Global Health Mag

So much stigma surrounds borderline personality disorder (BPD). Finding a TV show that accurately depicts it can feel like an impossible task. Most only know BPD based on stereotypes, and because of this, it’s easy to question whether compassionate depictions of BPD and its symptoms exist in pop culture at all. While it can seem like Hollywood either portrays BPD badly or not at all, a few of our …

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental illness classified by nine different diagnostic criteria, five of which an individual must meet to be diagnosed. However, there are various other signs of BPD that add to the complexity of the condition. As a woman living with BPD, and a mental health professional, I have researched and studied the disorder significantly to better understand it, and in turn, myself. As …

In this rapidly evolving modern age, mental health conversations are becoming more normalized, acceptable and even encouraged in certain circles. Gone are the days of whispering the word “therapy” in hushed tones, or hiding mental health difficulties for fear of judgment or misunderstanding. Important conversations are taking place every day, and awareness of mental health conditions continues to develop steadily to help …

Dear past in-patient psychiatrists, Imagine having your freedom stripped from you “for your own good.” Imagine that consisting of: being handcuffed, placed in the back of a police car and locked in a psychiatric ward for an unspecified amount of time. Being in a psychiatric unit can feel so dehumanizing. In the psychiatric ER, you are told you cannot wear …

Anxiety busting techniques can help transform you and how you move through the world. If you live with anxiety then this article is for you. I believe one of the most prevalent symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is anxiety. We are anxious about so much and part of learning how to deal with that anxiety is learning how to control …

I have been to multiple doctors, taken a cocktail of medications and participated in therapy for a year, but no one saw it. Despite my symptoms, the places I was receiving treatment from were so focused on getting me in and out the door that they failed to realize the truth behind my mental illness. So I did my own research, …

Here I am, six weeks post-breakup. Off work due to a nervous breakdown, my first in five years. I’m in psychoanalysis twice a week, and it’s the first time I have stuck with therapy long-term. I have been seeing my doctor for about two years, and he was the one who had to point out the relationship between my mood …

Sometimes, when people look at me, I feel like it must be like looking out at the ocean from their hotel balcony. Everything looks calm. Steady. Stable. There aren’t even any waves. They don’t think about what lurks beneath the surface. Under that facade of calm and serenity, there are bloodthirsty sharks. There’s a riptide that doesn’t know how to …

I am realizing that with borderline personality disorder (BPD), there are various stages which we go through. First of all, there is the pre-diagnosed stage where we are acting out constantly from our impulses and “emotion minds.” This is where all the symptoms are strong and seemingly unexplainable. We may come off as erratic, dramatic, unpredictable, even a little “crazy” …

It sounds weird, right? Why would someone want to be deprived of their freedom? Why would someone want to be locked up away from the rest of the world? Why would someone want to stay in a strange place with a bunch of people they don’t know? As someone with borderline personality disorder (BPD) who also struggles greatly with self-harm, the …

We all want to be loved and needed. I think that’s one of the core parts of being human. It is important to us. But when it becomes pathological, it can cause problems for us. Many people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) become huge people pleasers because they want to be loved and needed by everyone they come into contact with. …

Sometimes it feels like being haunted, but the ghosts are real people who exist. And are alive. Sometimes it’s not people. Sometimes I’m being chased by someone… or thing. Sometimes I’m yelling. I’m yelling at someone I love. I’m yelling at someone who left, or who might leave me, begging them not to go. Sometimes it’s someone who is long …

She asks: But if your emotions are so intense, aren’t you? If you’re happy, are you extra happy? Yes, but happy doesn’t feel like happy. Happiness feels like the sun outside shining so bright and lucid that my eyes melt from my orbits and my skin gets red and turns to ashes and I collapse in a pile, burnt and melted. …

“Just forget it,” he said. How could I simply forget the immense pain welling up in his eyes. How could I forget the pain I felt as it stabbed my heart with a knife. How could he not understand the pain he felt — as he screwed up his face and tried to hide — was the pain I felt. …

To my abandonment issues – or as she will hereby be referred to as, “Abi.” Abi… we’ve been together for a very long time — since I was a child, in fact. You never understood why people left, why they argued, why they got mad and said mean things or why they slammed doors and left vibrating rooms empty. You …