Jessica Matthews, from Bridgend, was 21 when she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

Jess shared her lived experience for Platfform’s report, ‘The hidden harm of the diagnosis of personality disorder’, which was launched recently.

Jess’s lived experience was one of thirty sets of evidence which guided Platfform’s call for change.

Her diagnosis came while she was struggling with her mental health as a nursing student at University.

“I came to a slow realisation that help and harm can wear similar faces, as the diagnosis handed to me became an instruction manual that professionals used without my consent. The manual dictated how I should be understood, how my emotions should be responded to, and how my choices should be interpreted.

“The diagnosis was not a single moment, but a cascade of consequences that reduced me to pre‑written themes by those meant to help: too risky, too intense, too complex.

“There is a particular harm in being named in a way that determines what or whether care is possible: where a single label turns every request for help into a judgement.

“My diagnosis did not allow me to be seen as an individual with a unique story, but as a set of traits filtered through assumptions rather than genuine consideration of my voice. I was categorised in multiple ways: manipulative, attention-seeking, challenging.

In the rare moments that I received ‘care’, it was delivered in ways that caused further trauma – through dismissiveness, coercion or interventions that overlooked my humanity.

“Speaking openly about my experiences allowed me to challenge the power imbalance within a system that classifies people like me as too difficult to support. My pain did not fit neat recovery timelines; support became conditional and compassion increasingly scarce.

“Giving voice to my experience allowed me to confront a fear within the system: not a fear in me, but a fear of listening, of honesty, and of acknowledging that practitioners are not always the experts.

“I began to realise that my story was not unique. I heard echoes of my own experiences in the voices of others – people who had also been met with stigma, discrimination, shame, and trauma simply because of a label. It led me to question not the individuals, and not myself, but the systems and narratives that permit a diagnosis to carry such heavy judgement.

“(The findings in the report are based on) the bravery of many contributors, and their courage should not be overlooked. In hearing the stories of others, I recognise deep despair at a system we are all entangled in, but also a powerful sense of hope that we are not alone. (The report also signifies) something deeply personal: evidence of how the system has (failed) and continues to fail me, and a call to action that can no longer be ignored.

“I hope readers will approach this report with the same attentiveness with which the stories and subsequent conclusions were offered: looking for connection, recognition, and the possibility of creating change. Beyond every (recommendation) are human lives, not labels. It is up to us to hold space for those realities: to recognise pain without reducing individuals to it, and to ensure future responses are rooted in dignity and compassion.”

Speaking at the sold-out online launch event, Jess said:

“This report is a powerful reminder that change is not optional – it’s essential.

“This work doesn’t end with a report. It begins with what we choose to do next.”

You can download the report here.