Borderline Quote by Martha Manning
““Call someone 'a schizophrenic' or 'a borderline' [and it] lulls us into a false sense that those words tell us who the person is, rather than only telling us how the person suffers.””
About This Quote
Source Interview: The Art of Healing, Martha Manning, 2015
Labeling mental illness reduces complex suffering to a simple identity, obscuring the person's experience and perpetuating stigma.
In simple terms: Names hide the real pain.
Focus on the person's suffering, not the label.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- clinical practice
- public discourse
- education
- support groups
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How does labeling affect empathy?
- What alternatives to labeling exist?
Labels can oversimplify and ignore individual nuance.