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A Brief History of Borderline Personality Disorder’s Name
Written By Monique Moate
This article was originally published on Psychreg.
The term “borderline personality disorder” (BPD) is interesting in psych nomenclature. Usually, psychosocial illnesses are named after their most prominent symptoms. For example, bipolar disorder (formerly, manic depression) refers to the “two poles” of mania and depression.
Many medical conditions have carried different labels throughout history; even now, official diagnoses change every so often. But sometimes these designations have incorrectly described illnesses and contributed to misinformation. This is unfortunately still the case with schizophrenia (with “schizo” meaning “split” and “phrenia” referring to “mind”). And just as there have been efforts to change the name of schizophrenia, the same is true of BPD.
But why exactly was it called borderline personality disorder in the first place? In this article, I’ll briefly cover the conceptual history of BPD, including its name and classification. I’ll also touch on why many people would prefer to call the BPD construct by a different name – or to reclassify it altogether.
Originally, I was only going to discuss the “borderline” aspect, however, there’s also the quite popular view that BPD should not be deemed a “personality disorder” at all. So, I’ll explore both parts of the diagnosis.
At the end of the day, it’s essential for us to remember the power held by words. We should be mindful that words can be used to discriminate and disempower, especially if we are writers and editors.
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4 Healthy Steps to Handle Grief
This article was written by Camille J.
If you haven’t already had to handle grief, you’ll deal with it at some point. A study from 2019 found 57% of Americans had grieved in the previous three years. The grieving process can last for days, weeks, months, or years; it’s different for everyone. However, you can help your grieving process with these healthy habits.
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A Guide to Radical Acceptance (For BPD)
Hi, I’m Audrey and I have borderline personality disorder. I use BPD Beautiful, a BPD recovery blog, to help spread awareness and to keep myself accountable in my own recovery. In this post, we’re going to talk about Radical Acceptance—a popular DBT skill that is meant to help you regulate your emotions and manage BPD symptoms & rage.
I don’t know about you but radical acceptance is something I really need to make a part of my everyday life. While I’ve made some progress over the last couple of years, I’ve still got a long way to go when it comes to mindfully accepting things I can’t change. It’s an uphill battle.
