I may have Borderline Personality Disorder, but Borderline Personality Disorder does not have me. When Marsha Linehan came out about her struggles with mental health problems recently, I was inspired and decided to follow her lead by vowing to become a dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) therapist so that I may help others build lives worth living as Marsha helped me by creating DBT. A few years later, I am now in phase 3 of DBT, coaching my peers online in DBT skills, am a junior in college with honors, have attended a training with Marsha Linehan, and am already well into planning for graduate school.

Some may think that having the label of borderline personality disorder is a mark of shame, disparaging those who bear the diagnosis by the implicative nature of the term borderline personality itself, but I can honestly say that the day I received the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder was one of the best days of my lives. The reason is that in giving my problems a definite term that before was simply referred to by likewise unaware friends and family as me being a drama queen gave me the information I needed to find dialectical behavior therapy that taught me the skills I needed to stay alive, act effectively, think without unnecessarily judging myself or others and ultimately gave me the power to change my life. For this reason, I want everyone to know that I have borderline personality disorder, and I am not ashamed. Please show your support of May being Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month by sharing my or your own personal story of BPD with friends, family, co-workers, any and all. Where there is an awareness there is hope.