Deconstructing BPD
I passionately believe in finding new, compassionate ways to talk about acute and chronic suffering, especially for those of us who are or have been chronically suicidal or whose symptoms society finds uncomfortable. My focus is on understanding and supporting individuals in pain, rather than resorting to outdated and harmful labels, and ensuring diagnostic rights are available in a more validating way for those who want or need them. I have had the fortune of campaigning for this issue both nationally and internationally.
As a few people have asked me to put my activism in one place to make it more accessible, here is some of my work:
Table of Contents
Understanding Personality
What is Personality: Discusses the complexities of personality and identity formation. We explore habitual paths of behavior, the transgenerational nature of identity and how personality gets misrecognized. Watch the interview here.
Questioning the Construct Validity of BPD
Lancet Psychiatry ICD-11 article: Article exploring the problems with BPD's scientific reliability and validity, encaging survivors in a diagnostic construct even nosologists don't believe in. Read here.
Open Letter to Change ICD-11: Alongside hundreds of survivors, professionals, carers, and allies, we demand better approaches than the damaging BPD label. Read here.
Misdiagnosis
Why Autism is misdiagnosed as BPD: Discover why autism is frequently misrecognised as BPD, causing iatrogenic harm and alienation. Read here.
Against Trans Individuals being Misdiagnosed as having a PD: Letter response on a piece character slurring trans folk via the BPD construct. Read here.
Splitting Complex PTSD and BPD: How the new diagnosis of cPTSD may reproduce a misogynistic deserving and undeserving victim dichotomy: Read here.
Iatrogenic Harm and BPD
BPD and Invalidation: How the construct devastingly affects patients in our inpatient wards. Read here.
How the BPD construct enables unacceptabe attitudes: Podcast with the american mental health network. Listen here.
BPD and Feminism
BPD as a misogynistic slur: Article on how BPD reflects a highly gendered trope that is used against predominantly women and the Queer community. Read here.
BPD as a mask of AFAB autism: Podcast on autism, borserline personality disorder and being a trauma survivor with Mollie on 'Back from the Borderline'. Listen here.
Is BPD a feminist issue? Podcast with the wonderful Mental Elf. Listen here.
BPD and Epistemic injustice
Testimonial Injustice And Borderline Personality Disorder: BPD is often a damaging construct because it deflates testimonial credibility meaning suicidal ideation etc is taken less seriously. Read here.
Beyond Character Assassination: A video of my talk at the United Kingdom's Mental Health PRU event to rethink BPD ideology and care. Watch here.
Epistemic injustice and BPD: Article in the British Journal of Psychiatry International on how the BPD construct is impossible to escape or refuse - unacceptable given changing the diagnosis can br a win-win for all. Read here.
Challenging Staff Attitudes
Changing the Story Around BPD: Presentation at the Royal College of Psychiatrists on what the BPD masks, how it effects treatment and how we might do better. Read here.
Activism Against the BPD Construct:How psychotherapists can reframe severe distress and get involved in building better. Read here.
The 'Personality Disorder' Shield: I discuss how the concept of 'personality' is often misused by healthcare staff, family, and partners to deny the existence of trauma. Read here.
My work in this field is deeply influenced and guided by the survivor movement, particularly the #TraumaNotPD, #AutismNotPD, and #ADHDNotPD communities. For more insights into our collective activism and its impact, I encourage exploring these hashtags on social media.