A Real Affliction: BPD, Culture, and Stigma is an interview podcast that explores how we live with, treat, advocate for, write about, and conceptualize borderline personality disorder, as well as common co-occurring challenges like complex PTSD, eating disorders, and substance use disorder, all of which I’ve experienced. My guests and I will also discuss how literature, film, television, photography, dance, philosophy, the history of medicine, feminist and disability studies, nature, and bio ...
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“He was provoking all these symptoms he had wanted to cure”: Nina Shope, author of Asylum
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How have power dynamics between doctors and patients changed over the past century and a half? In my second and final interview with Nina Shope, author of the award-winning historical novel Asylum, we talk about the complicated relationship between neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot and his most famous patient as he treated her for hysteria and docume…
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“I was fascinated with showing the things behind hysteria that were being erased”: Nina Shope on Asylum
25:45
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What did BPD look like in the 19th century? It looked like hysteria, a phenomenon that puzzled doctors and fascinated the public. In this episode, I interview Nina Shope, author of the award-winning historical novel Asylum, which explores the power dynamics between Jean-Martin Charcot, the father of neurology as we know it today, and his most famou…
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"Insurance companies are breaking the law": Paula Tusiani-Eng of Emotions Matter
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How can we access expensive care? In the US, being diagnosed with BPD is often the first step in an odyssey through a complex and unjust health care system. In the second part of my interview with Paula Tusiani-Eng, co-founder of Emotions Matter, she discusses how to get life-saving coverage from your insurer, the wonderful success of her organizat…
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What I wish I’d known about getting a PhD with BPD
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In this solo bonus episode, I talk about what I learned while getting my MA and PhD at Berkeley and offer tips for anyone who wants to pursue a higher education degree while managing their BPD. It can be done!By Cynthia Gralla
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“How do I meet other people with BPD?”: Paula Tusiani-Eng of Emotions Matter
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What do people with BPD need? When Paula Tusiani-Eng co-founded a BPD non-profit after the tragic loss of her sister Pamela, she realized that we often need more community support. In this interview, Paula tells me about Pamela’s struggle with BPD in the 1990s and how Emotions Matter has built a community for others like her. If you are having thou…
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“I Love Us”: Melanie Goldman on living with and treating BPD
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How can people with BPD find their voice? In this candid interview, the radiant and loving Melanie Goldman (@mindovermelanie) tells me her story of lived experience with BPD, from the shock of the diagnosis to the joys of advocacy and reclaiming her voice. She also shares wisdom from her training as a registered psychotherapist and her ultimate goa…
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Is No Longer Human about BPD—and should we even ask that question?
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Can we diagnose the narrator of Osamu Dazai’s novel, No Longer Human, with BPD or some other diagnosis? And does it make sense to try? In this bonus summer solo episode, I give my perspective as a Japanese literature scholar and a person with BPD. Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human Osamu Dazai, The Setting Sun Roland Barthes, “The Death of the Author” Sh…
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“These are like emotional, psychological Trojan horses": American McGee's BPD Rabbit
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Can a stuffed animal help people to cope with BPD? In this episode, I interview American McGee, the celebrated video game designer and mastermind behind the mental health Plushie Dreadfuls line. We talk about his BPD Rabbit, metaphors and stereotypes, the connection between this bunny and the one in American McGee's Alice, the crowd design process,…
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“Folks with BPD are some of the brightest lights in my life”: Dr. Sara Masland
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Who gets BPD, and are they likely to recover? In this second and final part of my interview with Dr. Sara Masland, she and I discuss the gender distribution for BPD, contemplate the prognosis for people with the disorder based on longitudinal studies (spoiler alert: it’s bright!), and consider what needs to change in medical culture over the next 5…
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“The BPD diagnosis is an entry point to understanding how you can get to recovery”: Dr. Sara Masland
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Why do we need a generalist approach to treating BPD? Because there are nearly 6000 treatment-seeking people with BPD to every certified, specialist clinician in the United States. In this episode, Dr. Sara Masland explains how she is helping to simultaneously reduce stigma and increase access to care by training others in Good Psychiatric Manageme…
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“We’re starting young” with fighting stigma: Jessie Shepherd on Millie the Cat
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Why create a children's book about BPD? This is the second half of my interview with Jessie Shepherd, who is a writer, licensed clinical mental health counselor, licensed professional counselor, and director of Blue Clover Therapy. We talk more about her book for children and adults, Millie the Cat Has Borderline Personality Disorder, and muse on t…
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“Every single thing we have to manage comes with a beautiful, positive opposite”: Jessie Shepherd
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What are some of the gifts of BPD? Find out from an adorable cat named Millie. Here, I interview Jessie Shepherd—a licensed clinical mental health counselor, licensed professional counselor, and director of Blue Clover Therapy—about her book for children and adults, Millie the Cat Has Borderline Personality Disorder. Jessie Shepherd, Millie the Cat…
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“Shared experience can be really supportive”: Baylie McKnight of the BPD Society of BC
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What kind of impact can a small organization make on BPD—in its province and globally? In this episode, I find out by interviewing Baylie McKnight, a co-founder of the BPD Society of British Columbia who has lived experience with the disorder, a master’s degree in social work, and a private practice. She tells me about the extraordinary efforts tha…
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Countering stigma requires encountering stigma
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Why do we need a revolution in the way borderline personality disorder is perceived by the medical field and wider culture? In this first episode of A Real Affliction, host Dr. Cynthia Gralla introduces the interview podcast and her upcoming guests, shares some of her experiences from her decades-long fight with BPD, and explains what needs to chan…
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Trailer for A Real Affliction: BPD, Culture, and Stigma
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The trailer for A Real Affliction: BPD, Culture, and Stigma introduces this interview podcast about borderline personality disorder and features clips from guests Ellis Amdur (a writer and psychotherapist), Jessie Shepherd (a licensed counselor and author of Millie the Cat Has Borderline Personality Disorder), Paula Tusiani-Eng (co-founder of Emoti…
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