Mention BPD and you'll probably get one of two responses. Either, the person you're talking with will have no idea what it is, despite having some knowledge or awareness of both Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia. Or, they'll think that it's the illness people have got if they self-harm. Talk to those who have been diagnosed with BPD and many of them have another mental health problem first and foremost, and are labelled with the BPD diagnosis merely because of the presence of self-injury in their symptoms. Self-harm is not BPD, and BPD is not self-harm.
This is all perpetuated by a mainstream blackout when it comes to knowledge of the disorder. This is reflected in many ways, for example, it is interesting to notice that the Boots (pharmacy) Web MD site doesn’t even have a page mentioning the disorder, and when you search for “borderline personality disorder” the only result is “mental health and self-injury”. This furthers the stigma attached to BPD and it's tenuous link with self-harm.
Further, visit the Rethink website and the twice as prevalent yet totally un-talked-about BPD is trumped to the title by Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. Rethink is for 'everyone affected by schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses'. Why should BPD remain unmentioned in the introduction to this website whilst other less prevalent illnesses are mentioned by name? Should Rethink be following the media in mentioning the most known-of, or should they be leading the way in dealing with the most suffered?
Go to the Mind charity website and search for BPD and the first thing they’ll make sure to tell you is that it ‘is a controversial diagnosis.’ Is this helpful to those diagnosed with BPD to accept their illness and progress to get the best treatment they can and, in time, become as well as they can? It is time that BPD was taken seriously and diagnosed correctly. There is more to BPD than the scars that meet the eye. When diagnosed correctly, there is nothing controversial about the diagnosis. BPD is a mental illness all of its own, with its own symptoms going far deeper than the cuts on the patients wrists.
Glossy magazines are full of celebrities suffering mental health breakdowns due to deep depression or manic burnout. Real life magazines tell of the horrors of schizophrenia and the plight of its sufferers. But mention Borderline Personality Disorder to someone in the general public, and they most likely won’t have a clue what you mean. And if they do, they’ll probably have a very stigmatised idea of what BPD actually is. Our mission is simple: Changing Minds.
