Destigmatizing Women with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD): An Attachment-Based and Trauma-Informed Approach
Destigmatizing Women with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD): An Attachment-Based and Trauma-Informed Approach
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Issue Date
2025-11-08
Authors
Hendrick, Josephine
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Abstract
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is highly stigmatized and disproportionately impacts women (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2022; De-la-Morena-Perez et al., 2023). Though there is a large body of research that indicates a link between attachment insecurity, trauma history and the development of BPD traits, there is still debate over the exact interplay between these factors (Erkoreka et al., 2022; Formella & Ugwuanyi, 2024; Miano et al., 2021; Peng et al., 2021; Schulze et al., 2022). The research highlighted throughout indicated that counselling psychologists would benefit from a deeper understanding of these factors so they can incorporate this knowledge into everyday practice when working with clients who have BPD. Thus, this literature review explores the central question: Can understanding BPD in women from an attachment-based and trauma-informed lens help to destigmatize their experiences in the therapeutic setting? To answer this, this study synthesizes current literature and provides recommendations for future research and possible clinical/therapeutic applications. Relevant sources were selected from various databases, including ProQuest, PsychLit, EPSCO, PubMed and the Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection. The writer then conducted a thematic analysis of the literature to generate significant themes and evaluated this research through methodological analysis and ethical critiques. The most notable finding from this study is that individuals with BPD experience stigma on several levels, and that further research into understanding this disorder from an attachment-based and trauma-informed lens is warranted. It is recommended that mental health professionals, educational programs and researchers consider these lenses when studying BPD in an effort to reduce stigma for those with this disorder.
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Keywords
borderline personality disorder , adult attachment styles , insecure attachment , disorganized attachment , trauma-informed therapy , destigmatization , gender bias , BPD , mental health
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States , openAccess