Jane, I'm sorry it's taken me a little while to get back to you, but I loved your comment and appreciate that you took so much time to share your thoughts. All excellent points. I highlighted a bunch of it (as I guess you can tell). ;) What you say makes perfect sense. Narratives are powerful, and we need healthier narratives circulating in order to help people wake up as well. What goes on with the media is very important.

I don’t have much to add, but a few quick remarks:

- I think that mental health awareness needs to be implemented as part of the education system. Broad public-service campaigns in the media would also help. This “awareness” training should be broad-ranging: how to recognize mental health challenges in self and others, which life circumstances and/or environmental influences can heighten a person’s risk for mental health struggles (e.g., lack of sleep, poor nutrition, other stresses), and especially efforts geared towards REMOVING THE STIGMA so that people don't resist the idea of treatment.

- You mention narcissism. I'm glad you touched on this because, on a related note, I very often think of the way that a lot of the communication styles I see (that aren't working) in political dialogue are a lot like BPD traits. Knee-jerk defensiveness, defensive splitting (in particular), histrionics, straw-man logic, refusal to accept facts (in favor of clinging to one's "victim" identity, even in scenarios where it doesn't apply), and feeling insulted anytime someone dares to contradict you (a general "you" — not *personally* you), or anytime someone dares to direct their attention towards helping someone else first. In order to avoid an eventual civil war, we DEFINITELY need guidance, as a country, in how to communicate with people who hold such tendencies, but unfortunately, I don't think that even the mental health community has figured this one out, because much of the advice for people in difficult relationships with BPD-afflicted individuals ultimately boils down to: "Walk away. Walk away because you can't change them, you shouldn't validate their delusions, but daring to contradict them will only make them feel more victimized." But this isn't exactly a humane solution, and it's even less effective when your objective is a harmoniously functioning society. America can't just turn its back on everyone with these kinds of tendencies, as that would only breed more (potentially violent) resentment. So we all need to be schooled in communication and conflict-resolution skills, especially as regards people who exhibit these habits. (I have no solutions to suggest — especially as I'm not a mental health professional myself. I just keep going back to this general idea of how we need a better way of making peace with individuals whose BPD creates external conflict.)

I totally agree that we need to solve the problem of warped media narratives, echo chambers, etc. And ESPECIALLY that, yes, with more existential-level securities (e.g., food, housing, healthcare), we'll see fewer mental health problems in the first place.

I, too, have no concrete suggestions for how any of this could be implemented, sadly, but I do hope that, little by little, more and more people will wake up and come up with (sustainable) fixes so that things can get better. I'm not sure how realistic that hope is... but I'll hang onto it. ;)

Thanks again for your very thoughtful reflections, Jane!