Stepping off the Map: A Project About Personality Disorders

Stepping Off the Map: A Project About Personality Disorders

Filmed and edited by Richard Tomlinson, South Somerset Mind

£30 (£20 to service users)

Tel: 01935 474875

Star Rating: 5/5

The issue of personality disorder has recently found itself high on the mental health agenda. This marks something of a transition, writes Tim Turner.

The much maligned diagnosis has of course been frequently used as a tool of exclusion in the past. There can be few labels that carry such weight, even within psychiatry. The stigma associated with personality disorder is the reason why projects such as this are so important. South Somerset Mind has created a resource that will be useful to service users, families, practitioners and educationalists alike.

The four short “acts” combine innovative film with thoughtful personal accounts of personality disorder. A simple narrative flow moves through the muddy waters of definition and cause before service users recount personal stories.

The final act poses the question “What Helps?” and offers some useful guidance for users and practitioners. Given psychiatry’s traditional knee-jerk reaction against treating those with personality disorder this may well prove the most useful section of a DVD that reminds us of the human face behind the pejorative label.

Tim Turner is senior lecturer in applied criminology, Coventry University.