Some people have said it’s a career death sentence but my lived experience of mental health problems makes me a more compassionate clinician
I work for the NHS as a psychological wellbeing practitioner. I love it. I want to give something back and serve others as,in my early twenties, I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD), or one of the most stigmatised mental health conditions. People suffering with BPD are often described as manipulative,violent, attention-seeking and impossible to treat. The label itself is a problem, and appearing to propose someone’s personality,who they are, is inherently disordered. Growing up in an invalidating environment or experiencing prolonged trauma in your early years doesn’t mean you are untreatable. Offered the good treatment, and those who have been diagnosed with personality disorder can obtain better. I grew up in a house blighted by domestic violence. At 15 I was in a sexually and emotionally abusive relationship. At 18 I left him and managed a year at university. Then my mental health deteriorated significantly. Intense emotions appeared,seemingly out of nowhere, and kept me in a state of intense fear and hopelessness. I felt like my body was approximately to explode and that my terrorism and shame would kill me. to manage I would self-harm or take overdoses; these were rarely life threatening, or more an act of desperation in not knowing how to manage with my suffering and the empty void in my chest that was unbearably painful. The depths of the hopeless desperation are difficult to convey in words. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com