As some of you may know, I studied Psychology at the University of Bath, graduating in 2016.

As part of a second year unit on ‘Personality’ we had to learn about Personality Disorders. It was a two hour lecture (which isn’t very long at all to go through 10 distinct disorders, their symptoms, prevlance and treatment options). We spent time exploring the various clusters and possible interventions but the main body of the lecture was an exercise titled

“Imagine a Party Where Everyone Has a Personalty Disorder”

At the time, although mentally unwell, I had no psychiatric diagnosis. In fact, I’d never even heard of Personality Disorders before and neither had most of my peers.

I vividly remember this lecture, primarily for this exercise. It had the entire lecture theatre (around 100 people) howling with laughter over these freaky people and their wonky personalities.

We received no further lecturing on Personality Disorders, and to be honest I never thought about them again until I was sat in my GP’s office being told I might have one. Immediately my brain jumped back to this exercise.

Nearly 6 years later I look back on this exercise, and my reaction to it, with absolute horror. So I took the time to track down the activity (by which I mean I Googled it after failing to source it from a university Facebook group).

And low and behold… Here it is!

Whilst I appreciate this is intended to be somewhat of a characature of Personality Disorders, it is incredibly stigmatising.

As I wouldn’t want to focus too much on disorders I don’t have experience with, I’m going to focus on my disorder, BPD, as depicted by Sherry.

Firstly, I didn’t even recognise this as BPD. I had to look up the answers (yes, I’ll post them at the end)! It’s so far removed from what I know BPD to be I couldn’t even identify it.

There might well be a small handful of people like Sherry with BPD, and that’s fine, but it’s certainly not even close to my personal experience, or the experience of others I know with this diagnosis. Sherry is written in a way that makes her appear slutty, overdramatic and attention seeking and the implication is that this is due to her personality disorder.

No mention is made of Sherry’s need to be drunk to face a social event, as she feels so awful about herself without. Nor how she seeks out approval and validation any way she can, even if this through risky sexual encounters, which stop her feeling empty for a fleeting moment.

Her response to her drink taking “too long” is written in a means of mockery over such a small issue. I would suggest to Sherry it felt like she had been rejected or forgotten, causing her severe emotional distress.

It doesn’t mention how the arguement left her feeling worthless, with emotional pain so excruciating taking over her she saw no other way out than to make an attempt on her own life to free herself from it. It doesn’t highlight how the thought of being alone in her own head in her apartment felt like the equivalent of being trapped in a coffin and burried alive, with no escape from the vile thoughts about herself and her life.

I personally have never exhibited behaviour like this. At parties I feel overwhelming anxiety and stick with people I know. I hate the thought of being centre of attention and generally just count down the minutes until I can go home. I’ve never been sexually promiscuous and my self-harm has been contained so as no one ever knows it’s happened.

When I think of the 100s of students who have gone through my university and been taught that this is what an individual with a Personality Disorder is like it makes me sick. Some of these people may never learn more about Personality Disorders again and this will be their only knowledge on the matter! Heaven forbid they ever meet someone with a Personality Disorder, with such a warped understanding of what it means. I can imagine the fear they would feel, and the assumptions made in their minds.

When I myself was told I might have BPD I vividly remember asking a friend (from the same course, a year below me, who I was working with at the time) “so I’m the manipulative attention seeker then?” This was the memory we both had.

I’d internalised this activity and stigmatised myself as a result. I felt I was being told I was somehow a bad person, and exaggerating my difficulties to seek attention. I believed if I told anyone off my course, which included some of my closest friends, they would judge me against this activity and fear me. It stopped me from speaking up and getting the vital support I needed for years.

I wish my lecturers could see the potential damage this activity could cause to those suffering and find a way to provide a compassionate introduction to Personality Disorders. To educate their students to be empathetic and understanding, as we were taught to be with depression, anxiety and OCD. Instead this exercise continues to spread stigma and fear towards those of us living with Personality Disorders amongst those who really should understand us better.

Lorna

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Answers:

Donna – Histrionic

William – Schizotypal

Sherry – Borderline

Winston – Narcissistic

Peter – Obsessive Compulsive

Doreen – Paranoid

Harold – Schizoid

Margie – Avoidant