[yasmin770]

I have dealt with a lot of stigma against borderline diagnosis since I got it. Denied treatment, told I deserved to have a battering husband because I must have caused him to hit me since I have borderline, etc. (That was AFTER he was so violent that police got involved. BEFORE that, they said I was making it up, because I am borderline.) NOW when you google borderline, there's a lot of hateful wrong stigmatizing things said! That we are sociopaths. That WE are the abusive violent people. and etc. Even another support forum for family members of personality disorders does this; and people claiming to be therapists go on national talk shows and talk to the media about how Borderlines are violent, sociopathic, stalkers, etc. I feel completely cut off from society in part because of this stigma.

[technigal]

I have not experienced any stigma personally. My husband told me that when he tried looking up stuff for partners of BPD all he found was extremely negative stuff. The only websites I have gone to were recommended by a therapist (PC being one of them). The media does portray BPD very negatively.

[beloiseau]

I've experienced some stigma, so I can relate. I've experienced it from health professionals and friends. When I was in the hospital the psychiatrist told me I had it, then told me to ask the nurses to print some things off for me. Well, he apparently didn't tell anyone else because the nurse was mad when I asked her and then none of the staff treated me as nicely afterwards. It's really a shame that there is still any amount of stigma about any mental or physical illnesses. There is so much information available, especially to those in the 'helping' professions, that they shouldn't have that view point.

[aleej28]

I havent experienced a lot of stigma only because I recieved far too much from the people that I told...after my second time in the hospital, I was diagnosed with BPD for the first time along with psychosis, depression, anxiety. When I gave my mom the medical papers for her to look over and sign (Im still under her insurance), she was really disturbed by the words "borderline personality disorder" and thought that meant I just snap into 2 different people randomly. My ex-fiance always blamed our fights and disagreements on my BPD ("oh this how everyone on BPD gets/you didn't take your meds today, did you?/yeah you WOULD say something like that with your BPD"). I'm too afraid to confide in anyone else about it because I'm afraid they'll start blaming everything I do on BPD.

[Espresso]

I haven't encountered any stigma, but I also haven't told many people. The pdoc was almost excited when he looked through my chart and realized that I might have this diagnosis because it was finally a treatable reason for my issues.

[bpdtransformation]

Yasmin,
Sorry you are having to deal with this. The portrayal of borderlines as sociopathic and violent is completely without merit, and if someone is saying that you can be assured that they are an idiot!

It sounds like you have been unlucky to be exposed to some negative portrayals of BPD from people who don't understand the condition. The reality is, people with BPD are in great pain and are trying to manage the best way they know how. They are usually not violent at all; rather, they just want help and support buy have trouble asking for and accepting it.