Why are people with borderline or other psychological often judged?

NeuroNeptunian is right; the woeful state of current diagnostic methods and treatments is a big factor, especially when many people have taken to self-diagnosis after reading an online quiz or self-help book. Your doctor can take swabs and tell you that you have strep throat or take blood to diagnose a thyroid condition, but there are no similarly clear tests for mental illnesses, which leads some people to question whether that person truly has bipolar disorder or is just being an asshole.

That brings up the second reason people judge others with some mental, emotional and social disorders: these conditions can have horrible effects on relationships. Bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder and other conditions make life hellish for the sufferer, but they can also be hell on friends and family. Even acquaintances and co-workers aren't exempt from the fallout of some of these disorders. No matter how much sympathy or empathy a friend or family member feels, she might have trouble maintaining emotional equilibrium without distancing herself from the person who has the illness.

To put it another way, someone with cancer will probably not scream at you that she hopes you die alone and unloved because you gave her an honest and constructive critique of her writing when asked. Someone with diabetes is less likely to self-medicate with alcohol and say unforgettably cruel things to you when drunk. Heart disease doesn't cause someone to lash out the way a personality disorder can.

Humor is a way that some people have of distancing themselves from things they don't understand or can't handle. Not everyone can hack their way through the thicket of thorns that surrounds someone with a personality disorder even if they care deeply for that person. Many people won't even try, as sad as that sounds.

There will always be stigmas and a certain level of discomfort surrounding conditions people don't fully understand.... This can be anything ranging from mental illness, being gay, or even other races. The way to limit these stigmas are to be educated and keep an open mind. The only reason that such prejudice exists is because people feel uncomfortable and stereotypes seem to be a.. Mental defense, of sorts.

Because the diagnostic methods for mental illness suck donkey balls. Cancer is diagnosed after repeated blood tests and standard screenings. When someone has cancer, there are often many tests and trials that they went through to get the diagnosis and often the tests and screenings are tangible and born of tried and true methods.

I was diagnosed with Aspergers after one visit. I was diagnosed with ADHD and Anxiety disorder within two visits lasting less than a cumulative hour. Niether therapist bothered to ask me about whether or not I was being abused at home, something that definitely produced anxiety like symptoms. I know my case isn't representative of all but it is of quite a few. My case is a great example of how lax diagnostic methods for mental illness are as well as how easy, yes, EASY, it is to obtain a diagnosis.

Am I saying that it's a good reason not to take a diagnosis seriously? No. Something was wrong with me. I was suffering from abuse, not from a mental disorder. However, knowing what I do, it's easy for me to understand why some people lack faith in the psychiatric methods used to diagnose mental illness and by extension, mental illness. No matter how sensitive and PC you want to be, until better diagnostic methods are devised, you're going to have to put up with people questioning the validity of these methods. If cancer was diagnosed the way Depression is, no one would take Oncology seriously either.

They cray

It's because there is a very real hierarchy of prestige associated with illness, physiological or psychological. Mental illness are one of the lowest in prestige...

Illnesses which are chronic and don't use a lot of technology to diagnose and treat, or have subjective presentations of symptoms, are considered low in prestige by professionals (and by the public) since they don't easily fall within the biomedical model of health and illness.

My personal guess is that personality disorders are not taken as seriously because those people who have them tend to be the most negative, upsetting, draining people to deal with. Seriously, they are not at all pleasant to be around or give therapy to.

I'm not saying it's right to have this hierarchy, I'm just saying it exists.

Yeah, I agree with you, there is nothing funny about it. If we had the tools to help someone with these 'afflictions,'effectively, I am sure we would. The solutions are out there, just have to find them, but don't believe everyone who claims to have the solutions and see for yourself what works and what doesn't.

I see everyone feels strongly about this matter. I suppose where I live then is different when it comes to getting a diagnosis. I live in the Netherlands btw. It took me 3 days, 10 interview hours in total for them to diagnose me. That's why I can't understand why many don't take it seriously.

I've often wondered this myself. I believe I may have a condition called Borderline Personality Disorder, and I am honestly scared to tell anyone, even my own parents out of fear that they wouldn't accept me. It's nothing that I can help and I feel very secluded from society because of it. I try not to judge people for anything, and I always try to see their side of the story no matter what simply because I've had to deal with being seen as 'different' in the past.

Im different from most people myself, so I try not to be judgemental of people, but I do understand why some people may judge people who have certain mental disorders. I don't see whats humorous about it, but some people with borderline pd can be very difficult to deal with, especially if you live or work with them.

It's part of the whole trend of prejudice that is prevalent today. Btw, I've heard people blame rape and abuse victims also. Then there is the fact that people who doubt their own mental stability look down on others who do.

I think a lot of people like to blame a personality disorder for the fact that theyr`e an arsehole, like, theyr`e a sex addict, not a pervert,or any other type of degeneracy. I think that some people do have genuine disorders, but not as many as claim to.

Because many people are creeps to others that can't stand seeing someone different than them or not doing what they're doing. Misery loves company. That's why. To these kind of people that seek to hurt those in some way that are handicapped mentally or physically, they're miserable and obviously have issues of their own but they want to make others feel bad so they'll feel good about themselves. even the slightest difference you may have may ostracise you from a group and you suffer horrible bullying and redicule from it. Life can be horribly sad at times and I admire those that stand tall through it all despite their hardships not fitting into the mold of "Normalcy". I can speak from experience because I have been called retarded a few times growing up by peers and I have Asperger's. When I was a little girl Even a doctor had the nerve to misdiagnose me as "retarded".

I'm sorry for my long comment. I didn't mean to be so passionate, OP. Please forgive me.