My sister is 41 years old and has always struggled with how to process traumatic experiences as they layered on top of each other.

In 2023 she was admitted to [hospital] for an emergency detox from alcohol, where she was introduced to heroin in the public toilets by a fellow patient. The 2 years that have followed have involved more trauma than she had ever experienced previously.

She has lost parental responsibility of her children, become addicted to crack cocaine and heroin, been cuckooed and raped, lost her home, her car and most of her belongings. Her social, material and mental decline has been rapid.

After experiencing a drug induced psychosis last year, she was arrested and given a mental health assessment at the police station. The assessment concluded that she was not a danger to the public and no intervention was given.

We as a family managed to get [local drug and alcohol service] to assess her later that week and she was sectioned immediately.

She spent 10 weeks being held in and out of sections, whilst remaining a patient of [local hospital mental health unit]. When the sections were lifted, she would leave the hospital grounds and abscond or have drugs delivered to the car park in the grounds, resulting in her being repeatedly sectioned to prevent her from leaving.

She was assessed by a psychiatrist each day and over the weeks was told she had brain damage, then PTSD, then BPD. She was treated as difficult and volatile and didn’t have the capacity to behave in a way that challenged that. She was vulnerable, terrified and traumatised.

My parents were called to an MDT meeting where they said there is nothing they can do for her in hospital any longer, she just needs to refrain from using drugs and give her brain a rest. I find this quite an amazing conclusion about an individual clearly having a hysterical reaction to trauma in the only place that she can be kept safe.

Whilst there is accountability for my sister to take in her decline, she was in survival mode and not given the safety to even consider addressing the trauma.

She is now in a homeless shelter with intermittent contact with family and services of help. The BPD label has lamented her position of shame in society and given others a perception of her being forever difficult and damaged. I feel that if she (and others in her position) were approached with compassion and curiosity and [understanding of] trauma was allowed to explain her reactions, she could begin to recover and validate her experience as a human being.

Speak your truth: your own experiences can help create change

If you want to share your experiences around this diagnosis you can take part in Platfform’s Truth Project.

Platfform are campaigning for a review of the use of the diagnosis of PD. Add your voice to our call for change by sharing your story. We will share these with Welsh Government and use them to strengthen our campaign.

For more information, and to access the survey, click here.

If you are in a mental health crisis, please read this paragraph

If you have been affected by anything in this story and would like to talk to someone you can call Samaritans on 116 123. You can also call the national mental health support line for advice on 111 (press 2.)