Personality disorder: Woman’s ‘suffocating’ illness

Overwhelming, suffocating and a rollercoaster of emotions

Personality disorder: Woman’s ‘suffocating’ illness
By Catherine Smyth

Those are some of the words Felicity McKee from Armagh uses to describe living with a personality disorder.

The 25-year-old social anthropology student at Queen’s University received the dual diagnosis of an eating disorder and what is known as Borderline Personality Disorder five years ago.

She says that, while eating disorders are becoming better understood by the public and professionals, the stigma surrounding personality disorders remains a major issue.

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Felicity says on bad days she can feel “completely overwhelmed”.

“I become a blubbering mess and I am difficult to rationalize with, even though logically I can see something is very, very tiny,” she admits.

“It’s like suffocating. You are asphyxiating basically on the emotions, choking on them, though you can’t find the words for them. It’s just so unbelievably difficult.”

She says that, as a condition, it is badly misunderstood and there is a real fear of judgement.

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