Borderline Personality Disorder has long been the most stigmatized mental illness. Add to this now The View Co-host Joy Behar stigmatizing Borderline Personality Disorder ever further. On The View’s Wednesday October 21, 2009 show in an interview with Glenn Close and her sister who were guests to talk about the importance of combating the stigma against mental illness, namely Bioplar Disorder, which Close’s sister has, Joy Behar, for some reason, who knows why, first had to further stigmatize BPD with inaccurate, uneducated information.
Whoopi Goldberg is always saying, during The View’s Hot Topics, that accuracy and the facts are important. What about statements the co-hosts make during interviews?
Joy Behar said of Borderline Personality Disorder that, “… it’s highly untreatable” She also commented that, like Glenn Close’s character in the movie Fatal Attraction, if a man knows the woman he is with is “borderline” he should know to stay away.
Behar equated all with BPD as being like the character that Close portrayed in the Fatal Attraction movie. Say what? What could possibly be more hurtful and stigmatizing than that highly inaccurate stereotypical and damaging pop-culture comparison?
I’m a fan of The View and of Joy Behar. But yesterday I was very disappointed with her. I think sometimes she tries too hard to be funny. This was not funny at all. Though I don’t really think her ignorant comments about BPD were any attempt at a joke. They seemed much more serious. Behar needs to hear about this.
It is my hope enough people will contact The View and/or post on their message boards so that someone at The View will take notice and either have Behar apologize and/or have someone on to talk about Borderline Personality Disorder and the reality that it is treatable and that it, is in fact, the most stigmatized mental illness of them all. BPD did not need help from Behar with regard to the stigma it has always been surrounded with. Stigma that many work hard to fight against. Stigma that Joy Behar, in 10 unthinking, inaccurate seconds, forwarded in a huge way, unfortunately.
I tried to call ABC to make this point but they do not even take calls from their audience. I emailed a couple of times hoping someone would read it and realize they need to re-address this and Joy Behar should apologize for her ill-informed and stigmatizing comments.
© A.J. Mahari, October 22, 2009
