Ah I believe I am misinformed then. A family member of mine works as a psychiatric nurse and mentions personality disorders in young adults quite often. However now that I think about it, it is primarily borderline personality disorders... True. I thought we were discussing mental illness as a whole.
I think you are arguing semantics a bit here, or perhaps an individual psychiatrist's preference. From Johns Hopkins Regardless of a diagnosis one would put on paper thus labeling a child, the disease can manifest itself before the mind is fully matured. Doesn't mean the behaviors won't change, but they can still be present in children.
You don't believe the brain can be abnormal then? Your heart, kidneys, lungs, sure, but the brain, no?
It can sometimes be difficult to diagnose "borderline" disorders. Abnormal behavior is defined by how far from the norm the behaviors are. But we do the same with other illnesses. When does your occasionally elevated blood glucose become diabetes? There's a cut off. When does your low hematocrit become anemia? Every person with odd behavior is not mentally ill. And some people may even have what we call a subclinical case, meaning just a little shy of borderline. But there are distinct behavior syndromes that cause the individual problems. Borderline paranoia is a classic example. There's a point where the person's suspicions become pathologic. The suspicions are not based on reasonable assessments of the world the person encounters. In addition, we see these behaviors have a pattern and the same pattern is observed in others with the same disorders. This is not to say you don't know a person who was wrongly diagnosed.
Who called them 'mentally unstable'? Did they check themselves in (because if they didn't actually have a mental illness and weren't considered a threat to themselves or others, they couldn't be committed)? The problem I see from you and 33percent is you are taking your limited observations (anecdotal evidence) and trying to use that to counter known science/medicine. It doesn't work that way.
I'd appreciate it if for once people just stopped misunderstanding what I am saying on this forums. I wasn't trying to make any point about science/medicine observations. I was merely stating something that happened in real life so the thread owner can benefit from the input. Yes, there are people who are completely normal and are just different from others who might be seen as mentally ill. and yes, there are those who are mentally ill and don't seek help but try to make things okay on their own and yes there are others who are mentally ill and are being supervised. Calling my experience 'limited' doesn't mean my input is not valid.
Personality disorders are a group of identified mental disorders not the entire range of mental disease. They are/or can be, some of the most extreme conditions to be inflicted on the human race. nearly 90% of the most violent crimes can be attributed to someone with PDs.
What I'm trying to get across is that anecdotal evidence shouldn't be generalized across any subject, and shouldn't be used in place of actual research/facts.
The latest Writing Excuses podcast (8.11) is about characters with abnormal psychology. You might find some useful pointers there.
This is far from semantics, this is a big distinction relevant to psychiatry but also the law. I suppose a lay person might not fully appreciate this distinction. In any case, bpd traits can manifest but in vast majority of cases they subside before adulthood. Same with an array of psychiatric symptoms which can be a part of maturation process (obsessive compulsive tendencies, depression, mood fluctuations, imaginary friends, feeling special (grandiosity) etc). This is why it isn't helpful to make a bpd diagnosis. Rather, there are borderline tendencies which can be worked with in therapy as necessary. But it is very different from the mature bpd.
They don't treat personality disorders. Please go read what pd is, you are quite misinformed about psychiatry in general. I worked as a psychiatrist. And I am very well informed. Don't think that everything you dig up on the internet constitutes good psychiatry. I'm pretty sure nobody can successfully write about personality disorders without having a first clue about the topic. We have a difference of opinion. I'll leave it at that.
I'm not a lay person, were you referring to me or the readers? And before we carry this too far, does it really matter for the story? Gerzon said, "they r all college students". It doesn't appear that we need to debate how the disorder is manifest in children with BPD in this thread.
Never say never: Heritability of Personality Disorders in Childhood: A Preliminary Investigation A Developmental Perspective on Personality Disorders: Lessons From Research on Normal Personality Development in Childhood and Adolescence The bottom line: I stand by what I said initially, I think you are arguing semantics a bit here, or perhaps an individual psychiatrist's preference.
I try to remember that on a forum we really don't know what the other person's background and knowledge are from a couple posts. But sometimes there are clues. What does, "I worked as a psychiatrist", mean as opposed to, "I am a psychiatrist"? "Don't think that everything you dig up on the internet constitutes good psychiatry." What leads you to believe I don't know that or that I can't apply critical thinking to things I do find on the Net? I know from experience that medical information on the Johns Hopkins' website is very reliable. "I'm pretty sure nobody can successfully write about personality disorders without having a first clue about the topic." For the record, this is what I said: "I'm pretty sure that people can write successful characters without knowing any of them personally." That, in turn, was a response to this comment of yours: "If you don't know anyone with a PD, I'd recommend that you leave out the "personality disorder" altogether." Notice how that differs from, "having a first clue about the topic." And as long as I'm reviewing your posts, where does this number come from? "Over 30% of patients in general practice have some form of personality disorder...." Just curious. You sound well informed, I'm not trying to say you don't. But your assumptions about what I know are way off base.