Posted by sar on October 29, 2001, at 0:04:09
In reply to Re: Borderline Personality Disorder Meds » sar, posted by Elizabeth on October 26, 2001, at 11:22:02
> > right, give me enough time w/ the DSM and it's dangerous... :)
>
> Did you see the movie they made of Girl, Interrupted? There's a scene where Winona Ryder reads the diagnostic criteria for BPD (which actually were only first spelled out in 1980, in DSM-III) and says something to the effect of, "That is *so* me." To which Angelina Jolie replies, "That's everybody." < g >
true, true! after i saw the movie i read susannah kaysen's book and loved it....particularly because she disputes her BPD dx and didn't even find out about it until years fetr she'd been hospitalised. and susannah's character in Girl--she wasn't psychotic, was she? she certainly didn't seem strange to me...striking point of the movie....she seemed so disturbed-normal--like a normal teenage girl!!...i'm glad yopu remembered what Jolie's character said...
> > i agree. reading about problems that people with BPD frequently have helped open my eyes to some faults that i have but i really wasn't fully aware of...
>
> That's understandable. I think that a lot of people could learn some things about themselves by reading about psychological disorders -- including "normies." :-)it's a fine line, eh?
> > at the time of the dx, i *wanted* a label so i could go get books and understand why i felt and acted so crazy.
>
> That's understandable, too. But getting yourself labelled "borderline" usually isn't in your best interests, IMO (although you had no way of knowing that at the time).
that's why my psychoanalyst would not dx me as "borderline," though she said i probably met 5 or 6 of the citeria. she said that life insurance companies have a way of prejudicing (is that a word?) against the mentally ill and especially against "borderlines" because they have a relatve;y high suicide rate...so officially she dx'd me with an "adjustment disoder."
>
> Heh. Until recently I lived in Cambridge, Mass. Boston (and the surrounding area) is swarming with psychiatrists, nearly all of them HMS alums and/or HMS-affiliated.have you read the elizabeth wurtzel book? for awhile i momentarily thot that perhaps you were wurtzel. what is your profession?
>
>
> See, I think that patients should have some protection as to what goes into their medical records. A lot of doctors are quick to make stigmatizing diagnoses. (IMO, a lot of the "personality disorder" labels are best considered name-calling rather than legitimate diagnoses.)i agree with you. i can't say i really give a shit about what they write about me because it hasn't affected me so far, but the so out-in-theleft-field diagnoses leave me...untrusting and bewildered. this guy was so sure that i'm histrionic...i'd *never* thought that of myself, though i'd completely identified with and reconciled with having social anxiety disorder. this doc's beef may have been socioeconimic, i don't know...i just know i was the only white person in his wair\ting room, and by far the vest-dressed (not to brag on myself...only to illustrate that one of the best docs on tpwn chose to run a clinic for the poor downtown)
> > Whether or not I've got BPII is up in the air--but i've done my reading and gotten my drugs...i'm all labelled out. i just want to feel better (and i have been).
>
> Good! That's the point of all this -- to help us feel okay and get our lives back together, not to satisfy some doctor's ego. ;-)
>
> > i agree. the labels helped me w/ research because i've not been able to afford a decent therapist in many months (no insurance).
>
> My insurance recently lapsed, and I've been worried ever since. I actually had one of these seizure-like episodes recently and was really worried, but it turned out that I could get financial assistance to pay the hospital bills. (I haven't any firm evidence that the episodes are in fact seizures, but all the doctors I've spoken to say that's what it sounds like.)
What kind of job do you have? your posts seem v. educated...> > i think it also depends on whether or not one considers the label "perjorative."
>
> If clinicians tend to become prejudiced against you based on no relevant information other than the diagnosis, I'd say it's "pejorative." "Stigmatizing" is probably a better word.
this particular pdoc seemed to have a unique argumentative attraction toward me, whcih i was unaccustomed to. i rememebered why i'd always requested females docs. the guy seemed prejudiced in the sense that (and i saw him for months) because my skin is white and eys blue, because i can afford to shop at the mall, because i smell od soap and wear expensive sung;asses i could NOT POSSIBLY have a mental illness, that i should feel oh-so happy lucky and safe in suburbia as opposed to where he grew up OH 50 YEARS AGO ON THE WEST-SIDE, endogenous vs exogenous, of f*** that sh**..."you're privilged, you should be happy..." no, mofo, i come from much sadder...elizabeth, i really appreciate your participation on the board. are you a doctor at all? you seem v. knowledgeable.
my best,
sar
> > the male psychiatrist told me that borderlines and histrionics are very charming and attractive.
>
> Oh jeez. (Actually, I wouldn't say that of BPD necessarily, but it's practically part of the definition of HPD. It's considered "manipulative," though, so I wouldn't take it as a compliment.)
>
> > what a nut, no wonder i'm not seeing him anymore...(that's the one who went to Harvard).
>
> Harvard graduates nuts too. (You should see the undergrads.)
>
> -elizabeth
poster:sar
thread:81137
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011025/msgs/82526.html