You and Me and BPD

Here are some helplines if you feel triggered by this episode •TALK SUICIDE CANADA #1-833-456-4566 (45645 for text) •SUICIDE & CRISIS LIFELINE in America #988 to connect with a local Suicide prevention helpline •UK SUICIDE PREVENTION PHONE LINE #0800-689-5652. In this episode, we talk about the differences between Passive suicidal ideation and Active suicidal thoughts. We discuss some of the reaso...

In this episode, I try to contextualize the idea of Spiraling and how it can lead to what some people call a 'BPD Episode.' Spiraling, to me, is kind of like falling down the rabbit hole; it usually begins when I experience some negative self talk and can lead to feelings of existential dread or overwhelming sadness. For many people, Spiraling leads to 'Episodes;' times where we might lash out aga...

In this episode, I sit down with Alicen - @alicenricard on instagram - who is one of the co-hosts of the Not Enough Spoons podcast. Alicen wrote an article called "To Those Who Don't Understand My Favourite Person Relationship (2020)" which I found when I was researching my Favourite Person episode from a while ago. I reached out to Alicen in May and asked her to be a part of the podcast so we cou...

In this episode, I speak about the topic of Identity Disturbance; a clinical term used to describe the chronic symptom of unstable identity. Many people with BPD struggle with feelings of Identity Disturbance; they might feel like they don't understand who or why they are the way they are, and thus might start to self identify with things or people around them as they morph into a different versio...

In this episode, I touch on the topic of Comorbid Diagnosis before telling you a bit about my own journey to getting diagnosed as Autistic. Research estimates that 50-96% of people with BPD are living with a comorbid mental health condition, whether that is depression or anxiety, other mood disorders, or even substance abuse issues (to name a few). Understanding how to treat these comorbid diagnos...

In this episode, I offer 5 tips on how we can support someone on their mental health journey. The majority of messages I get from people who listen to this podcast ask how they can support their partner, loved-one, or friend who has BPD. Offering support is such a beautiful thing to do but it can also leave people feeling confused or afraid of saying the wrong thing. The 5 tips I gave are : 1. Do...

Today's episode is a bit of a ramble; I'm not feeling the greatest and I decided to just talk about the reality of how mental illness can affect my daily life. I've been feeling this sense of impending sadness over the past few days - not being able to concentrate, feeling more pain than usual, feeling restless and distracted - and when I woke up, I knew it was going to be a hard day. Some days ar...

In this episode, I try to breakdown the 'Favourite Person' phenomenon that seems to have become synonymous with BPD due to the rise of social media forums which speak about this topic. A 'Favourite Person' is more than a best friend or intense romantic partner; they seem to represent some type of innate need that someone is looking for i.e they provide stability or affection or help someone to fee...

In this bonus episode, I decided to record a Guided Meditation to encourage you to find some sense of stillness and mindfulness in your every day life. The actual meditation starts around the 2min mark, with a short introduction before we begin. I meditate to work on my emotional resiliency during times of stress and to allow myself the space to work through my emotions. This was recorded in my ba...

This episode was inspired by a poll on my Instagram where I asked people if they would be interested in learning more about psychosis and hallucinations, especially within a BPD context. I start by providing some definitions and examples of what psychosis is, then I talk about my own experiences and how I've come to terms with understanding my own hallucinations. 3 in every 100 people will experie...

In this episode, I decided to go back to the basics of what BPD is. I talk about the history of this mental illness, the 9 symptoms that are associated with getting a diagnosis, and some of the critiques or controversies around this often misunderstood disorder. I wanted to revisit the format of my first episode, The Basics, as I felt like my understanding of this mental illness has changed and sh...

Hello! Welcome back to Season Three of You and Me and BPD. I am so excited to be making new episodes again and to continue to get to connect with people who live with BPD and/or autism. As I mentioned in this episode, I was re-diagnosed with BPD at the end of August, along with the new diagnosis of being on the autism spectrum so this season will be slightly different from previous seasons because...

This is a little rambly episode where I sign off for the winter season. Winter, to me, is a time of deep introspection and rest so like last season, this podcast will be on hiatus until the spring (or summer, depends on how I feel). Thank you so much for listening and messaging and being a part of this little corner of the internet; I never expected anyone to listen to this podcast and I am contin...

In today's episode, Cordelia and I spoke about her journey to diagnosis, what BPD is like in her daily life, and some of the ways that she makes sure that she is taking care of herself. Cordelia reached out to me on my Instagram to be a part of this podcast and I am so happy I got to interview her today and see some of the similarities and differences between how we both experience this often misu...

This episode is all about depression; what the symptoms are, some of the ways I've experienced depressive states, and how important it is to allow ourselves to feel our emotions in a safe way. There is some talk about suicide and self harm, so if you are not in the best mindset to hear about these topics please keep yourself safe and skip this episode. I tried to give some tangible tips of how we...

In this episode, I sat down with my Mother and had a conversation about my childhood, trauma, setting boundaries, and how we have managed to navigate our relationship while living with mental health issues. We talk about how important it is to have open forms of communication, as well as how generational teachings factor in to parent-child relationships when it comes to talking about and understan...

In this episode, I talk about how I experience loneliness. The feeling of loneliness is one of the most human feelings we can experience, but I know that it can be hard to explain and hard to vocalize why we feel the way we do. I touch on the topic of 'spiraling' - when one emotion or thought leads to another and it feels like you are falling into a bottomless pit - as well as some of the ways tha...

In this episode, I provide a quick rundown of what BPD is and some things that I think are important to talk about when friends and family are trying to understand what this diagnosis means. Of the most important aspects to this conversation, I think the main takeaways are to have more compassion and patience for those with BPD as it is a hard condition to live with and our triggers can exist in m...

2/3rds of people with BPD will struggle with Substance Abuse & Addiction issues. With the warmer weather and people starting to get excited for lockdowns to end, many of us will be put in situations where we can't hide our addictions any longer. This episode is to encourage you, spread awareness about the connection between BPD and addiction, and hopefully let you know that you are not alone in yo...

This is a short meditation practice using the breath. The actual practice starts around 12mins. These are the 4 statements we will be repeating to ourselves :::: A) Breathing in, I am aware of the in breath + Breathing out, I am aware of the out breath B) Breathing in, I am aware of the breath in my body + Breathing out, I am aware of the breath leaving my body C) Breathing in, I am calm + Breathi...

Hello! Thank you a thousand times over for a year of this podcast. I am so thankful to every one of you who have given me a space to talk and connect and feel supported by this amazing online community we have created. Today's episode is about stress management, specifically how to make sure we are taking care of ourselves before things become so overwhelming we can't handle our emotions anymore....

In today's episode, I decided to talk about some of the self doubt I struggle with on a near constant basis. I talk a bit about Imposter Syndrome and how it relates to BPD, as well as many of my daily experiences when it comes to formulating my idea of 'self' and how I try to handle self doubt when it comes into my life. One suggestion I have for those of you who are struggling with self doubt is...

In this episode, I talk about the aspect of 'reframing a situation' as it pertains to how we look at and understand what it means to live with Borderline Personality Disorder. A lot of my podcast is about spreading awareness and advocacy for the struggles we face, but honestly, it can be hard to talk from this kind of 'suffering' perspective when in reality, there are some pretty awesome things we...

In this episode, I sit down with my partner and talk about how we handle the emotional rollercoaster of BPD in our relationship. Many of the messages I get from people who listen to the podcast are from people who are dating or married to someone with BPD so I thought a convo with my husband might provide some insight from a different perspective about what BPD means to us. We talk about apologizi...

In this episode, we look into how living with BPD or mental illnesses can affect how we are in the world and how we relate to others. Chronic mental illness changes everything about your being... how you see the world, and how you see yourself, so I think it is super important to talk about ways we can continue to hold ourselves accountable to others and responsible for our actions. In my opinion,...