Exploring BPD Through a Neurodivergent Lens...The Start of a Conversation

Over the next few weeks and months you can expect to see some thinking and writing from me on the theme of neurodivergence and BPD. It's something that's been bubbling aways in my mind for some time, particularly whilst writing my new book.

I'm not necessarily going to be writing about autism and ADHD in relation to the BPD diagnosis. I'm aware of the alarming rates at which autistic people and/or individuals with ADHD are being incorrectly diagnosed with BPD.

It's more that I plan to be exploring how ideas around, and thinking on, neurodivergence might be a productive, and/or liberatory, way of thinking about what it means to be a person with a BPD diagnosis.

I'll just leave a few thoughts here for now, but expect more on this from me over the next few weeks:

✨ What if ‘fear of abandonment’ was actually a deep desire for close emotionally-enriching relationships, a longing for authentic, mutually-fulfilling connections, an entirely human need for closeness?

✨ What if an emotionally expressive nature is evidence of your courage to be vulnerable, to love openly and fully?

✨ What if your ‘unstable emotions’ were proof of easily-accessed amplitudes of joy, excitement, love and awe? What if such a capacity to be so alive with emotion is precious (as painful as it may be when not handled with the care and respect it deserves)?

✨ What if your ability to sense, and to be acutely responsive to, social and emotional textures is a strength with immense value to your communities?

✨What if your ‘anger issues’ were your refusal to be silent in the face of injustice. Communicating in a world that doesn't always believe when you speak your truth.

✨What if your ‘identity disturbance’ was another word for honesty or loyalty to yourself. Your insistence on creativity and refusal to stagnate?

✨What if your ‘chronic feelings of emptiness’ were tantamount to your capacity for depth and your yearning for rich, resonant meanings?

✨ What if this is about having a huge heart in a world that says ‘don’t cry’. Wanting closeness in a world that says ‘let go’. Seek meaning in a world that says ‘care less’. Speaking, speaking, speaking in a world that says ‘be quiet’.

✨What if there’s a new, different, more generous and, crucially, a more accurate way to see yourself and everything you’ve been through?

I can feel something growing in society and I want to get closer to that. I’ve been inspired by writers and thinkers who are writing and talking about neurodivergence.

I'm curious about how neuroaffirming conversations, approaches and philosophies might inspire people with the BPD diagnosis to think in new ways about themselves. It's something I've been thinking about quietly for some time, and I hope you will join me as I explore this topic more openly on here.

If you would like to share anything with me as I explore this theme, you are more than welcome to email me.

-Rosie x