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What constitutes the personality, and what does it have to do with the soul? How am I meant to understand my condition (Borderline Personality Disorder) from a Catholic point of view? Most people don’t have to worry about drawing a distinction between their disordered personality and whatever lies beneath: they take it for granted that their self/soul/personality are all one in the same. But I can’t, and I can’t see how to fit that into a Catholic (or even Orthodox) framework. I basically have to change my personality, but that means our very selves are malleable, which seems to jar with the idea of being a soul. Not to mention, is it my very self that’s disordered? I don’t get this. Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic members, feel free to chime in as well. I lean Byzantine.
EDIT: I have read the Cathoic Encyclopedia’s entry on Personality, but I can’t fully grasp Thomistic stuff. It’s beyond me. They seemed to be making the point that the soul’s functioning can be impaired by bodily flaws (such as mental disorders.) Problem is, it’s current “fact” (aka taught stigma) that BPD is “just” a psychological problem with a disordered self. The Catholic Encyclopedia seems to be pointing out that issues like these CAN and ARE caused by bodily defects (in this case, ones pertaining to the brain.) Which the latest research into BPD seems to back up. But then how much of our selves is bodily/brain-related, and how much is spiritual? I find that, in order to cope with this disorder, I have to jam a hard divide between my consciousness and my personality, which seems odd to do for a Christian. It just doesn’t seem to fit with our understanding of the human mind and soul. And now I’m not sure which is “me” or my “self”.
IMO, BPD is a neurobiological flaw that causes interpersonal and personality dysfunction. The current things doctors seem to be taught focus exclusively on the latter, psychological interpersonal and personality dysfunction. Most Borderlines tend to fixate on the former, “psychiatric” issues (well, that and trauma,) and feel like it’s something they have, not are. Most doctors seem to act like there’s no such psychiatric issue at play, that even medication is just a crutch, a bandaid at best being used to prop someone’s psychological dysfunction up. Hence the stigma. We’re just screwed up, bad people to them that need to grow up and stop misbehaving. It’s funny how they can convince themselves that trauma that causes PTSD counts as a psychiatric problem, but if it causes BPD, you just need to grow up. Sheesh.
EDIT: I have read the Cathoic Encyclopedia’s entry on Personality, but I can’t fully grasp Thomistic stuff. It’s beyond me. They seemed to be making the point that the soul’s functioning can be impaired by bodily flaws (such as mental disorders.) Problem is, it’s current “fact” (aka taught stigma) that BPD is “just” a psychological problem with a disordered self. The Catholic Encyclopedia seems to be pointing out that issues like these CAN and ARE caused by bodily defects (in this case, ones pertaining to the brain.) Which the latest research into BPD seems to back up. But then how much of our selves is bodily/brain-related, and how much is spiritual? I find that, in order to cope with this disorder, I have to jam a hard divide between my consciousness and my personality, which seems odd to do for a Christian. It just doesn’t seem to fit with our understanding of the human mind and soul. And now I’m not sure which is “me” or my “self”.
IMO, BPD is a neurobiological flaw that causes interpersonal and personality dysfunction. The current things doctors seem to be taught focus exclusively on the latter, psychological interpersonal and personality dysfunction. Most Borderlines tend to fixate on the former, “psychiatric” issues (well, that and trauma,) and feel like it’s something they have, not are. Most doctors seem to act like there’s no such psychiatric issue at play, that even medication is just a crutch, a bandaid at best being used to prop someone’s psychological dysfunction up. Hence the stigma. We’re just screwed up, bad people to them that need to grow up and stop misbehaving. It’s funny how they can convince themselves that trauma that causes PTSD counts as a psychiatric problem, but if it causes BPD, you just need to grow up. Sheesh.
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