Given your clinical expertise, then you would know there are nine DSM-5 criteria for BPD, and you only need five to be diagnosed, meaning there are ample presentations of the disorder. I would guess you also understand that huge stigma comes with having a BPD diagnosis. As a mental health provider, I’d also assume you know the importance of person-first language when discussing mental health conditions (actually, maybe not given the use of Borderlines).

Of course, your clinical experience with patients who have BPD is completely valid. That’s not my problem. My issue is that you are writing in a very all-encompassing, stigmatizing way. This is the Internet and you are a mental health professional, meaning people will take your siloed experiences as 100 percent, across the board truth. You are painting people with BPD in a very scary light, highlighting the most painful and damaging symptoms.

Yes, of course, these things you wrote about happened (and do happen, per your own experience). Yes, BPD can be, and often is, disruptive to relationships. But you have portrayed individuals with BPD as a lost cause, as ticking time bombs. This isn’t the case. I know that many people with BPD also work SO damn hard to fight through the hell that is their brain every day, and I would know this because I have BPD and I have endured the stigma that comes with the diagnosis AND the emotional hell. Sure I don’t “work with Borderlines.” But I work ON it and THROUGH it daily. I would hope this gives me some authority on the subject.

People like me need compassion, understanding, and patience. This article does nothing but contribute further to the isolating experience and judgment that that is BPD. I can hope your intention with this article wasn’t its impact. But I would encourage you in future pieces to remember that there are very real people who will see your article and feel deep shame, regret, and pain by "articles" like this.