The strange case of Ashley Todd
When I saw the backward-carved “B” in Ashley Todd’s face last week, I couldn’t help but think about Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). And one Mental Health professional actually came out and said that Ms. Todd did, in fact, exhibit traits of the disorder. Personally, I have to disagree with the experts that have “diagnosed” her with BPD. While self-injury is a hallmark of BPD, the motivation behind self-injury in BPD is usually NOT to get attention. Clearly, Ms. Todd, who was the “victim” of an attack by a black man in Pennsylvania (which later she admitted was a hoax), carved the “B” in her own cheek and she must have known that this action and the made-up story about the attack would garner a lot of attention. Yet, what I have seen in most cases of BPD-related self-injury is that the motivation is typically pain-relief and not attention-getting. The mere act of self-injury is a shameful one, and, in BPD, which already fuels shameful feelings, the self-injurer usually hides the act from others, doing it in private and on places that are not detectable by others. That’s because the self-injury functions to stop private emotional pain. Cutting oneself on the face (especially a letter on the face) would seem to me to indicate a different disorder. While it is possible that Ms. Todd does have BPD, I personally think it is unlikely.
2 Comments
Maija Haavisto
I know someone with a bad case of BPD and she constantly, intentionally seeks attention with things like suicide attempts and involuntary hospitalizations etc. What I mean is she actually _brags_ about them and constantly talks about such things in the public, as if they make her a more interesting person or something (no, she’s not a teenager). If she cut she’d probably show it off on Facebook and YouTube. I guess it’s possible she also has histrionic personality disorder, but she is definitely borderline too. In some people these two personality disorders may coexist.
Bon Dobbs
Yes, two disorders could exist… which is why I didn’t completely rule out the case for BPD in Ms. Todd. However, I have met hundreds of people with BPD and their families and found that most don’t use cutting to get attention – because of the shame. This woman you know seems like a different case and I never discount the differences between people with BPD – they’re all unique, but there are some trends among the group. Sounds like this woman needs some treatment. In WHINE I talk about suicide attempts being BOTH real and a call for attention – but IMO the “call for attention” part is about communicating a deep pain.
Thanks for your comment!