BPD is, but when I tell them about it they seem to finally understand my constant "mood flips" between quiet/content to raving mad and crazy eyes and my mouth just going and going for hours. It explains my constantly unstable personality....I'm pretty popular (highschool) but I think a lot of people pick up on how extreme I am usually.

It's depressingly stupid, I have a damn mental disorder....not even regular old depression....well I might have that too but who knows

Man, I've read everything from border lines being "whiny sensitive babies" to "psychotic clingy needy manipulators"... These stigmas do hurt me because, to be honest, sometimes I feel like both of those things. And that's not really the kind of emotional validation I'm looking for.

We are not our disorders - we HAVE disorders. There's so much more to us that the stupid peel off label society gives us.

amy-gdala wrote:Man, I've read everything from border lines being "whiny sensitive babies" to "psychotic clingy needy manipulators"... These stigmas do hurt me because, to be honest, sometimes I feel like both of those things. And that's not really the kind of emotional validation I'm looking for.

We are not our disorders - we HAVE disorders. There's so much more to us that the stupid peel off label society gives us.

I agree with that to an extent I don't care if I'm referred to as a borderline and I've actually felt alot better after being diagnosed as if I finally found the missing piece of the puzzle, now I'm one that also believes I can heal from this disorder but it doesn't do anything for me to say I have BPD as opposed to I am a borderline. Although I'm a joker in the sense that I can make fun of myself and call myself crazy and tell others I'm crazy but I think it's okay because I'm saying it about myself I think it would also be okay if someone else with BPD made jokes or say things like were all nuts because for me humor very much gets me through this being able to make fun of myself helps ease the seriousness of things but I can certainly say I would not feel the same had someone said something that doesn't have BPD because for the most part they don't understand it and the jokes are def more of an inside thing in my opinion. If we can all laugh at ourselves and have each other to kid around with I see no problem with that although I am sensitive to others who have BPD and do not feel this way I wouldn't joke around with them if they felt uncomfortable calling themselves a borderline I respect that.