"A Famous Fictional Example Could Spread Awareness" - Anakin Skywalker Has BPD?

Eric Bui, French psychologist and psychiatrist, proposed that psychiatric help could have prevented the emergence of Darth Vader.

"I believe that psychotherapy would have helped Anakin and might have prevented him from turning to the dark side," Bui said. "Using the dark side of the Force could be considered as similar to drug use: It feels really good when you use it, it alters your consciousness and you know you shouldn’t do it."

Is psychotherapy what is needed to stop more people turning from a troubled Borderline Anakin into a broken and destructive Darth Vader? Or does the parallel drawn with Star Wars only further stigma that those with BPD are the baddies of society, going from showing six of the diagnostic criteria for the illness to a total breakdown and swing to the Dark Side?

[Bui and colleagues] have used the "Star Wars" example to teach their students for the past few years, and noted that such a famous fictional example could spread awareness.


It is certainly true that celebrities being open about diagnosis with a mental disorder does help raise awareness for that disorder. However along with the hightened awareness does not always come heightened understanding. Seeing the extreme behaviour of celebrities with bipolar, for example, doesn't lead to a balanced understanding of how bipolar affects the majority of people. Thus, when we search to herald news like this a victory for BPD awareness, we must temper it with a call for greater understanding too.


Read the rest of the article here and make up your mind.

Is Anakin Borderline?
If so, can we use this to help us fight stigma?
Or, should we dismiss such diagnoses of fictional characters as irrelevant and unhelpful?