Borderline Personality Disorder from an Uncommon Perspective A Strong Pair of Exceptional Eyes

What better way to describe a disorder other than the most authentic formation of words out there, the Dictionary definition of BPD, “a personality disorder characterized by severe mood swings, impulsive behavior, and difficulty forming stable personal relationships.” Therefore, affecting a person so intensely no one else can understand the feelings or reasoning behind their actions, sometimes not even themselves. I want to attempt to highlight a story that’s lurking in the shadows, bring it to light and demonstrate to my readers, not the textbook version of the disorder but the real-life perspective. The story is written from an amorous author with a brave soul strong enough to share his story, who is twenty-six years young living in Wichita, the south-central city of Kansas.

He lives his everyday life with Borderline Personality Disorder and shares some of his everyday tortuous struggles, he writes, “I live in my father’s house, but we barely speak... I can’t talk to him because I don’t know what awful words could come out of my mouth,”(anonymous 2) hinting to the lack of control he has over his emotions and for the most part, lives alone. He shares the idea that he “can’t get close to anyone because [he] will love them so much,”(anonymous 2) to the point of danger, “it’s a cycle of negativity”(anonymous 2) with no control or cure to a different life. He explains, his disorder in a way that most people can attempt to find empathy to understand, he says to take your strongest feelings and emotions, that “the intensity with which you feel those emotions is probably equivalent to what a person with BPD feels on a regular basis,”(anonymous 2) then to multiply that feeling “by ten and that is what a person with BPD considers intense emotion”(anonymous 2). He demonstrated to his audience a disorder many people misunderstand, as something the victim to BPD is in control of when sadly that is not the case.

This is only a glance into one story with a disorder that’s controlling many lives; left with no cure only psychotherapy. He writes to make “more people aware and care,”(anonymous 3) claiming that the more people know “the more people we can help”(anonymous 3). The difficulty of mental illness is more than some of us can fathom, but maybe together we can bring awareness and make a difference.