Anything you say can and will be used against you

The stigma of mental illness is still very real and common. Comments on forums expressing hatred towards those with a particular illness abound. But I can't say I blame them considering the vampiristic (yes I am saying that is a word) way in which they can drain a person. My idealist self sees this and thinks of the movie Warm Bodies - if we just treat them with love, treat them like a real person, then they would start acting like one. Right? Well, it's not that simple. Partly, probably because they will just push you away when you do that.

A wife may lovingly reach her hand out to her husband when he is having a difficult time, only to have her hand slapped away with a threat to never do that again. And then he will probably hate himself even more because he feels like he can't control himself, his emotions. It's everybody else's fault. She shouldn't have done that. How could she attack him like that? Everything feels like an attack.

He craves validation to fill the black hole of despair that occupies his being. He doesn't understand why everything keeps happening to him, why it hurts so much, why everyone is always attacking him. The slightest amount of criticism can completely derail him. He thinks he is reaching out to others in a positive way but the void he carries inside obscures his vision to what is really happening and only perpetuates his abandonment issues when people exit his life time and time again.

They say it's like having no skin. There have been studies showing that intense emotions last up to 20% longer in someone with BPD. They don't just burn bridges; they line them with C4 and then blow them up. A common phrase is "I hate you, don't leave me"

She thinks she is a good friend, but can't see objectively what she is really doing, even though deep down she really knows. Armed with all of the ammunition of spiteful words spewed in her direction over the years, she shoots it all at her next victim with rapid force. After a particularly volatile explosion, only now does she begin to see the pattern of destruction following her wake. To her very core she wants to change. But she is still afraid.