A BPD Diagnosis Is No Joke

Borderline Personality Disorder Is No Joke…

… please support the therapy essential to keep Ignatius smiling!

We can’t help every young person struggling to secure stable work, affordable housing, and positive mental health. But this fundraiser aims to support one: my sweet nephew, Ignatius Torgersen.

Ignatius is navigating a recent diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Those who know him can attest to his wit, intelligence, energy, and loving heart. You may also know he has experienced numerous challenges in his young life that brought pain and addiction, and nearly took him from us several times. His current process of learning the nature and management of BPD is helping him understand what’s come before.

Through grit and the supporting love of his community, Ignatius lives to evolve another day.

My heart’s grown 3 sizes witnessing Ignatius’ recent efforts to pull himself from the dark side, and I’ve launched this campaign to support those efforts.

Ignatius’ recent milestones:


1. Celebrating 3 years sober last June

2. Overcoming ADHD to complete high school with straight A’s as a mature student

3. Completing a Community Support Worker diploma with straight A’s

4. Working as night Community Support Worker at Spa’Qun House straight out of school

5. Pursuing the mental health care that led to his recent diagnosis of BPD

6. Scrabbling together the money for the first round of BPD-specific therapy

7. Acknowledging that he needs help to continue to get healthy

But BPD is difficult and isolating, the therapy is long and costly, and scrabbling is exhausting. Even though mental health advocates actively fight stigma associated with mental illness, BPD remains one of the field’s most misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and stigmatized conditions. (1) This campaign is an effort to help Ignatius defeat these challenges.

What is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)?

BPD is a complex mental illness that can be both destructive and empowering.

BPD affects how one relates to others and to themselves. With BPD, a person may feel there’s something fundamentally wrong with who they are, they may feel ‘flawed’ or worthless, or not have a good sense of who they are as a person. Their moods can be extreme and change frequently, and they may have a hard time controlling impulses or urges. Additionally, they may be incapable of trusting others and feel scared of being abandoned or alone. (2)

The BPD experience can include “splitting”, an alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation; all or nothing; black or white. Splitting can distort a person’s perspective, creating a "with me or against me” outlook.

Many people with BPD additionally struggle with substance addictions, self-harm, suicidal behaviour, and eating disorders. Overcoming the accompanying emotional dysregulation requires support, resilience, courage, and discipline.

The upsides of well-managed BPD

Given consistent therapy, a supportive community, and strong efforts, many people overcome the challenging conditions of BPD to lead healthy, loving, and high-functioning lives. The self awareness and discipline they develop can empower them to be their best self in any situation or relationship.

Persons with BPD experience a greater sensitivity to emotions and surroundings which fosters an increased empathy and insight to understanding others in similar situations. For some, the high intensity of emotions is poured into creative endeavours. The BPD trait of impulsivity can be positively expressed through a bold and courageous ability to speak one’s mind with honesty and conviction. When a person with BPD loves, the love can be deep and highly committed to the relationship. When the emotions are managed, liveliness and wittiness become the dominant qualities. (3)

 

What is Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)?

DBT is based on cognitive-behavioural therapy and mindfulness. This approach helps to replace extreme and rigid ways of thinking with more open and flexible ways, and teaches skills like acceptance, problem-solving, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and distress tolerance. (4)

Ignatius’ recent progress is evidence of current thought that DBT is a transformative BPD treatment of choice, enabling people to effectively experience the positives of BPD. 24 weeks into intensive therapy, Ignatius is feeling stronger, happier, and finding moments of hope.

Help right now

Ignatius is making serious efforts with more humility than ever before. And our contributions will compound positively. Please consider donating any amount you can.

Every $ will support his program of group and 1-on-1 DBT sessions, as recommended by his doctors. The goal is for Ignatius to achieve a state of stability, and be able to pursue training in a less stressful profession.

Learn more

If donating isn’t possible, please learn more about BPD, it’s treatment, and the other mental health challenges that 1 in 5 Canadians face in any given year. (5) The more we educate ourselves on the experience of others, the less lost and alone we will all feel. And that’s no joke!

Canadian Mental Health Association-BPD

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health-BPD

Borderline Personality Disorder: An Information Guide for Families (PDF)

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

#BPD

#borderlinepersonalitydisorder

#mentalhealth

#mentalhealthawareness

1. Hancock (2017). The Stigma Associated with Borderline Personality Disorder. National Alliance on Mental Health.

2. Mayo Clinic. (2012). Borderline Personality Disorder. Rochester, MN: Author. www.mayclinic.com/health/borderline-personality-disorder/DS00442.

3 ‘Strengths and Qualities of BPD’. www.borderlineintheact.org.au (2023).

4 Schimelpfening (2023). ‘What Is Dialectical Behaviour Therapy’. www.verywellmind.com

5 Smetanin et al. (2011). The life and economic impact of major mental illnesses in Canada: 2011-2041. Prepared for the Mental Health Commission of Canada. Toronto: RiskAnalytica.