Believe it or not, but if you read the DSM
(Diagnostic & Statistical Manual),
BPD is probably the least insulting
personality disorder to be labelled with.
When it dawned on me that
‘having a histrionic flavour to her presentation’
didn't describe the packet of crisps I was holding,
but my dress sense!
Well, I was understandably indignant.
Now it just amuses me
to trawl the list of character traits
that define me to be an aberration.
Apparently being ‘spirited’, ‘animated’ and ‘charming’
are signs of this – or, to put it another way,
‘the seductiveness of the histrionic
mixed with the energy typical of a hypo-mania’
Who actually believes this diagnosis
to be anything more than judgemental hocus pocus?
Dr, if you don't like me – just come out and say it.
Truth is: you're not my cup of tea either.
Selected by Femi Oyebode. From Stigma & Stones: Living with a Diagnosis of BPD, poems by Sally Fox & Jo McFarlane. © Jo McFarlane. Reprinted with permission.
Through their collection Stigma & Stones, writers/performers/partners Sally Fox and Jo McFarlane seek to promote understanding, improve treatment and reduce the stigma of living with a diagnosis of BPD.
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