Topic Tuesday// Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Week 2022: 'See The Person'// Tues 27th September 2022 7-8:30PM AEST

Hi, I’ve been struggling with my mental health for a little over 10 years, and have recently been told I have BPD (in addition to existing diagnoses of anxiety and depression, and likely AvPD). I’m relatively new to the forums, but would love to share my experiences to hopefully give people more insight into BPD.

Hi! I’m Alex and I work at Spectrum – The Personality Disorder Service for Victoria. I’m a Clinical Psychologist and have been at Spectrum for the past 5 years working almost exclusively with clients with a diagnosis of BPD. I provide both group and individual therapy from an MBT perspective. I find the work really engaging and rewarding and look forward to the discussion around BPD tonight!

Hi Everyone,

You’ve probably seen me around the forums a fair bit as one of your very own Community Guides. I first connected with SANE forums during my BPD recovery journey. The support here has been incredible as I’ve been able to reach out and share parts of my story to help people better understand my experiences of BPD.

Tonight, I’ll be sharing my own lived experience of BPD. I hope you’ll all find it helpful, and please ask any questions along the way 🙂

Hi @puzzlingdino @Kimb ! Good to have you 🙂

Would love to hear any contributions you're happy and comfortable to share with us @puzzlingdino , in this discussion tonight and/or around the Forums 😊

Hi @TideisTurning @Kimb @BPDSurvivor @Millieme @Alex_Spectrum

thanks for the tag

Hi, everyone. I'm here as a partner(?) of a person who exhibits many BPD traits. I realise the tightrope I am on - there is no diagnosis or willingness to investigate it on her part; and I do appreciate many possible reasons. I've read a number of books on the topic and had some contact with health providers; joined a support group and now am here. The question mark with "partner(?)" is that again, this would be the 6th or 7th time now in 18 months or so that I'm on the outer. I just want to see what I can do - for me; for her.

Hey @M_P90 ,

Thanks for posting.

You have raised some very common issues with the BPD label.

To me, having the label meant I could access supports I may otherwise not have been able to access. It was also somewhat liberating to know that all my behaviours had a name or reason to them.

On the other hand, the BPD label is not liked my many clinicians....unfortunately. As soon as they see/hear BPD, they sort of have a generalised 'approach' to them. ie. 'leave them, they are only attention seekers', 'don't waste your time'.