Borderline Personality Disorder & the Stigma Surrounding it

By: Lina Amraoui

​A lot of people ignore this mental illness because it's not ”popular” enough just like, depression or anxiety yet, however, it is the most painful and classified as the hardest mental illness to live with. Between all the mood swings, the trauma, and the unbearable abandonment issues, individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) do not understand how to control their impulsivity and lash out at any given moment in order to feel in control either by getting angry at people they love or letting it all out by crying. Even after knowing that, people with BPD feel emotions ten times more deeply and intensely, their breakdowns might seem way out of control and too dramatic over the simplest thing which is why they get called attention seekers, or manipulative. 

In fact, a lot of therapists refuse to work with BPD patients after their diagnosis because of how bad their symptoms can become knowing that there's no cure to this illness. The therapist may feel as if these individuals are overly-sensitive, dramatic, attention-seekers, manipulative, horrible, or just bad people, which makes the stigma going around it way more complicated than it already is and as if the illness wasn't hard enough.

The “names or labels” given to people with BPD:

• Attention seeker
• Horrible
• Bad person
• Dangerous 
• Too ”bipolar”
• Needy/ over-emotional 
• Cold-hearted 
• Unlovable/ untreatable
• These are some simple words but can trigger someone’s BPD instead of making them feel better by reducing the stigma going around it. 

How can we stop the stigma?
Educate yourself, this is one of the most important things to do when trying to fight for one of your beliefs. Once you dig deep into understanding every symptom and how bad it can get for a person going through this every day, you will realize how overrated or false the rumors are about BPD. Eventually, you will become capable of helping them instead of judging them for something they have never asked for but still have to live with which is their illness. 

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