Just to return to an earlier point I made, I do not thing Axis II, or personality disorder, diagnoses are helpful to the patient. Labeling someone "Borderline" is, among many psychologists, the psych-talk equivalent of an eye roll. The reason it needs a label is so that people can bill insurances appropriately. I believe therapy should be affordable and accessible to people who need it, and so I can see why it is necessary. The problem is that once that label is applied, it is impossible to delete. A personality disorder diagnosis can have profoundly negative sequellae for a person's life. It is a clear example of psychologists adopting the medical model, which does not fit much of what human beings struggle with in their lives.
In fact, some individuals with "borderline" symptoms will overcome most of them them naturally sometime after the age of 30. There is a maturational process that manifests itself as what some developmental psychologists call "dialectical thinking" that emerges sometime in the 4th decade of life (i.e. in the 30's). But insurance records don't suddenly remove the "borderline" label when a woman turns 30. It goes with the person forever. And that's not helpful or fair.
My objection to the "borderline" label has nothing to do with whether a certain approach to symptom amelioration or trauma recovery is valid or helpful. Each individual will benefit from a different approach at a different time in their lives. My objection is to the borderline label itself, how it came to be, its immediate and deeper implications, and the detrimental impact such a label can have on someone's life. I object because every single one of the nine diagnostic features appears in another diagnosis somewhere in the DSM-IV. I object because the diagnosis asks that an individual meet 5 out of 9 diagnostic features. Well, 9 items can be rearranged in many different combinations of 5. It's not specific enough. And when the next revision of the DSM comes out, the Axis II personality disorders will reflect the change in thinking about these issues.
Just as a point of comparison, there was a time when the psychological profession labeled homosexuality as a disorder. During those years, gay men and women would go to therapists to try to "correct" their sexual orientation. Many individuals' lives have been damaged by those so-called "reparative" therapies. Homosexuality is no longer considered a disease by the psychological profession, and there is no longer a diagnostic category for it. Labels can have profound effects. My point is that the diagnostic tools and labels that psychologists and psychiatrists use should not be taken as "truth" because unlike medical diagnoses that can be linked to a particular etiology (an underlying cause such as an infection, genetic mutation, physical injury, etc.), many psychological diagnoses do not have such clear causes.
What is clear about "Personality Disorders", however, is that most develop in the aftermath of severe or sustained interpersonal trauma, and each symptom in a person's profile is most likely an enactment of what that trauma was like. The trauma-related diagnoses (PTSD, etc.) will also be much revised in the upcoming version of the DSM, probably to reflect what is being learned about trauma sequellae since 9/11.
In fact, some individuals with "borderline" symptoms will overcome most of them them naturally sometime after the age of 30. There is a maturational process that manifests itself as what some developmental psychologists call "dialectical thinking" that emerges sometime in the 4th decade of life (i.e. in the 30's). But insurance records don't suddenly remove the "borderline" label when a woman turns 30. It goes with the person forever. And that's not helpful or fair.
My objection to the "borderline" label has nothing to do with whether a certain approach to symptom amelioration or trauma recovery is valid or helpful. Each individual will benefit from a different approach at a different time in their lives. My objection is to the borderline label itself, how it came to be, its immediate and deeper implications, and the detrimental impact such a label can have on someone's life. I object because every single one of the nine diagnostic features appears in another diagnosis somewhere in the DSM-IV. I object because the diagnosis asks that an individual meet 5 out of 9 diagnostic features. Well, 9 items can be rearranged in many different combinations of 5. It's not specific enough. And when the next revision of the DSM comes out, the Axis II personality disorders will reflect the change in thinking about these issues.
Just as a point of comparison, there was a time when the psychological profession labeled homosexuality as a disorder. During those years, gay men and women would go to therapists to try to "correct" their sexual orientation. Many individuals' lives have been damaged by those so-called "reparative" therapies. Homosexuality is no longer considered a disease by the psychological profession, and there is no longer a diagnostic category for it. Labels can have profound effects. My point is that the diagnostic tools and labels that psychologists and psychiatrists use should not be taken as "truth" because unlike medical diagnoses that can be linked to a particular etiology (an underlying cause such as an infection, genetic mutation, physical injury, etc.), many psychological diagnoses do not have such clear causes.
What is clear about "Personality Disorders", however, is that most develop in the aftermath of severe or sustained interpersonal trauma, and each symptom in a person's profile is most likely an enactment of what that trauma was like. The trauma-related diagnoses (PTSD, etc.) will also be much revised in the upcoming version of the DSM, probably to reflect what is being learned about trauma sequellae since 9/11.
I feel like I'm crazy, I feel like there is no one else like me, I feel alone, I feel like I've been grasping at straws my whole life. Like being told I was boderline bipolar when I was 14 and the dr. never told my mother about it, I felt like I was being purposely put in the dark. Like no one believed I was really hurting on the inside like I was just some hormonal teen out of her mind. If I had a name for whatever is wrong with me I would feel something positive in knowing it has a name and if there is a name there is a treatment and I can get better in some way. If someone told me yeah you're just nuts that would negatively impact my life.
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: Hmm anyway, just reading and learning here... 
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