Hey deserving listeners, it's just me today.

I thought I would answer some patron emails.

This first email is from Patron Anonymous, anonymous patron.

They write, I have recently been diagnosed

with borderline personality disorder which

seems to fit with my life experience. I have been in my own therapy for several

years. I've also had this dream of being a therapist for a long time and I am contemplating going

back to school to become a therapist.

What are your thoughts on someone with a personality disorder becoming a therapist? What are the pros and cons?

I know that it will be important for me to continue doing my own work in therapy,

and for what it's worth, I am working successfully in another human service position currently.

End of email.

Yeah, I get this question occasionally.

And there are, there's no evidence that shows that therapists with personality disorders cannot be effective.

There are so many other factors that play into how effective you are as a therapist.

Having borderline personality disorder

can complicate things for sure,

but really there are so many different things that can complicate your ability to empathize,

your ability to conceptualize, your ability to graduate, your ability to have compassion and understand. your directives. I have been in academia. I've been training therapists for over 20 years and I have personally kicked people out of my program and removed them from the profession because of their issues.

And sometimes it's due to what I might characterize as the effect of a personality disorder, but on the other hand I would

say that every student I've worked with in all likelihood has been on some personality disorder spectrum.

So it, and really I should extend that to everybody.

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