Icebreaker: What's one of your best qualities? BPDChat

Please remember, during the chat and afterwards, too... Be kind to yourself and others. #BPDChat

Hello and welcome to #BPDChat - if you feel affected by tonight's chat please contact your country's helpline at

#BPDChat will begin in one hour (always 9pm WEC/GMT). The U.S. changed to Daylight Saving Time ("spring forward") this morning. So #BPDChat starts at 5pm EDT.

Due to (my) schedule conflicts, #BPDChat will not be held today. (Thanks for understanding). Have a good week. Be well.

Thanks, everyone, who attended tonight's #BPDChat. I hope you all have a good week and come back next Sunday for another chat. Be well. #BPDChat

@CarlDunnJr @Juliebynight I’ve truly valued this exchange. My final thought: while tools like DBT are effective, they remain a luxury for many due to high costs and system barriers. Recovery shouldn't depend on your zip code or bank account. I'll definitely be back to log more data with you all! 👽

I believe Marsha Linehan deserves a lot of credit for changing the way professionals & others view people with a BPD diagnosis. I also think the peer movement and changing concepts of mental health & recovery have had a big impact on our understanding. #BPDChat

@CarlDunnJr @Juliebynight Thank you. That really means a lot. My hope is that everyone navigating BPD can find that same sense of clarity and agency in their own journey. We all deserve to understand our own systems. 👽✨ #BPDChat

@CarlDunnJr @Juliebynight It's fascinating and a bit quiet-inducing. If people are finding their way without the 'official' tools, it means the tools are broken, not the people.

@CarlDunnJr @AlienIHS #BPDChat I have an amazing private therapist who is really helpful and understands me well. Shame I have to pay for it though

@CarlDunnJr @Juliebynight What helps me most is mapping out my triggers to understand the system’s reactions. But the real shift came from realizing BPD is trauma-related; I had no choice in what happened to me, but I do have the choice in how I navigate the journey from here.

Some people have never gotten a BPD diagnosis (and thus no treatment) & have gotten better. (Others have rejected a BPD diagnosis as not fitting them & have found their own way). Tragically, so many others have been neglected & given no help or support in the MH system. #BPDChat

@CarlDunnJr @Juliebynight It’s a strange experience when the system just stops processing you. I started writing The Alien’s Manual mostly to make sense of that friction myself, documenting the parts they couldn't or wouldn't explain. Sometimes you just have to log your own data.

@Juliebynight @CarlDunnJr I am based in the Netherlands. For all the praise our healthcare system receives, it hits a deadlock the moment it encounters a complex case. The machinery isn't built for non-linear data👽🛰️

@AlienIHS @CarlDunnJr Yup I have had that too

Researcher/clinician Mary Zanarini: and of those 88% in remission "...less than 20% have experienced a recurrence of BPD" - McLean Study of Adult Development (MSAD longitudinal study). #BPDChat 2/2

Harvard-McLean researcher Mary Zanarini: "The evidence suggests that BPD is a good prognosis diagnosis.". 88% of (BPD) subjects in McLean Study of Adult Development (MSAD) experienced a remission of BPD by 10-year follow-up. Why don't some professionals know this? #BPDChat 1/2

@CarlDunnJr #BPDChat I wondered if there is a stigma around the diagnosis of BPD where you are. My new mental health nurse said to me this week ‘I’ve worked with patients with BPD before and they are untreatable!’ Not a good start

@CarlDunnJr I’d really like to go to New Zealand to visit an online friend I’ve had for years.