BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (15:39): Today, I would like to share with you comments from a constituent responding to my question in this place on 28 February. He says:

I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder or BPD when I was an adolescent. Whilst it is not normal for a teenager to be diagnosed with BPD at such an early age due to their changing personality I was nevertheless slapped with this label.

The disorder is stigmatising. The very professionals who are supposed to treat you instead mock you and do not recognise it as a psychiatric disorder. SAPOL charged me a few times with disorderly behaviour, which is ironic in that BPD is a behavioural disorder. Whilst I take responsibility for my actions now, out of impulsivity I did not at the time.

My prognosis was very bleak. I have a severe history of self-harm, overdosing and self-sabotaging behaviour. My interpersonal relationships were a nightmare and I was involved in a revolving door of hospital admissions for a long period of my life. Little was told to my family about the disorder and as a consequence of my behaviour, I was relinquished from my parents care under the Guardianship Order living in community residential facilities with adolescents whose problems did not reflect my own. These were violent offenders and the time spent in these facilities was traumatic.

I later developed anorexia nervosa. It was another method of numbing my feelings that I could not deal with at the time and I spent time in hospital for this.

Slowly, over the years, my self-harming behaviour reduced to the point where I no longer self-mutilate and I refuse to take medication as it just numbs my feelings, which I had to learn to deal with. I used alcohol for many years, often excessively, to numb these feelings again.

The problem with BPD is that persons who suffer from it are extremely difficult to treat and a person with BPD can only start to recover once they accept that they have an illness. I did not for many years. It was not until I was charged with an offence that I seriously believed I had a problem.

Unfortunately, a person with BPD will usually incur a number of criminal convictions for petty offences that are generally a frustrated attempt at police being sick and tired of dealing with individuals who are not viewed as mentally ill by medical standards and therefore not detainable under the Mental Health Act 2009. This makes the risk of suicide very real.

It is practice for people with BPD who continually present to hospital to be refused admission, to literally become 'stitched up' and sent home. Only physical complications are treated and then a discharge follows.

Most of my past behaviours have been out of fear and desperation to feel normal, to be accepted and to fill an empty 'void' I had, not out of maliciousness or manipulative intent.

Many people if not all with BPD are labelled as 'manipulative' and 'attention seeking' where any person who actually [understood the disorder]...would see a fearful individual who gains nothing but embarrassment and humiliation by acting out in such a manner.

I have completed a treatment program known as Dialectical Behavioural Therapy in the western suburbs of Adelaide. The course taught me skills of mindfulness, emotional regulation and dealing with stress. This course helped me more than words can say. The demand for the course from my awareness is extremely high and I understand there is a rather lengthy waiting list. It is generally recommended that a person with BPD complete the course twice...I am now almost 30 years old, have left my old life of destruction... behind. I now take responsibility for my actions and believe that any person with BPD can overcome their problems with the right support and guidance.

The unfortunate fact that you highlighted in parliament is that [the risk of suicide is very high]. The first five years from being diagnosed are the most risky, as persons with BPD...research [the symptoms and become frustrated at the stigma], contradicting statements and rhetorical psychiatric jargon. I know I certainly did.

I seem to have the ability now to get back up when I get knocked down, to take life [a day at a time] and not become emotionally volatile...Whilst I now know what I want in life, I can certainly say it was no thanks [to the professions] in which my problems seemed to exacerbate with the unstable and contradictory treatment I received...I thank you so much for raising the important issue of BPD within parliament. I hope one day the stigma will be reversed, health services dedicated to treatment for BPD and a more compassionate approach will be taken to this particular disorder.