it's not that we don't want the diagnosis because it FEELS ICKY to us, we don't want the diagnosis cos having "lying manipulators disease" ON OUR MEDICAL RECORD means that if we show up in ER unable to breathe or with broken bones we might fucking die before we're believed. https://twitter.com/drdevonprice/status/1390390902980493318

consider, perhaps, that it's not about the aesthetics of the stigma, for some of us, but the actual material harm that comes from having a medical professional label you as manipulative and drug-seeking if we already have other disabilities.

i went to emergency as someone with BPD and a UTI, seeking medication for my UTI and for pain relief. i was given medication for a UTI and told to take a tylenol.

i was back in emergency the next day with a kidney infection cos they thought "BPD in severe pain" was a liar.

i almost didn't go back to emergency cos they were so shitty to me, but i felt so deathly ill i was afraid.

if i had had rosie with me that weekend i probably wouldn't have gone in, and i would have ended up hospitalised or dead.

different health district, zero BPD record: i went in with severe abdominal pain, quite similar to my UTI from years before.

instead of throwing me out they gave me morphine, THEN did tests, turns out i had gallstones.

they gave me morphine every time i went in until i could have surgery, even once when i came in with my ER bracelet still on from two days earlier (i accidentally ate some cheese)

if i'd had BPD on my chart they wouldn't have checked until my third visit, if then. guaranteed.

i was exhibiting literal drug-seeking behaviour: my pain was severe and the only thing anyone could do to help before my surgery was plug me back into a morphine drip.

the resident doc even took a nice pic of my internal glass-shard assortment to EXPEDITE future pain treatment.

anyways

if your diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (NOT Bipolar Disorder, totally different thing) brings you comfort, fine, fair, you do you.

for me it was used to deny me further treatment for my CPTSD.

the fact that doctors are allowed to medically neglect people with BPD is a fuckin crime, and they should have their licence revoked until they can prove they aren't actively dangerous to people with complex health needs.

if people don't have BPD and in fact have other issues, the dx of BPD will not help. it's not just about feelings, it's about practical help.

the fact that doctors themselves use BPD to gatekeep appropriate medical care based on their own prejudices does not help ANYONE.

it is not just our feelings, it is how the diagnosis changes how medical staff treat us, and the change for me was immediate and very nearly ended up with me and my daughter being homeless, cos my therapist called up my social assistance worker to tell him i was noncompliant.

anyways the field of psychiatry is both wildly important AND enjoys a great deal of undeserved praise considering how much unexamined prejudice many of its licenced experts just hose in every direction like an omnidirectional Allistic Normative Horseshit Blast

to all my homies with BPD dxes: you matter and you are not evil and you deserve appropriate treatment, better medicine, and freedom from institutional and personal medical prejudice.