[peaches100]

I've been thinking for quite some time about writing a book. What's prompting me to do so isn't so much about making money, but about shining a spotlight on what I consider to be an often overlooked, almost invisible subset of BPD sufferers who do not display the stereotypical descriptions that are continually given in books, Web sites, and even scholarly articles about how people with BPD think and behave.

Much of the information I've read about people who suffer with BPD indicate that we are demanding, manipulative, aggressive, attention seeking, self-injurers who lack empathy and are prone to attacks of rage. While it is true that people with BPD can and do display these qualities at times (as well as folks without BPD or a mental health diagnosis!!), I do not believe that this description accurately portrays many of us who suffer with BPD. It bothers me to see us continually portrayed in one specific way, which is often very negative.

The DSM-V lists 8 or 9 symptoms of BPD, and it takes only 5 of those symptoms to be diagnosed with it. Not all of us share the exact same 5 symptoms, or the same constellation of symptoms. I think I read somewhere that 5 of the symptoms listed in the DSM-V could be grouped in like 256 different ways. I don't believe that the mental health field, and certainly not the public, are recognizing the complexity of BPD and the fact that not all people with BPD can be assumed to display it in the same way. It's inaccurate to continue describing us in one stereotypical way again and again. Also, if professionals who seek to treat us, and family members and friends who wish to help us, they can't rely only on the books and articles currently written about BPD because they will react to us in ways that are recommended for people with BPD that fit that common stereotype. What works for one of us doesn't work for all of us.

What are your thoughts? Do you think the current books and articles about BPD describe us accurately? Or not? If not, what information do you think is missing?

[ThisWayOut]

That would actually be really awesome. I think it's definitely an underrepresented side of bpd...

[Syra]

You go Girl! and I want to read it when you're finished : )

[unaluna]

Interesting. The rest of us shoot ourselves in the foot in different ways. These 2 people may seem like exact opposites, but theyre not. I like it.

[Anne2.0]

I do not have personal experience with BPD but i wanted to plug what sounds like a good idea that you have. And i think that writing a book can be a particularly powerful kind of healing, especialy one based in experience. I think there are numerous examples of people writing memoirs about mental health topics, recent title called Excavation and well known author Lauren Slater come to mind. I think a book like yours would be educational not just for mental health professionals and clients, but it would also allow you to dig deeper into yourself and your life in ways that would likely be useful to you.

[catlady83]

I think this would be really great! Personally, I would love to read something like this. I feel like there are not enough insightful books on mental illness written from the perspective of the person who ha the disorder. I think this book would be very valuable

[SnakeCharmer]

Go for it. BPD is complex, as are the people diagnosed with it. Anything that sheds more understanding on the subject could be of great help. I have a relative who's diagnosed with BPD. I don't know if he really has it or not. He's had several other diagnoses, but borderline seems to be the one that sticks, largely because he self-injures and has trouble with emotional impulsiveness and mood swings. But otherwise ... I'm still wondering.

He fits the criteria superficially, for sure. As a family member I'd certainly welcome books, blogs and articles that gave some alternative views of the diagnosis.

[Partless]

Originally Posted by peaches100

What are your thoughts? Do you think the current books and articles about BPD describe us accurately? Or not? If not, what information do you think is missing?

You know, if you write a book about your personal struggles as a person with BPD, you can pretty much put whatever you like in the book, including how people or scholarly articles don't cover all possible variations of DSM criteria and focus only on one subset.

But if you want to present a scholarly work, almost as way to counter some academic claims about the disorder, it will be tricky if you want to be taken seriously by those people, without having the educational background.

Because my mom has certain narcissistic and also borderline traits, I have looked at some of the books in this area before, and I personally think that a book from somebody who has a different variety of BPD than what's often portrayed or shared, can be a nice addition to what's available.

However, I don't how successful you will be with getting the book published or making money off of it. Something about self injury or rage, seems to make for a kind of drama that attracts publishers to okay those kinds of stories for publication. It is a sad state of affairs. But I think there are a few publishers (and quite a number of readers) out there who value learning about mental illness, even if doesn't always involve the more behaviorally severe reactions.

[peaches100]

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.

[peaches100]

PS - I wanted to add that I have already seen that a number of people with BPD have already written books based on their own experience of having it, and those books are available through Amazon. I have not personally read any of them, so I don't know if they cover the particular "subset" of BPD sufferers that I want to focus on. But I have read little-to-nothing in the professional mental health field that focuses on this subset. The very small amount I've read that DOES mention it refers to this subset as "The Quiet Borderline" or the "Acting-In Borderline."

[unaluna]

I have a cartoon taped to the inside of the folder that holds the clippings for MY book - it shows a woman author at her book signing, and a somewhat distraught couple, obviously her parents, saying to her, "If we had known you were going to write a book about it, we'd have treated you better!" the guy who wrote The Prince of Tides said some interesting stuff on this subject. Ie re his family.

[peaches100]

Originally Posted by hankster

I have a cartoon taped to the inside of the folder that holds the clippings for MY book - it shows a woman author at her book signing, and a somewhat distraught couple, obviously her parents, saying to her, "If we had known you were going to write a book about it, we'd have treated you better!" the guy who wrote The Prince of Tides said some interesting stuff on this subject. Ie re his family.

Hankster,

That's really funny! Thanks for sharing it.