PD Voices
a diagnosis of stigma and abuse
Personality disorders are difficult to define and controversial. Some people find that personality disorders provide a useful framework for approaching their difficulties or that they can identify strongly with the personality disorder they have been diagnosed with. Others dislike personality disorders for the way that it ties distress to a person's character, find that both the concept behind it and the language used blames a person for traumatic experiences, the gross potential for misdiagnosis with the great overlap it has with many other neurodevelopmental disorders and mental illnesses, and that it has a troubling history rooted in misogyny.
Whatever the validity of personality disorders as a concept, the diagnosis is one of the most stigmatised a person can receive. This stigma is not just one of the general public misunderstanding the disorder, it is a stigma that is commonly held by healthcare professionals, including those working within mental health services. Abuse, neglect, and disrespect by professionals and services are unfortunately common. To make things more frustrating, people diagnosed with a personality disorder are often considered unreliable and melodramatic which means that complaints of abuse or disclosing wanting to harm themselves are disbelieved. This is a systemic issue of vulnerable people, often survivors of abuse and/or neurodivergent, being hurt and gaslighted and denied care.
about PD VOICES
PD Voices is a collection of people's personal experiences being mistreated by services with a personality disorder diagnosis. The aim is to let people who are usually silenced and discredited and gaslighted tell their own story, in their own words, in solidarity with others. Relevant research and articles are featured alongside people's firsthand accounts.
PD Voices is hopefully a place where people who do not have recourse for their situation can be heard. The complaints procedure is hostile and, as those who understand the nature of abuse will know, reporting abuse directly can often lead to retaliation. Even without retaliation, it is often ineffective and does little to cause real change. By consolidating our stories of mistreatment we can bring awareness both to individual people's situations, and to the systemic issues too. Collected testimony can be powerful. Standing and speaking together can be powerful.
about cleo
I am a woman and survivor in my early 20s and I run PD Voices. I used to be an artist and "gifted" student but now I mostly play DnD. I have been in mental health services for almost a decade now. I was labeled "difficult" and "uncooperative" from the start because I presented with severely debilitating but not psychotic symptoms. It was only a matter of aging up enough to be diagnosed with a PD.