BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER:WHY IS IT STIGMATISED?

Despite being recognised for decades, the condition remains misunderstood and undertreated as a result

- DR CHRISTIAN JARRETT

The so-called 'personality disorders' are among the most controversial and complicated of psychiatric diagnoses. Critics say that stigma is baked into the concept itself - the label implies that there is something pathological about a person's personality.

The term 'personality disorder' is meant to reflect how a person's psychological problems are long-lasting and permeate many aspects of their lives, from their daily emotional experiences to their relationships.

For some, receiving a formal diagnosis of a personality disorder can help them understand why they find life so difficult and, in positive cases, it can help them obtain the professional support they need.

Of the 10 specific personality disorders recognised by psychiatry, among the most widely misunderstood is borderline personality disorder (BPD), which is estimated to affect one to two per cent of the population.

The term 'borderline' is a throwback to the 1930s. During this time, psychoanalytically trained psychiatrists saw the diagnosis as being on the margins of the now largely defunct categories of the psychoses (conditions that were considered more serious and untreatable) and the neuroses (conditions that were considered treatable with psychoanalysis).

People with BPD typically experience a lot of anxiety; they worry about being abandoned by people close to them; they often struggle to form a stable sense of who they are; and they can find stress particularly difficult to cope with.