Thanks, everybody who responded with their ideas and opinions. I may go ahead and start the book. My husband has been encouraging me for years to write a book, and after sharing some poems with my t, she has also said I should be a published writer. But things have always stood in my way:

Fear of failure (low self-esteem)
Lack of time (I work full-time)
Being judged by people who know me if they read a book where I have so vulnerably spelled out my weaknesses, strange thoughts, actions, etc.

and mostly. . .

Hurting the feelings of my family members.

I don't see any way to write this book from a place of personal experience without mentioning several of the things my parents did (probably unintensionally) to damage my sense of self growing up. If I edit out all of those things, then there really will be nothing of substance in the book and no reason to write it. I believe that even though genetics probably plays a part in mental illness, I think that a child's experience in their relationship with their parents growing up is a significant factor in that child later developing BPD.

I suppose I could change the traumatic experiences I had to something similar in order to spare my parents feeling like I am calling them awful parents. . .but then the book will not really be about my own experience either.

I agree about the difficulties in getting a publisher and wouldn't expect to make much money. But I really do like the idea of presenting a different picture of BPD that is very real and virtually being ignored at the present time in the mental health field. Since I work as a writer and editor in my job, I would be able to write and edit the book, and also put it into an electronic format to be uploaded to a site like Amazon. It might take some research to figure out exactly how to do it, but I don't think I would need an outside publisher if I just self-publish. I could make it available as an electronic e-book or a printed copy (print on demand). I don't think I would be required to publish a big quantity of books at once.

I would not present my book as a scholarly work but state that is based on my own experience, as well as the reading I've done, psychology classes I've taken, and my personal knowledge of others like me who carry the diagnosis. I could also state that I am a therapy veteran, having been in my own therapy for more than 10 years. But then, it would be easy for people to say "Well, what a nut! If she's THAT screwed up, how can we take seriously anything in her book?"

I'm pretty sensitive to criticism too, which I would almost definitely receive after publishing such a book. Book reviewers can be pretty brutal, and professionals in the mental health field who believe only they have the knowledge to inform the public correctly about mental health issues could also throw their own barbs in.

Also, my BPD, like many others, is compounded with other diagnoses. For example, I also have C-PTSD, GAD, and probably DDNOS. So would it still be accurate for me to write the book as primarily about BPD? I really don't want to get all tied up in complicated explanations in the book about the overlaps between the different diagnoses.

Also, if I write under a different name, in order to avoid personal criticism, would that be viewed as me being embarrassed to admit I have BPD? I'm not ashamed of it. I just don't want to be barraged my criticism and judgement. I think it could be very damaging to me.

I dunno. Maybe I am just overthinking things. . .like I always do.

I really want to do this if I can find a way to overcome these potential concerns I've mentioned.