Why Is There Stigma Surrounding Bpd?

[jojo_c]

i've recently had my diagnosis changed to BPD from schizoaffective disorder and i'm a bit confused about BPD stigma.

having read through some of the topics i can see people discussing the fact that there is stigma surrounding BPD - but i don't understand why??? i don't get why having a BPD diagnosis can be seen as a bad thing by people (please note i am not suggesting in any way that this is the opinion of anyone on this forum as it clearly isn't ). Maybe i can't see the wood for the trees or something, but having read through the BPD criteria i still don't get how BPD can be seen as a negative diagnosis.

if anyone can clarify this for me it will really stop my brain itching! :lol:

[CrippleAndStarfish]

I don't know how accurate i am in thinking this, but -

i think that the stigma that surrounds a diagnosis of BPD is because it is a long-term thing - it's not a disorder that can be easily 'cleared up' with medication, and in some cases medication doesn't actually do any good at all, even in the short term.

and if you look at the... god! what's it called? The DSM .. ? What? argh. anyway, that thing. someone help me out with this one?! it's gone clear out of my head...

Anyway, the diagnostic criteria includes such things as impulsive, self-damaging, reckless bahaviour, highly emotionally reactive, black and white thinking - our 'all or nothing' approach, difficulty trusting... which i think to so-called 'normal' people can be intimidating enough when they're faced with someone who acts this way.

But i think the most damaging thing by far, is that fact that those of us with BPD are basically written off as being manipulative and attention-seeking. (though what is wrong with seeking attention, i do not know - after all, we are humans for crying out loud! we're social animals, and attention and care and affection are what we NEED to survive and thrive! How is it wrong for us to seek out something that we need, want, and are lacking?! )

Add to that, the fact that very few medical professionals will treat us, because we 'Can't be cured' (OF COURSE WE BLOODY CAN!!), and i think that paints a pretty fucking bleak picture of life with Borderline Personality Disorder.

I think too much attention is focused on the negative, and there is hardly ANYTHING focused on how beautiful our perception of the world around us can be at times.

Check this out - dunno if you've seen it, but it was posted by our Jinx t'other day, and i think it describes it exactly.

http://www.mentalhealth-world.org.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/57623-positives-of-bpd-traits/

I do apologise if i've rambled and not made any sense. It's rather late, i'm exhausted, but also kinda fired up and got the urge to reply.

Crip xxx

Edit: cuz i forgot to include the bloody link! Pffft! Told ya i was tired...

[bena.baby]

Personallym I think the main reason is that people with BPD are seen as manipulative.

[Saharah Blue]

I think it is because the people with BPD seems to get by or pass as average (up to a point) they don't appear to be in intense pain. I think is the mask vs. what lies underneath, it actually deceives people for awhile, to put it very very loosely.

[Data]

I got this from another site. It is written by an American social worker (MSW = master of social work).

Stigma and Borderline Personality Disorder

by Patty Fleener M.S.W.

The trouble about being a client with the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is anytime you speak up for yourself, take a stand in regards to your treatment, ask for a change, ask for another opinion, another case worker, another therapist or Dr., you are commonly accused as exhibiting "borderline" behavior.

The stigma for people with BPD is so bad that when you initially step into your (Dr.'s, Therapist's, Caseworker's, Nurse Practitioner's) office, they are waiting for you to "step out of line." Their "guns are already drawn and they are ready to fire.

It doesn't much matter at what level of recovery you are existing at. That thing that counts is your diagnosis.

Many mental health professionals have a big stigma against borderlines because what their co-workers have said. Where did their co-workers get that information? From their co-workers.

I am sure that they can tell you some gruesome stories about "these borderlines" but what they are talking about are people who have the diagnosis of the BPD and they have it very severely and they also have other mental disorders along with it that the person telling the story did not mention because that part was never mentioned.

Or perhaps they are judging you because of their past patients and what they forget is they are not dealing with a past patient, they are dealing with me, or you. It is as if they sit back and wait for that "borderline behavior" to pop out. So, if we have any level of intelligence (for some reason those of us with the BPD seem to have a higher than average level of intelligence from what I have noticed) and ask them to explain their treatment decisions, etc. they put that in their big bag of "expected borderline behavior."

Just recently I received two emails from mental health professionals that were extremely abusive to all BPD patients, and they were sent in the guise that they wanted to understand people with BPD better. I could not believe what I was reading. "Borderline patients are always manipulating staff and burn staff out and so many staff have left just do to the borderline behaviors."

Number one, this is clear splitting - black and white thinking. It is only the borderlines that are burning them out. I have been a social worker for almost 10 years and I can tell you I am burnt to a crisp but it is not due to one single population. If a mental health professional gets burned out, they are burned out on being a mental health professional with any population. That is burn out.

This sort of stigma in the mental health system is "contagious." When I was a social worker I would roll my eyes when someone mentioned BPD. Why? Because that is what all of my co-workers did. I was educated by my co-workers of how horrible borderlines were. Did I have my own experience with them? Nope. Did they? Nope. But if you rolled your eyes you were showing others that you were well educated about this population. You knew enough about this disorder to know that the borderlines were horrible people and hard to manage. When in real life, I knew nothing of this disorder.

This stigma is not only false but is very dangerous for people with BPD in regards to treatment. When my husband told his psychiatrist his wife had the BPD, what did he do? He rolled his eyes. Seriously! Did he know much about the BPD? No, he kept borrowing our books. This is common! Most Drs. and psychiatrists don't have a clue about the BPD and thus have no idea how to treat it!

For those of us with the BPD and/or the Bipolar Disorder, we cannot express healthy anger because people become afraid it is rage/mania. I can understand their fears especially if they have been with us during these times.

My work for borderline personality disorder in the "real world" off of the Internet includes a lot of letter writing. I am guessing that I am less effective with my mental health disorders known due to stigma.

[Saharah Blue]

Thinking some more and I still think the long and short of it has to do with others feeling they have been, or may be, deceived. Real or imagined, lol.

Reading your post Data, just confirms what I was thinking.

Sah

[Warrior Princess]

From what I have understood from personal experience, some mental health professionals have a stigma about it and others don't. The ones who do see people with BPD as manipulative and "care attention seeking" because they self harm and often have angry out bursts etc. To me the minsunderstanding here is that they do all this just out of bad behavior rather than a chemical imbalance. I disagree strongly! It's very chemical and very much linked to supressed emotions and memories in childhood, neglect, abuse and is a result of a mismanaged society that then blames the very victims of it's crimes for being BPD.

To me, if a person is ill in any way, including mentally ill, they NEED some attention. Or lets change that word to help. No one would ever say "You're just after help! and you're not getting it from me" like they do "You're just after attention and you're not getting it from me." Kind of makes the person saying it sound very selfish when you look at the first sentence.

More education will reduce the stigma of BPD and hopefully they will view the dx they way it should be... as a group of hurting people needing some medical attention!

Rant over.

WP

[icu_baby]

I suffered so much stigma because of this label that I was released straight from hospital after a near fatal suicide attempt because I was given that label. I suffered more serious suicide atttempts as a result and I am actually suing the hospital for failing to treat me. There is stigma in the fact that many stupid doctors think that borderline is not treatable.

[Joshua]

because people with bpd have been portrayed as loons.

casualty, fatal attration etc

[Warrior Princess]

I like being a loon....

WP

[hummm_mabbe]

To back up what data said

There is an old joke about psychoanalysis / psychotherapy, which goes something like "If the patient gets better, the therapist was right. If the patient doesn't get better, or disagrees strongly with the therapist, then the patient is being resistant. If the therapist gets punched on the nose for telling a patient they are being resistant, thats transference".

I dont know if its particularly an NHS thing - certainly I have read books on Client Centred Counselling where they warn against "Institutionalised Thinking", which is exactly what is described in that quote. The book feels that both therapist and client should act and be viewed as individuals, and any anger or frustration validated, accepted at face value, and THEN explored. Simple empathy.

I am under the impression that private therapy may be less prone to thids kind of thing, because a 'lone' therapist is less likely to be affected by institutional thinking. Certainly the private therapists I have had have been very different to the NHS ones - universally better (at least as far as I am concerned).

Ross

[Data]

To back up what data said

The words are not my own, Ross, but thanks for the backup.

I am going to tell my therapist that joke .

My therapist is private but he also does NHS work.

[mjk]

I think people don't always take the time to learn enough about BPD; where it comes from, how it affects those that suffer from it, and what things help/don't help. They can fail to treat the person as an individual with symptoms, and not just a label. I've learnt alot about it since being diagnosed with it, and that really helped me understand how and why it affects me. I know it's something I need help with in a couple of ways. Learning to accept, recognise and manage symptoms, and then help with changing how I feel so I can hopefully one day reduce the symptoms and bad thoughts in the first place. I guess the here and now, and the past. So like I said, I think the stigma comes from the uneducated. My care team are amazing. I've not met my new psych, but I have a brilliant NHS family therapist who we've been working with for 2yrs now, a lovely support worker, a fantastic GP who sees me as often as I need/want to see her, and more recently a new care co-ord who's an OT, who is really interested in helping me and has good insight and good ideas. I just wanted to say that because there is alot of good and right things that the NHS does, as well as getting things wrong sometimes too. xxxx

[Jinxsta]

There is a stigma with all personality disorders because they think its just behavioural and therefore we CHOOSE to be this way... yeah course we do! (sarcasm).

The BPD stigma is of its worst because there is a great lack of education about it... some pros believe it doesnt exist, that its a label for those that are just acting-out and have no other psychological disorder/illness... yes they think we are attention seekers, maybe we are sometimes but they need to ask why does this person feel the need to seek attention in such radical ways? this is a problem within itself a mentally healthy person can get the attention a human requires in non harmful ways.. we tend not to know how to... and manipulative, well yes again we can be (aware im generalizing here) but again why are we being manipulative? to get our needs met and are unsure how to do that in a non-manipulative way.

They think "why are you flying off the handle over something so small?".... well exactly WHY??? I dont choose to have the emotional reaction like someones died over someone saying they dont like me.. it just happens.. i just FEEL that way, and there is no right or wrong to how someone feels, because we are all unique BPD or no BPD. They dont understand.. im sure like me you have had that look from someone as if to say "WTF i only said X"... the look of utter confusion... they dont know what is going on upstairs thats why.

They see us as a strain on the NHS because there are so many of us, i think i read a statistic the other day that said 60% of suicide attempts in the UK are by people with BPD... Oh god another treatment resilient borderline, wasting resources.

What annoys me is with the amount of people there are with BPD (almost at epidemic proportions) there is not alot around about it... u see on chat-shows, newspapers, magazines etc lots about depression, OCD, stress, ED's but theres never anything about BPD.. why???... coz they try to just sweep it under the carpet.. if we cant see it its not there.

xxx

[Data]

I agree with Jinx's comments totally.

In the past (e.g. 1960s) there was a massive stigma against mental illness in general. Also I believe not many people knew anything about personality disorders.

Now that has largely been broken down, there is much less stigma and more understanding of mental illness. With personality disorders, there is more awareness (but still not enough), but the stigma remains. I think this is true of PDs in general, not just BPD.

I have been to places like Mind and seen the volunteers there look shocked and uncomfortable when I tell them I have BPD. They have heard of it, but they don't understand it, they think it is murderers and the like (as Josh suggests).

[mjk]

I am determined to make the most of the support I have, to try and somehow, slowly, make some changes to how I think, feel and act, and show sceptics that BPD people can be motivated, and can want to change, despite the incredible difficulties we still face day after day, and the seemingly lack of progress. I want to try and cooperate and improve things for myself and my family, and that's all anyone can ask of any of us. xxxx

[sundries]

What makes me sickened is that these people who are so stigmatising towards BPD would probably be the ones protesting loudly against child abuse, saying how the children needed help and should not be left to deal with the affects of it. Personally I don't see how mental health professionals who bully people with BPD are any different from the most vile child abusers. It is the same kind of attitude.

[jojo_c]

wow, thank you guys for all your responses

after reading everything posted, i am still confused. not because of what you have all written, rather confused with the MH system.

why has the MH system cleared and classified BPD as a diagnosis if all they are going to do is attach stigma to it? surely the whole point of a classification of a group of symptoms as a diagnosis is to create a better understanding of it, and therefore help sufferers to deal with it??!!! in my opinion, if a doctor won't treat and help anyone diagnosed with an officially recognised illness, then they should not be allowed to practice medicine, full stop. what is the point of being diagnosed with BPD if all it will do to the patient is attach stigma and prevent them from getting the help they need from certain professionals. they may as well not be diagnosed at all!

i've rambled here, and although i've tried my best to clarify my point, i'm still not sure i've got it across properly. i hope you guys understand what i'm trying to say here, because i think it's a very important and valid point which needs to be recognised by MH professionals.

again, thank you all for your views and the time you have taken to respond :)

[mjk]

wow, thank you guys for all your responses

after reading everything posted, i am still confused. not because of what you have all written, rather confused with the MH system.

why has the MH system cleared and classified BPD as a diagnosis if all they are going to do is attach stigma to it? surely the whole point of a classification of a group of symptoms as a diagnosis is to create a better understanding of it, and therefore help sufferers to deal with it??!!! in my opinion, if a doctor won't treat and help anyone diagnosed with an officially recognised illness, then they should not be allowed to practice medicine, full stop. what is the point of being diagnosed with BPD if all it will do to the patient is attach stigma and prevent them from getting the help they need from certain professionals. they may as well not be diagnosed at all!

i've rambled here, and although i've tried my best to clarify my point, i'm still not sure i've got it across properly. i hope you guys understand what i'm trying to say here, because i think it's a very important and valid point which needs to be recognised by MH professionals.

again, thank you all for your views and the time you have taken to respond

I understand exactly what you're saying hun. For me, being diagnosed with BPD was a relief, cos I began to realise that there's a reason for why I'm like I am and think and feel like I do. It's not just me being a bad person, or difficult. It REALLY opened my eyes alot, so for me the diagnosis has been a positive thing, because then I was able to understand what help might be useful in trying to somehow learn to manage it and eventually move forward with it. Accepting I have it in the first place is half the battle:)

[hummm_mabbe]

Hiya

Its not that the stigma was really intended - like any stigma, its essentially a prejudice. Some people will have sufficient self-awareness to see past it, others may not. So stigma against BPD isnt like an NHS policy - its just that you might find an institutionalised attitude in some parts of the NHS. It wont definitely happen, so dont go in looking for it as sometimes that can make you see it where it isnt, but it is something to be aware of as a generalisation.

Ross

[Jinxsta]

Theres stigma attatched everything if u think about it; Large people are large because they eat too much, teenagers are rebellious, parents love their kids, doctors are caring, all policemen are pricks...oh actually the last one is true.

We just get alot of stigma, and we get generalised.

xxx

[icu_baby]

Theres stigma attatched everything if u think about it; Large people are large because they eat too much, teenagers are rebellious, parents love their kids, doctors are caring, all policemen are pricks...oh actually the last one is true.

We just get alot of stigma, and we get generalised.

xxx

lmao @ all policeman are pricks...ok the last one is true

[Jinxsta]

Theres stigma attatched everything if u think about it; Large people are large because they eat too much, teenagers are rebellious, parents love their kids, doctors are caring, all policemen are pricks...oh actually the last one is true.

We just get alot of stigma, and we get generalised.

xxx

lmao @ all policeman are pricks...ok the last one is true

xxx

[Saharah Blue]

but they don't understand it, they think it is murderers and the like (as Josh suggests).

Perhaps Josh ought to rename the site "Bunnie Boilier's World" Oh wait, then what would happen to our Officially Unofficial Bunny Fluff Club Never mind...

[Warrior Princess]

What makes me sickened is that these people who are so stigmatising towards BPD would probably be the ones protesting loudly against child abuse, saying how the children needed help and should not be left to deal with the affects of it. Personally I don't see how mental health professionals who bully people with BPD are any different from the most vile child abusers. It is the same kind of attitude.

I might bring that point up the next time the hospital wants to turn me away...

thanks for that.

WP