Are you borderline or did you grow up without a racial identity? Black mixed-race identity disturbance and an unstable sense of self

Abstract

This article draws on the lived experience of the author to discuss the Black mixed-raced experience of being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD), particularly in relation to the BPD symptom of troubled identities. This article argues that what psychiatry pathologises as a troubled identity within BPD is actually an everyday experience for a mixed-race person growing up between cultures. This article goes on to discuss Black mixed-race people’s identity through a lens of performativity, how this presents and is weaponised in psychiatry, and why it is important for psychiatry to understand Black mixed-race identities.