Posted by violette on September 16, 2010, at 11:32:17
In reply to suicidality exhaustion..., posted by linkadge on September 12, 2010, at 15:20:09
I took the time to read the whole article i posted about borderline..it sort of provides a view into the inner world of someone who may have borderline, whether high or low functioning. I never completely understood the suicidal gestures often associated with borderline or other dx, but feel more sympathetic about it after reading more in depth about it.
That some people with mental illness get dx with a 'character disorder' upsets me. i don't know anyone in person with that dx, although i suspect one of my family members may be borderline but gets treated for bipolar. I have met some people online with that dx though, and the stigma associated with that dx often adds unfavorable effects to their healthcare and illness, though the prognosis seems to be better than it used to be.
I wanted to mention-more women i know than not have been sexually abused by authority figures and family members. Step-fathers, police, school coaches, doctors, fathers, psychotherapists, uncles, etc. I personally know one man with this experience. But in every case i can think of-the abuser, to my knowledge, was never a mental health patient.
Borderline is often the result of sexual abuse, not always, but it's pretty common. So are other psychological problems that may last a very long time. So why is it-that people sexually abused get labeled with a character/personality disorder, as if they are somehow defective-to add to their pain and already fragile sense of self, while the abusers go on with their lives without similar repercussions?
Some sexual abusers end up in jail, but in the many cases i know, they just go about their lives. Maybe they do or don't end up dealing with guilt the rest of their lives. it's reported that 20-25 percent of all women are sexually abused before they are 20. And maybe those are only the reported cases? The rate is much, much higher among people i know. Whenever i make a new friend, almost every woman i get to know better ends up disclosing being raped or sexually abused at some point in their life.
I think that's one thing that makes me angry about the axis ii stuff being seperated from mental illness, aside that i think it's mental illness all the same. People express inner pain in different ways, i guess I feel uncomfortable with lack of understanding or empathy, in general, for people that have never been in another's shoes.
Many people out there don't have this outward expression of behavior associated with mental illness-such as those who sexually abuse-and continue to go around hurting others, yet are pretty ill themselves but would likely not end up in the mental health system. That, to me, is more of a 'character' disorder than anyone with borderline could ever be.
poster:violette
thread:962166
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100908/msgs/962607.html