Borderline Personality Disorder,  Celebrities,  Emotions,  Pain,  Substance Abuse

Amy Winehouse and BPD

One of my twitter followers posted the original Daily Star article about Amy Winehouse and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Of course, I’d had Amy on my Celebrities with Possible BPD list for many years. If you want to read all of my articles about Amy Winehouse click here. I have no idea why the title includes ‘Mental Illness’ in quotes. Maybe it was because they were quoting the relative or maybe it brings up the question as to whether BPD is an actual mental illness. Here is the text of the article (and my comments below):

TRAGIC AMY WINEHOUSE HAD ‘MENTAL ILLNESS’

TROUBLED Amy Winehouse suffered from an undiagnosed mental illness, a relative has revealed.

The talented soul singer could have been struck down by the little-known Borderline Personality Disorder.

Sufferers have feelings of anger, emptiness, shame and guilt and become emotionally volatile.

And it can also push them into substance abuse and eating disorders, both of which Amy succumbed to.

Yesterday a member of the Back To Black star’s family said: “It was never diagnosed, because unfortunately she would never agree to a proper diagnosis.

“I’m not an expert, but from what I’ve read on Borderline Personality Disorder it kind of fitted with her.”

Meanwhile Amy’s dad Mitch, 61, said he wished his daughter, who died in July aged 27, had sought counselling.

He said: “She never stopped trying.

“She hated the way she was when she was drunk and when she was ill.

“And you know, the way I look at it, she died trying.

“She didn’t give up. She died trying to make her- self better.”

This article, although short, points out several interesting things about people with BPD. Since there’s no guarantee she had it, I’m going to generalize a bit. First of all, it is tragic that BPD is “little known” because it is much more prevalent than bipolar disorder. The article says: “Sufferers have feelings of anger, emptiness, shame and guilt and become emotionally volatile. And it can also push them into substance abuse and eating disorders, both of which Amy succumbed to.” This is very true. A person in extreme emotional pain will do anything to stop the pain. The article ends with “She died trying to make her- self better.” I’d like to amend that statement to “She died trying to make feel her-self better.” That’s the nature of the disorder and that’s what many non-BPDs do not understand. It’s all about his/her feelings (IAAHF) and not about controlling, manipulating or calling for attention.

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