I read in the local paper a report from a coroner’s inquest about a 32 year old mum who killed herself at home days after being discharged from an acute mental health ward. She was diagnosed with a personality disorder. One of many who are let down and too often vilified by professionals charged with ’treating’ their ‘disorder’. Vilified as a means to evade accepting responsibility and possible blame for inadequate care.
The coroner expressed concerns about future deaths. The mental health trust said they would take note of and act on the coroners concerns. So typical. Nod and agree in earnest but miss the point entirely.
The assortment of features used as diagnostic criteria for boarder line / emotionally unstable personality disorder are coping skills. Coping skills pathologised by government agencies. Pathologised as a means to make opaque the societal and economic factors that create the medium in which such ‘personality disorders’ manifest.
It’s a dishonest nonsense to pretend that mental health services have the means to ’treat’ such ‘disorders’. At best they can only help to relieve the acute suffering associated with people’s lived experience. Mental Health services can’t change people’s lives. People like this young lady are discharged because admission does little if anything to reduce risk and because social, economic and environmental issues cannot be ’treated’.