What is Borderline Personality?

         

Physical illnesses are rarely blamed on the victim.  You 'come down with', are 'afflicted by', ‘contract’ or ‘suffer from’ a disease.  Not so in the case of many mental illnesses!  The general belief is that one 'is' or 'becomes' mentally ill.  The victims of these illnesses often shoulder the blame and stigma. This fosters misunderstanding of the mentally ill.  About 10 million Americans are afflicted by BPD but very few people could even vaguely describe the disorder.  This is one of several reasons why I am sharing my experiences with this disorder and the other disorders I have.  It is very likely that you may know someone with this disorder, whether they have been diagnosed or not.

          Us Borderlines have a fragmented sense of identity and difficulty maintaining stable relationships.  Loneliness, fear of abandonment, impulsive self-destructiveness, storminess in relationships, the inability to achieve intimacy- these are feelings that everybody feels some time or another.  We, however, live with these feelings almost constantly and experience them to a much higher degree.  We are in great mental and emotional pain- pain that can be just as searing and perhaps even more frightening than physical pain.  At first I did not know why or what to do about it or how to seek help.