Customer Reviews

Let Me Make it Good: A Chronicle of My Life With Borderline Personality Disorder

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Hence the title, this is suppose to be a book about the author's life with Borderline Personality Disorder. Instead, some of it is about the author's life as a human being, and some of it isn't even about her. Wanklin takes time to describe a large number of mental patients she meets, most of whom are completely irrelevant. A description of Borderline Personality Disorder is not given to the reader. If I wasn't a BPD sufferer who knew the traits of the disorder like I knew the alphabet, I would have been completely lost as to what BPD even was.

A redeeming factor for me was when Wanklin DID show what it was like to live with the disorder. I found myself nodding at many parts, laughing at how familiar they sounded. I loved the probably unintentional action justifications and undertones of cynicism.

The ending made me wonder if Wanklin was "ok" like she claimed to be. She found a music group that she liked, and realized that the internet was a great place. Good? Yes. But a resolution? Not really. The ending seemed trite and hasted.

"Let Me Make it Good" shows people with the disorder that they are not alone, but other than showing us that we're not alone, it doesn't do much. I don't think this book will interest that many people. However, I DO give props to Wanklin for getting her story out, something I have always wanted to do. The self fufillment aspect must be nice.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it to anyone, regardless of their BPD diagnoses.

I would give this book five stars, if it weren't for its embarassingly high amount of typos.

Now, I'm not one to 'nitpick,' but at one point I found this so irritating that I actually had to put the book down for a minute.

For instance, in one chapter, she discusses someone named "Wayne." Then, out of nowhere, she starts calling this same person "Joe." I'm sitting here thinking, 'who the heck is Joe?' (Mind you, I am a very careful reader!) In the next chapter, she talks about a college friend named "Adam," but a sentance later, refers to him as "Allan."

There are *numerous* other mistakes of this sort that I won't bother listing. Either the author just didn't proof-read her book (*at all*!), or the editor just did a deplorable job.

I hate to harp on a book for something as trival as grammar. However, it's one thing to come across an error every now and then, and it's quite another to be bombarded with them to the point where the story starts to become *completely* ofuscated(!)

I really hope the author is aware of this.

This was not my best effort. In retrospect, I should have fictionalized it, to make it available to a wider audience, as well as asking Mosaic Press to re-edit the manuscript and then order more. It was sloppy and embarrassing and probably damaged my reputation as an author. For that, I have profound regrets.

I wrote it as a stark and unflinching look at bpd through the eyes of a sufferer and hoped that by using it as my autobiography, it might help other people afflicted with the disorder. I didn't care if the book made money--that was not my intention. This was not a publication that was in any way going to cause me to dawn the gilted trapings of the writing elite--it was my way of making something that took away more than half my life actually mean something positive for others.

I will contact my publisher, Howard Aster with regards to the somber fact that my book is nearly out of print. Perhaps the manuscript on which I am now working will resurrect my published effort.

Just in case you want to know, my second book is pure and unadulterated fiction.

Hi, i realize that this book of mine did not get any publicity, save for what i generated via the Internet. It's a non-fictional account of the forty years i spent as a sufferer of BPD. Parts of this book are quiet graphic and might be offensive to some, but i have done my best to document life in an abusive mental hospital, my years of self-imposed starvation, slashing myself on every part of my body, drug addiction and difficulty at forming interpersonal relationships. Depression and anxiety are a big part of being borderline as well.

i hope you will take the time to read this book, particularly if you or someone you care about has the disorder. It's grossly misunderstood and was once treated with behaviour modification, which did nothing but give the staff carte blanche to physically, sexually and emotionall abuse us.

i have overcome my demons, but not right after i finished the book. There were still five more years of self-abuse, before i reached the present point of salvation from my many demons.

The book goes indepth about the trials and tribulations of the author w/ BPD. Although the book doesn't describe what BPD is, I know what it is because I have it myself and wasn't confused while reading the whole book. She described a lot of people she met in the psychiatric hospital, and I grew tired about 3/4's of the book reading about the characteristics of them. She went through a lot of the same things that I went through, so I can relate to her. There were a lot of typos, but considering everything else (she wrote while being on psychotropic medications, etc), I thought she did a very thorough job, detailing every aspect of her life. It's hard not to feel sympathy for a women who's been through hell and back.

Randy,

I read your defensive message that accuses the author of wallowing in self-pity and refusing to take personal responsibility for her illness. I'm not sure if your aware, that BPD is a biological condition that is complicated by environmental/social factors. Much of the psychiatric community is not aware of this fact and tends to blame people with BPD for their condition and in some cases deny patients treatment purely because they have a mental illness that they deem to be "untreatable".

TARA, the international advocacy association for BPD, states on its website that "patients with BPD are currently the most stigmatized in the mental health system." According to Dr. Joel Dvoskin former Comm. of the New York State Office Of Mental Health, "Why would psychiatry and psychology turn so viciously against people they call mentally disordered? Apparently the greatest sin a client can commit is poor response to treatment. What is apparently so wrong about these unfortunate souls is that they have yet to demonstrate the ability to get better in response to our treatment. Thus, they don't make us feel very good. With a few notable exceptions, we have simply given up on helping people who desperately need us to do a better job of helping them"(CAMI Journal on BPD, Vol 8)

You seem to think that the author had no right to expose the reality of what she and many other patients in the mental health system/psychiatric hospitals have experienced both in Canada, the United States and many other countries around the world. You do not seem to have considered the possibility that a lack of understanding/training in field of BPD has led to many false perceptions about BPD and negative stigma. As such, patients diagnosed with BPD are black listed, and blamed and shamed for their behavior both in out patient treatment and in-patient facilities - if they can get treatment at all.

Keeping in mind, that BPD and learning disabilities (perhaps this might account for her spelling mistakes as cited by the another Reviewer: below) are often co morbid conditions, it is not unusual for a person with these disorders to hear insensitive remarks like "Just Try harder" or "You can do anything if you just set your mind to it". Perhaps this doesn't sound all that terrible to you but imagine if these invalidating statements were being repeated over and over again throughout your life. Randy, imagine someone saying these exact words throughout your childhood and all the way into your adulthood. Imagine trying to "try harder" but not being able to make the "er" part of "Try hard..." come into effect despite putting way more effort into your studies, social and emotional development than your peers. "Try harder", "You can do it if you just put your mind to it".... Do you hear it now Randy? Imagine your teachers telling you this, your parents, your guidance counselors and finally once you have reached rock bottom and develop a serious mental illness, imagine the very mental health professionals who are supposed to know about the biological underpinning of BPD, telling you these exact same words. These are the people the author was supposed to be able to turn to for support, compassion and treatment. How would you feel? Might you not have a BPD moment yourself, Randy?.
One more thing Randy:

You come to the clinical conclusion (that you may or may not be qualified to make) that the author was engaging in "splitting" behavior "classifying select people as her saviors, whilst the remainder are discounted as thugs - emotionally abusive, physically abusive, sexually abusive." Have you considered that the author might, as we all tend to do (in a book especially), simply be trying to recognize the people in her life who helped her cope with her illness and weed out the ones that have hurt her. Obviously, there have been some supportive and some not so supportive people in her life. I find it disturbing how readily you seem to be able to use a characteristic of a mental illness for the purpose of ridicule.

I dis-like how long $hipping takes from this site ;(

I am looking forward to reading my newest books, in time ;)

I just finished reading this book and I could not put it down. I think it is so important for people to understand that the mentally ill are still human beings and deserve humane treatment. I was sad for what the author had to go through in her journey back to health and for the many years of her life she felt were wasted. I hope to see more stories out there about people who cope with these sorts of problems. It gives hope to those who suffer and to their families who suffer with them. I hope this author continues writing.

I found this book a very difficult read with all the typos. Horrendous editing abounds throughout as well as boring emphasis and details on irrelevent characters in her life. I question if the diagnosis of BPD is accurate for the author. Much of her problems seem to relate to her abuse of drugs, overmedication with neuroleptics, etc. Perhaps she suffered severe depression and her attempts at self medication via drug abuse and eating disorders sent her "over the edge," resulting in her entry into extraordinarily incompentent psychiatric treatment. No doubt that "treatment" was further devastating to her psyche, setting her recovery back years. She received little or no therapy that granted her any insight into her illness, was merely medicated heavily and innapropriately without regard to a proper diagnosis and treatment plan. This book at least shows the grave pitfalls of dropping a loved one off in a psych ward, blindly trusting the experts to weave magic. Some one should have demanded a diagnosis, medication review, and comprehensive treatment plan for Jane. I wish the woman the best and encourage her to learn what she can from the tragic experiences and do what she can to get on with life sans a focus on these trials and abuses. Good luck, Ms. Wanklin!

I found this book to hold no hope for the sufferers of BDP. Instead of focusing and drawing attention to the things that would help you overcome this difficult disorder, the author has decided to direct a large amount of venom at her hospitalization and treatments. For someone who vilified the psychiatric community, she has certainly had more than her share of slices of this particular pie. There seems to be little recognition or appreciation of the amount of money, time and effort spent with her.
The author seems to expect other people and professions to supply her with a blueprint for life, without taking into effect her own culpability and responsibilties in this life. As typical to the BPD behavior, she chooses to classify select people as her saviours, whilst the remainder are discounted as thugs - emotionally abusive, physically abusive, sexually abusive.
It comes as no surprise to me that positive reviews are from other BPDs as birds of a feather do flock together.
The only problem being that these birds are vultures, picking the flesh of the only system that will support them.