Consultant Clinical Psychologist | Psychotherapist | Senior Lecturer | Writer
DECONSTRUCTING BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER — Articles, Talks, and Critical Perspectives
If you are in severe pain right now and wondering if you can keep going - please follow this link.
I believe in finding compassionate, modern ways to speak about acute and chronic suffering — especially for those of us who have been chronically suicidal, or whose symptoms society finds uncomfortable. My focus is on supporting people in profound anguish, rather than relying on outdated and harmful labels, and on ensuring diagnostic rights are offered in genuinely validating ways for those who want or need them.
The BPD label continues to be used to cast predominantly women, trauma survivors, and neurodivergent people as “manipulative” — erasing context and legitimising neglect. Too often, it doesn’t expand understanding; it collapses it, pulling clinicians away from recognising the sheer extremity of pain a person is in. This is not about saying “nothing is wrong.” It’s about insisting the opposite: that the suffering is real, severe, and deserving of care. That is not something I will ever stay quiet about. There are better, safer ways forward — ones that do not thwart diagnostic rights for survivors who want them.
After decades of clinical work, writing, and activism — spanning protests involving hundreds of survivors and presentations to the World Health Organization, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and NHS England — a few people have asked for a single place where this material can live.
So here it is: a curated archive of key papers, talks, podcasts, and interventions.
Below is a curated selection of articles, talks, and multimedia that map the current landscape of clinical, activist, and survivor work on BPD and related constructs.
01 — Understanding Personality
What is Personality?
Discusses the complexities of personality and identity formation — exploring habitual paths of behaviour, the transgenerational nature of identity, and how personality gets misrecognised. Watch the video->
02 — Questioning the Construct Validity of BPD
Lancet Psychiatry ICD-11 Article
Exploring the problems with BPD's scientific reliability and validity, and how it encages survivors in a diagnostic construct even nosologists don't believe in. This piece contributed to an international protest to the World Health Organization, signed by hundreds of survivors, professionals, carers, and allies.
Open Letter to Change ICD-11
Alongside hundreds of survivors, professionals, carers, and allies — demanding better approaches than the damaging BPD label.
03 — Misdiagnosis
Why Autism is Misdiagnosed as BPD
Why autism is frequently misrecognised as BPD — causing iatrogenic harm and alienation — and what we can do about it.
Against Trans Individuals Being Misdiagnosed with a PD
Letter response to a piece character-slurring trans folk via the BPD construct, led by Hat Porter and Jee Smith.
Splitting Complex PTSD and BPD
How the new diagnosis of cPTSD may reproduce a misogynistic deserving/undeserving victim dichotomy.
04 — Iatrogenic Harm and BPD
BPD and Invalidation
How the construct devastatingly affects patients in our inpatient wards — and what clinicians need to hear.
How the BPD Construct Enables Unacceptable Attitudes
Podcast with the American Mental Health Network exploring the link between diagnostic labelling and the normalisation of dismissive, harmful attitudes towards patients.
05 — BPD and Feminism
BPD as a Misogynistic Slur
How BPD reflects a highly gendered trope — used against predominantly women and the Queer community — and why that matters politically.
BPD as a Mask of AFAB Autism
Podcast with Mollie on Back from the Borderline — on autism, borderline personality disorder, and being a trauma survivor.
Is BPD a Feminist Issue?
Podcast with the Mental Elf — exploring the gendered politics of diagnosis and what a feminist approach to distress might look like.
06 — BPD and Epistemic Injustice
Testimonial Injustice and Borderline Personality Disorder
BPD deflates testimonial credibility — meaning suicidal ideation and other experiences are systematically taken less seriously.
Beyond Character Assassination
Talk at the UK Mental Health PRU event — rethinking BPD ideology and care, and what a better system could look like.
Epistemic Injustice and BPD
Published in the British Journal of Psychiatry International — on how the BPD construct is impossible to escape or refuse, and why changing the diagnosis can be a win-win for everyone.
Complex Trauma and the Unseen: Who Gets to Be a Victim?
Published in BMJ Mental Health — examining the inclusion of cPTSD in ICD-11 and how the deserving/undeserving victim distinction shapes who receives recognition, care, and legitimacy.
07 — Clinical Culture and the BPD Label
Deconstructing the Diagnosis of Personality Disorder
Culture of Care/Royal College of Psychiatrists national inpatient training deconstructing the diagnosis of personality disorder and what a culture of care demands instead.
Changing the Story Around BPD
Presented at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and NHS England — what the BPD label masks, how it affects treatment, and how we might do better.
Activism Against the BPD Construct
How psychotherapists can reframe severe distress and get involved in building something better — rather than waiting for institutional permission.
The 'Personality Disorder' Shield
How the concept of 'personality' is often misused by healthcare staff, family, and partners to deny the existence of trauma — and what we lose when we allow that to go unchallenged.
My work in this field is deeply influenced and guided by the survivor movement, particularly the #TraumaNotPD, #AutismNotPD, and #ADHDNotPD communities. For more insights into our collective activism and its impact, I encourage exploring these hashtags on social media.
Related: Attachment Hunger | Emotional Flashbacks Without Memories | Toxic Shame & Mortification | Complex PTSD Therapy Online | PDA | If You Are At Risk