Category Archives: BPD-Related

Explores BPD: its stigma, its literary manifestations, its burdens on sufferers and their families

Splitting

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Kathy

I’ve just finished a new memoir, Loud in the House of Myself: Memoir of a Strange Girl, by Stacy Pershall, who’s been diagnosed with both bipolar and borderline personality disorders. It’s a harrowing account of self harm and suicide attempts, miserable … Continue reading →

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Stigma Redux

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Kathy

I just finished reading Sara Gruen’s bestselling novel Water for Elephants. It’s an enjoyable read, and she did an impressive amount of research. It’s fun and dumb. Thinking over the ending, I was reminded of my redemptive violence post. Since … Continue reading →

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No Umbrella*

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Kathy

Last week, when I was walking across campus in the rain, I felt a surge of gratitude for my umbrella.  Appreciating this ordinary item caused me to reflect on my childhood and youth without umbrellas. And to wonder if it was … Continue reading →

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Acedia and Mom

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Kathy

I just finished reading Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and A Writer’s Life (2008) by Kathleen Norris, a spiritual writer known for her meditative memoirs Dakota, The Cloister Walk, Amazing Grace, and The Virgin of Bennington. In this most recent book, Norris spends a … Continue reading →

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Pride and Prejudice and BPD

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Kathy

My book group just discussed Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and since then I’ve been pondering what seems to me to be one of its themes. Austen intends for us, by the end of the book, to like Elizabeth and Darcy, … Continue reading →

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Helping, Once Again

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Kathy

For people with BPD, the glass is never half-full and rarely even half-empty: it seems there has never been anything in that glass, ever. I remember suggesting to my mom a few times that we were a lucky family, compared to … Continue reading →

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Helping Someone with BPD

Posted on November 9, 2010 by Kathy

This morning I watched Dani’s video blog on borderline personality disorder and “object constancy,” that is, the difficulty BPD sufferers have with trusting in someone’s love when that person isn’t there. This provided lots of food for thought, but as … Continue reading →

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“Wounding, Destruction, Despair, Healing, and Love”

Posted on October 9, 2010 by Kathy

Millicent Monks gives new, horrifying meaning to the term “sandwich generation.” Her memoir Songs of Three Islands: A Story of Mental Illness in an Iconic American Family describes being caught between mentally-ill parents and a daughter with borderline personality disorder. … Continue reading →

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The Sadder Face

Posted on September 30, 2010 by Kathy

Borderline personality disorder is a variable, hard-to-pin-down phenomenon. “These patients…are a heterogeneous group…Even the same patient will present with a wide variety of problems at different times,” says Arthur Freeman, editor of Comparative Treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder. Another specialist, Robert G. … Continue reading →

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Abuse as a Cause of BPD

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Kathy

Yesterday a friend and my sister and I attended an all-day seminar called Understanding Personality Disorders presented by Dr. Dennis A. Marikis and sponsored by the Institute for Brain Potential. I was amazed, being a teacher myself, at how well Dr. Marikis … Continue reading →

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