Borderline personality disorder: St Andrew's worker shares his experiences in hope of breaking down stigmas

St Andrew's Healthcare hopes to break down stigmas around one of the most misunderstood and complex of conditions to mark World Mental Health Day.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is different for everyone but often causes people to go to the extremes of emotions over things that would merely annoy or sadden others.

The Northampton-based charity has made a video with its consultant psychologist discussing the condition to raise awareness, challenge misunderstanding and provide tips on how to help as part of its #LetsTalkAbout campaign.

Dr Emily Fox said: "BPD is a condition that is marked by emotional instability, challenges with relationships, challenges in sense of self, and challenges in tolerating stress.

“Personality disorders can be exceptionally problematic; people may want to hurt themselves as they're in so much pain, but on the other hand they experience the best of things with incredible intensity - such as happiness, joy and love.

"The good news is that the condition is treatable, with the right therapy and support."

Kyle Daniel, who has BPD, works for St Andrew's as a peer support worker, meaning he uses his experiences of tackling his own mental health issues to help those in hospital.

The 33-year-old from Birmingham believes the Billing Road-based charity is at the forefront of a new way of treating the condition, which in turn reduces prejudices.

"Most of the stigmas I've faced have come from within the clinical community because without that understanding of why things happen, then you become the patient that's difficult to work with," he said.

"But slowly people are understanding it more and the stigmas are lessening - what's exciting is St Andrew's is making real inroads in that and I've seen far less of that here than anywhere else."

Kyle explains his version of BPD as missing out the 'middle ground' of emotions - so instead of getting annoyed, then angry, then enraged at something, he goes straight to enraged.

Equally if he sees something sad, he will go straight to grief, while he can also get totally engrossed in a film or book.

But through 11 years of working with mental health services, Kyle has learned to filter his emotions and understand them better, but he knows it will be something he has to manage his whole life.

"We can all live in the same world without being the same so, rather than struggling to cure myself of being myself it's about learning to live alongside what I have in a way that is healthy and meaningful to me," he said.

"That nuance is what's really important and what's really exciting."

A recent survey carried out by St Andrew’s found while there was a good understanding among the public around depression, when it came to BPD, only a quarter were able to correctly identify three or four of the symptoms listed, and 38 per cent incorrectly stated that BPD involved having a split personality.

Dr Fox has some advice for people supporting a friend or family member who has BPD:

1) Listen: Be in the room, hear their experiences. Listen 100% and give them all your attention

2) Be genuine: Be a friend, be supportive.

3) Put yourself in their shoes: See it from their perspective, understand the experiences that they have had has led them to the place they are now. Understand how handling these nightmarish emotions has been a struggle for them.

The #LetsTalkAbout BPD film is the second in the series by St Andrew's Healthcare, with other films focussing on schizophrenia, PTSD and dementia.