Hmm.
Hmm.
Google confirms: she does say that.
I want to tread carefully here, but wouldn’t you think a personality disorder would be a hindrance to being a good representative of the people? It’s not called a personality variation but a disorder. I’ve gathered that the borderline type is…difficult. I know “ableism” is a no-no but all the same, people in government really do need some basic abilities.
I suppose the reality is that some people now think of such things as matters of “identity” and thus sacred. Thus BPD is not an obstacle to dealing with people reasonably, but a brave and stunning identity that makes the owner a miracle of empathy and supportivity.
Is that the thinking?
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19 responses to “Another star on the chart”
There are a number of personality disorders that wouldn’t actually impact your ability to deal with people reasonably; borderline is not one of them. I’ve dealt with borderline personality disorders in the past, and I don’t care to do it again.
A great (and often hilarious) exploration of BPD-like mental health from the point of view of the protagonist is Crazy Ex-Girlfriend; it is a largely-autobiographical (though still fairly fictionalised) account of the creators’ own experiences with similar conditions. If you like show tunes and musicals and shows that aren’t afraid to have their protagonists be fallible and try (and often fail) to figure things out, it’s worth a watch.
It is also very…progressive (with, among other things, a surrogacy plotline to which the feminists ’round these parts may have some qualms), but luckily it ended in 2020, so the writing was mostly spared from the activist warping most shows had to muddle through in the wake of the “racial reckoning”.
In particular, it shows how BPD sufferers can, with the best of intentions, degrade the quality of life of those around them — and how a diagnosis isn’t an excuse, and how personal responsibility is still in operation even when circumstances make it difficult.
The Mayo Clinic on personality disorders:
If that’s right then surely by definition people with PDs aren’t well suited to jobs that require interacting with people. Ok for surgeons, not ok for GPs; that kind of thing.
Yes, but with treatment, they can learn to control their personality disorders, or at least, override the worst of it. As someone with a personality disorder, I have worked with people in a number of jobs. It’s difficult, because I tend toward shying away, but it can be done, and quite effectively. But I’m not borderline.
For Social Security Disability, being a personality disorder is rarely going to get you declared disabled, because you can perform most jobs. Borderline is somewhat easier, but still isn’t an automatic.
Having briefly dated a woman with BPD (and who had a host of other psychological baggage that wasn’t her fault)… Yeah, BPD is insanely difficult to deal with (but still a lot better than a manipulative bipolar person that states she doesn’t take her meds).
I think secondary personality disorder diagnoses are a crock of poo. Are there people who do the things BPD people do? Yes! And I have experienced this myself. Is there such a thing as BPD? I have to say no.
I agree with Thoughtcrime, but mostly because it is impossible to occupy the space of a border, BPD means you’ve crossed the border into PD. Also I find it insanely implausible that so many people manage to stick the landing on that border.
If I am misunderstanding the definitions of PD and BPD, then get better names.
Borderline refers not to the line between healthy and ill, but to the classification of the illness. From Wikipedia
Thanks Steven, for some reason I never came across any definition that mentioned neurosis vs psychosis, they only ever described symptoms, hence my confusion. However I still say it’s a crap name that abuses the definition of border and doesn’t convey any helpful information about the condition. Frankly to everyone else a PD is a PD and calling any PD “borderline” makes no sense.
Yes, but therapeutically that doesn’t help. One needs to know what type of personality disorder, because they are different. Some of them, like borderline, can render one antisocial. Others, like, say, a passive personality disorder, may make someone too submissive. They require different types of treatment.
The problem as I see it is that diagnoses are not meant to be public entities; they are for the use of the physician (and insurance company) and not something that has the same meaning as the public understands. When people start talking about not understanding the term, it is because it is not for you, it is for the doctor.
The internet has insisted everything be for the public, but doesn’t require that the public accept that the terms are not defined for them. Sort of like many biological terms, including ‘woman’.
To add to iknklast’s comment… here is a list of PDs, with brief descriptions, for those interested in personality disorders as a class, or in trying to understand why the terminology is the way it is: https://medlineplus.gov/personalitydisorders.html
Yes, the names are for clinicians, not designed for colloquial use by laypeople. Plenty of examples out there of cases where the general public displays a fundamental misunderstanding of scientific terms that have found their way into common use… behaviourists’ negative/positive descriptors of reward and punishment are another case where the terms confuse those they weren’t designed for. Not everyone is the target audience for everything… that’s why “science communicator” is often a quite distinct occupation from “scientist” ;-)
Is there such a thing as a passive personality disorder? All Google shows is passive-aggressive pd.
Surely medical terms aren’t fenced off from “the public” in such a way that we’re not allowed to find out what they mean. There are lots that are too technical to be useful for conversation, but that doesn’t mean they’re Forbidden or similar.
Cross-posted with ibbica. I guess that answers my second question.
Actually, it’s been a long time since I interacted with them. I looked at the types, and it is avoidant personality disorder. I tended to avoid people…that might make it difficult to work with people, if I hadn’t worked to control it. It can make someone too passive, if that is one way they handle avoidance.
Ohhh, interesting. I didn’t know that was one.
As someone with avoidant personality disorder, I can say with certainty that it’d be a barrier to being a good representative. In my fantasies, I imagine myself a capable autocrat, but …
It’s one of the reasons I bristle at “inclusive” language like “neurodiverse”. It obscures the reality that these are disordered, maladaptive modes of thought and action. Pretending that it’s all just part of the beautiful tapestry of life is an insulting denial of reality and my “lived experience”.
Thanks for the link Ibbica, it’s a nice pocket guide I’ll check often. It even backs up my point that if they had called BPD Emotional PD (EPD), it would make more sense. I would also have a good idea of what the PD category entails in exactly the way the word borderline doesn’t. :^)
Nullius, that’s so true. I get so tired of people laughing when they do something by habit and say “oh, look how OCD I am!” No, you’re just like everyone else, a creature of habit. OCD (from someone who has it) can be quite difficult to cope with.
And as for avoidant personality disorder, yeah. I learned to cope with it, but the cost is going home exhausted. That’s one reason I had to retire. I just couldn’t keep on.
iknklast, see also “I’m such a nerd,” and, “I’m such a bitch.” Uttered with literally and precisely the same cadence and pitch pattern. That the head cheerleader will say these things does not mean that the terms are no longer insults.