LETTER OF THE MONTH

I would like to thank you for your article in the Jan/Feb 2020 issue (‘Life on the Borderline’) about BPD (borderline personality disorder). There is still so much stigma around mental health and even more around BPD. Characters on television with BPD are often portrayed as being manipulating, unstable and untrustworthy; as hot and then cold, but never in the middle. The reality is, BPD presents differently for everyone. I myself have a diagnosis of BPD (along with PTSD as a result of complex trauma). I have at times been stigmatised by mental health professionals who do not know me, but only the label on my chart. I have had partners leave me after finding out my diagnosis (who were seemingly happy in the relationship prior to googling ‘BPD’). I am so glad MiNDFOOD has brought BPD out into the light, but I really want people to understand that a label does not define a person. Everyone with BPD is unique and not just a textbook definition. I am quiet, shy, loyal, trustworthy and very rarely hot-tempered. I have a family, am well educated and have a good job. A diagnosis can help the professionals to better target therapy. But it does not define a person, so please get to know the person for who they are and not for a broad diagnostic label. Those of us with BPD are not generally scary, just troubled and trying to find our way in the world. BPD may at times control a sufferer’s behaviour, but it does not change who we are deep down. And with therapy, there is so much hope for our future.

Charlotte