missnanners

Mental illnesses are stigmatized in the world at large; BPD is often stigmatized in the mental health world. As a therapist, I’ve worked in many agencies and clinics where staff has been exasperated by clients’ “attention seeking” behavior, and characterize them as manipulative. Many feel that efforts are futile, as personality disorders are more ingrained, and often present with more resistance to treatment. Though I think having loving and good supports, insight, and the right treatment are huge advantages to a better prognosis. As someone else mentioned, BPD often overlaps with other diagnoses’ symptoms, as mood swings and impulsivity can look like Bipolar and anxiety disorders. BPD is not characterized by episodes of “mania”, though regular behavior can resemble it. And I’ve personally never associated lack of compassion with BPD, though I can see how the manipulation can convey them as self-centered. I don’t really like the term manipulation, as it makes it seem like the person is some diabolical puppet master, when I think they usually act in whatever way gets the response they are seeking, because they don’t know how to get it in a healthy way.

Has Nick, Carl's friend, spoken once? I'm gonna put it out there than he ends up being a gentle giant, maybe traumatized into silence.

But there are plenty of other clubs, organizations, and scenes that don't fall into those outgoing party stereotypes, for all types of people especially if you choose a college that suits your character. If you took a philosophy class, you might meet people into hanging out at the coffee house, if you're into music, you could easily find live performances. I was never into mixers or theme party / events, but I definitely found my niche in college. I was friendly enough with people in the dorm or class or my campus job to accompany me to things where I met people I clicked with even better. College is often great validation for those who felt like outsiders throughout high school. Though I will admit, it took me a semester to get out of my shell. I actually really didn't like that Phil still kinda pushed her - as gently as he did - into that event, after she said she's not like him and already tried events like the cannonball thingy. A better ending to me would be Phil encouraging her to keep an open mind towards people and seek out things she's interested in (maybe that's how he found cheerleading) and her meeting someone at the library or something.