The following blog posts are written by people with personal experience of personality disorders. By talking openly, our bloggers hope to increase understanding around mental health, break down stereotypes and take the taboo out of something that – like physical health – affects us all.

If young people understood mental health, they wouldn't discriminate

June 4, 2016

It's six in the evening and I'm sitting in the Psychiatrist's waiting room. This is my second appointment of the day. There are seven of us waiting: a boy fresh from school in his uniform, two couples and a middle aged woman who is texting on the sofa. To the casual observer we may as well all be waiting for the dentist, we look so dull, so boring – but we are all here because we all experience mental health problems.

Relationships are crucial in creating stigma - and ending it

May 21, 2016

I’ve encountered a lot of relationships in my life that have made me feel a stigma surrounding mental health. It's been important for me to recognise and become aware of the individuals who I felt have done this. In doing so, I’ve been able to improve my own mental health by talking to those individuals, help them to understand how what they say or do is stigmatising. that causes your reaction, which could result in an agreement that such interactions should be avoided, or at the very least significantly reduced.

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