The Stockholm hostages

Comparison of "Stockholm Syndrome" to Situation of Battered Women

Brainwashing Techniques
How many of these sound familiar to non-Borderlines?

How does Mind Control Work?
... or these?

The Stanford Prison Experiment: Still powerful after all these years

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Celebrities that have Self-Injured

"Biography of Princess Diana Reveals Her Borderline Personality Disorder, a Misunderstood Mental Illness"
PR Newswire, Sept 2, 1999

Princess Di's Loved Ones Didn't Know How to Help Her; New Bestseller Helps Those Dealing With 'Borderline Personalities'
Interview with Randi Kreger, co-author of Stop Walking on Egshells, Sept. 2 1999

The APA Takes No Stand on Princess Diana's Supposed BPD

LIVING IN THE DEAD ZONE: Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. Understanding the Borderline Personality Disorder
by Gerald A. and Ralph M. Faris

Rebel Heart
Autobiography of Bebe Buell, rock "muse" and mother of film star Liv Tyler.
As one reviewer put it. "She admits that it was "a cry for help" to lie to friends and relatives about having leukemia when she was feeling depressed, but would any 40 year old woman with a grip on reality even consider such a stunt?"

Nicole Brown Simpson's Letter to Her Husband, O.J.

What O.J.'s Letter Didn't Say
by Stanton Peele

Trapped in a Pattern of Pain Where No One Can Help
Musings on Lorena Bobbit, Nicole Brown Simpson and her own experiences, by Andrea Dworkin.

Psychiatric Case History of Vincent van Gogh

A Chat with Mary Kay Letourneau
by Gregg Olsen, author of If Loving You is Wrong, a biography of the 36-year-old schoolteacher and married mother of 4 who was convicted of second-degree child rape for her relationship with a 13-year-old student.

Was Adolf Hitler a Borderline?
Norbert Bromberg and Verna Small say YES: The Psychopathology of Hitler
Leonard and Renate Heston say NO: Hitler's Medical Casebook

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My 'funny' malpractice suit was no laughing matter
by James M. Cummings, 1998
A doctor recounts the story of a personality-disordered man who sued him for having "shortened his penis by 3 inches" during a routine circumcision. Worth it for the testimony of the former girlfriend alone...

The Adventures of Recovery Man, Relapse Boy, and his girlfriend, BPD Brenda  - "the girl of a thousand mood swings"
Fabulous satire about recovery, by Will H., webmaster of Recoveryman.com

Home Page of the country's only BPD comedian: Doug Ferrari
"If depression is one little box of cereal, Borderline Personality Disorder is the variety pack."  - Doug

So ... you're in love with a Narcissist?
Series of bitterly humorous articles by Alexandra Nouri, including The Devaluation Funhouse

A new breed of parasuicide patient
Brilliant British Medical Journal satire!

Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About
by Bill Wiseman
Who says that living with someone with BPD traits doesn't have its highly amusing sides? One man's example of approaching the task with love and humor. ~Recommended for a good laugh!
"Margret thinks I'm vain because... I use a mirror when I shave. During this argument in the bathroom - our fourth most popular location for arguments, it will delight and charm you to learn - Margret proved that shaving with a mirror could only be seen as outrageous narcissism by saying "None of the other men I've been with" (my, but it's all I can do to stop myself hugging her when she begins sentences like that) "None of the other men I've been with used a mirror to shave." "Ha! Difficult to check up on that, isn't it? As all the other men you've been with can now only communicate by blinking their eyes!" I said. Much later. When Margret had left the house."

Was Napoleon a Borderline?

Humor from the 'Journal of Polymorphic Perversity' or JPP

Mom, Dad, Computer: Transference Reactions to Computers
A great and funny article by John Suler, PhD, an expert in Internet Psychology.

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Criminal violence associated with borderline and non-borderline cases: Characteristics of the acting-out process
by Guillaume Bernard, Criminology Departement, University of Montreal

All Cracked Up and No Place To Go
An article on Borderlines in the penal system by Maureen O'Hagen

Are Those With NBD [neuro-biological disorders] Really Free to Choose? A Father's Account
by Bob Manhard

Mad or Bad?: Explaining Evil and Insanity
Bibliography of a number of recent books on the topic, with critical reviews -- fascinating!

Sociological views on the controversial issue of satanic ritual abuse: three faces of the devil
by Mary deYoung, Ph.D.
Interesting article offers "three interpretations, grounded in the discipline of sociology, of satanic ritual abuse as a social, as opposed to a clinical, phenomenon."

Dangerous directives? Liability and the unstable worker
by Michael T. Zugelder, 1999

Is Diminished Responsibility (Diminished Capacity) relevant today? Are those jurisdictions that have abolished this defence harsh and unreasonable?
A review of the "not guilty by reason of insanity" clause, focussing on a man with BPD who committed murder, by Brian Boettcher.

"Guilty but mentally ill"
Good essay on the topic of insane and accountable vs insane and inaccountable.

Aileen Wuornos
A biography of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, diagnosed with BPD.

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EVERY FAMILY IN THE LAND: Understanding prejudice and discrimination against people with mental illness
Edited by Professor Arthur Crisp
Excellent online book with many chapters. recommended reading for those interested in stigmatization of BPD.

Miswired Minds. Fighting the social stigma of mental illness
By Tom Siegfried and Sue Goetinck

Descartes has a lot to answer for
by Simon Fleminger
"Those who suffer a disorder of the mind are regarded as some how less deserving, more to blame, than those in whom there is a disorder of the body. It is therefore OK to suffer mental symptoms if they're due to brain disease but not if there is no brain disease to be found. This particularly relates to disorders of personality. Organic brain disease may produce identical symptoms to "idiopathic" personality disorder. But if there is manifest organic brain disease then the same symptoms are treated by society in quite a different manner."

Another reason why George F. Will annoys me: his column "Protection for the Personality Impaired" Washington Post, April 4, 1996
If this topic gets you going, read this detailed and lengthy legal review of the ADA by Susan Stefan:
Delusions of Rights: Americans with Psychiatric Disabilities, Employment Discrimination and the Americans with Disabilities Act

Adult Psychopathology: Issues and Controversies
by T. A. Widiger, 2000
"This review discusses issues and controversies with respect to the construct of a mental disorder, models of etiology and pathology, and domains of psychopathology. Fundamental to the science of psychopathology is a conceptualization of mental disorder, yet inadequate attention is being given to the differentiation of normal and abnormal psychological functioning in current research. The boundaries between mental and physical disorders are equally problematic. Neurophysiological models are receiving particular emphasis in large part because of the substantial progress being made in documenting and clarifying the important role of neurophysiological structures and mechanisms in etiology and pathology. However, this attention might be at the expense of the recognition of equally valid psychological models. Problematic diagnostic boundaries are also considered, including those within and between different classes of disorder. Dimensional models may offer a more precise and comprehensive classification of psychopathology."

Classification of Psychopathology: The Nature of Language
by G. Scott Acton
Really well-done analysis of the criteria used to diagnose mental illness in the DSM IV

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Boogie Nights
Numerous brilliantly disordered performances -- esp. Julianne Moore, Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds -- in this really excellent film about the 70's porn industry and its denizens in search of "family."

White Oleander
Realistic and scary portrait of Michelle Pfeiffer as homicidal BPD mother whose daughter must grow up in foster care, and their troubled relationship.

Mommie Dearest
Eerily accurate portrait of BPD/NPD Hollywood mother Joan Crawford. Based on the autobiographical book by Christina Crawford (who also wrote the intro to C. Lawson's Understanding the Borderline Mother)

Girl, Interrupted
(for the record: Angelina Jolie's character is a classic acting-out Borderline; Winona Ryder is less convincing as an acting-in Borderline in the title role) I recommend the book instead.

What Lies Beneath
Harrison Ford -- in an atypical role -- as gaslighting BPD husband

Now, Voyager
Film classic with Betty Davis, Claude Rains - middle-aged daughter of a shrewish, domineering BPD mother attempts to find her own path through therapy.

Body Heat
Kathleen Turner as seductress Maddy; William Hurt as a typically gullible non-Borderline -- great movie, too!

Ordinary People
Mary Tyler Moore is excellent as icy suburban BPD wife and mother who splits her sons and husband good/bad.

Betty Blue
Beatrice D'alle is brilliant as love-obsessed, self-injuring Betty, completely intertwined with her classically non-Borderline lover Zorg, in this gorgeous and tragic French film

Gia: Too Beautiful to Die, Too Wild to Live (1998 HBO film, available on videotape)
Directed by Michael Christofer, starring Angelina Jolie as the tragic supermodel Gia Marie Carangi.
For my money, this biographical movie is the very best screen representation of a female Borderline, vastly more emotionally insightful than Fatal Attraction. Jolie is uncannily brilliant in this Golden-Globe-winning role (and has written about her own personal experience with self-injury).

Fatal Attraction
Glenn Close as raging Borderline mistress

Sophie's Choice
Kevin Kline as Sophie's (Meryl Streep) very convincing BPD/Addict lover. William Styron's novel is even better in its detailed character study.

Single White Female
Jennifer Jason Leigh is just TOO realistic as scary BPD roommate

Sleeping with the Enemy
Patrick Bergin as Borderline/OCD husband to Julia Roberts' terrified wife.

Basic Instinct
(Sharon Stone as the classic bisexual femme fatale)

Black Widow
Theresa Russell as 'serial wife' caught by an unstoppable Debra Winger

The Effect of GammaRays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
http://www.amctv.com/show/detail/0,,8991-1-EST,00.html Joanne Woodward won the Best Actress award at Cannes for her portrayal of a domineering alcoholic mother of two teenage daughters in this film version of Paul Zindel's Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

All About Eve
Brilliant story of friend-betraying actress/social-climber Eve Harrington, played to conniving, innocent-eyed perfection Anne Baxter.
Brilliant, entertaining classic with Bette Davis as the betrayed mentor.

Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte
Bette again in a NonBP role; this time playing the victim of a scheming cousin out for her property. Great illustraton of 'gaslighting.'

Play Misty for Me
Obsessed onetime fling Jessica Walter stalks Clint Eastwood

Borderline
2002 film with Gina Gershon, Michael Biehn

Henry & June
(Maria de Medeiros as Anais Nin)

Breakfast at Tiffany's
(Audrey Hepburn as Borderline-Lite Holly Golightly, trying to please everyone but herself, and terrified of love)

After Hours
Fabulous dark comedy with Rosanna Arquette, Griffin Dunne

Frances
(Jessica Lange as Frances Farmer)

Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Diane Keaton: schoolteacher by day, cruising sex-addict by night)

A Streetcar Named Desire
(or any filmed fiction by Tennessee Williams -- "Blaaaaanche!")

Dangerous Liasons
(John Malkovitch/Glenn Close as Borderline/NPD couple)

Memento (Guy Pierce as dissociative amnesiac)

Borderline Normal
Depicts the effects of maternal parental alienation on the child of a divorcing couple. 2002

Really cheesy but clinically pretty accurate 1982 TV movie with Shannon Dougherty

Obsessed
"SHE said: They had an affair. They were in love. He was leaving his wife. HE said: It never happened. Who do you believe?" 2002 TV movie with Jenna Elfman


Faye Dunaway (esp. Chinatown)
Angelina Jolie (esp. Gia)
Edward Norton (esp. Fight Club and American History X)
Jennifer Jason Leigh (esp. Single White Female or Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle)