Anyone read the times article on Marsha Linahan? Apparently, at age 67, she has decided to step forward and talk about her own diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. She was hospitalized at age 17 for over a year for suicidal ideation, severe self abuse (her arms are covered with cuts and burns) and spent much of her time in the hospital heavily medicated and in an isolation room. She talks about several suicide attempts and a lot of electro-shock therapy. It is an excellent article and demonstrates that even a woman as famous as she is kept her mental health issues secret for most of her life because of the bias so many people have about mental illness. I think it's so great that she has stepped forward and taken this leap of faith in revealing her past. What a powerful message her willingness to share her story will have on all of us with BPD

[shezbut]

Really Jaybird57??

Wow! That does sound very interesting. I've seen a couple of her videos, and when Marsha speaks, she really does seem to understand how we are feeling inside. And she's sympathetic ~ rather than, "Get over it!"

Thanks for the information! I stay away from the newspapers like the Plague! A bit too overstimulating for me. So, thanks for summing the article up!

[Secretum]

Here is a link to the story for anyone who wants to read it: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/he...general&src=me

I think that Linehan's story is incredibly inspiring. It's right up there with Kay Jamison's triumph, in my opinion.

[Tourniquet]

I love her quote, "People with Borderline Personality Disorder are like people with third degree burns over 90% of their body - Lacking emotional skin, they feel agony at the slightest touch or movement."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[MDDBPDPTSD]

Wow! That is gonna set many of her professional colleagues whirling! I can just see my DBT therapist's face now! She practically worshipped Marsha as a god a sometime had the opinion that we lower class BPDers should be grateful that anyone, much less a genius like Marsha took notice of us.

My DBT t. was not a nice person, but I knew I needed the DbT and she is the only game in town. HA.

I am NOT glad that Marsha has had to suffer as we do. I am glad for them difference it might make in society as a whole for her to admit she too has had the disease. I am thrilled that my former t. will now some internal conflict of her own. hehehehehe

Makes me evil huh?

Oh well.

[Direction]

Who better to figure out how to treat it then someone who suffers from it!

[MuchAfraid]

I absolutely agree! I kind of got the impression from one of the posts that they may have a belief that because someone has Borderline, they are not intellectually capable of processing the skills in DBT to their fullest extent or focusing on ways to help themselves then creating the instructions for it or something like that. Don't know for sure. But, one thing I am certain of is that Marsha Linehan is and always will be someone that I personally find remarkable, with or without the "scars" she has created, suffered through, and corrected.