BPD is Top of the Charts!

I’m convinced that at least 75% of all pop/rock singers and songwriters either have BPD or are intimately involved with someone with BPD.  If you listen closely to many popular tunes, you can find references to alot of BPD tendencies.  For example, there are so many in songs from Avril Lavigne you could make a drinking game out of them… you know, one shot for every BPD behavior.  Lets take a look at one…  I’ve highlighted the parts that say BPD to me.

Nobody’s Home

Well, I couldn’t tell you why she felt that way,
She felt it everyday.
And I couldn’t help her,
I just watched her make the same mistakes again.

What’s wrong, what’s wrong now?
Too many, too many problems.
Don’t know where she belongs, where she belongs.
Chorus:

She wants to go home, but nobody’s home.
It’s where she lies, broken inside.
With no place to go, no place to go to dry her eyes.
Broken inside.

Open your eyes and look outside, find the reasons why.
You’ve been rejected, and now you can’t find what you’ve left behind.

Be strong, be strong now.
Too many, too many problems.
Don’t know where she belongs, where she belongs.

Repeat Chorus

Her feelings she hides.
Her dreams she can’t find.
She’s losing her mind.
She’s fallen behind.
She can’t find her place.
She’s losing her faith.
She’s fallen from grace.
She’s all over the place.
Yeah,oh

Repeat Chorus

She’s lost inside, lost inside…oh oh yeah
She’s lost inside, lost inside…oh oh yeah

If this were a drinking game, even without the repeated lyrics, I would be pretty damned drunk.  Of course, not all of her music has this many references to things someone with BPD could relate too.  This one seems like it was ~written~ about someone with BPD.  But you can catch glimpses of it in a lot of pop music.  People who sing about feeling abandoned, empty, or needing someone to save them from themselves.Especially female artists.

Which leads me to my point.  When I talk to people about BPD, I often get the response. “Well shit.  I feel like that sometimes too.  Does that mean I have BPD?”  With BPD affecting 2 percent of adults, mostly young women, it wouldn’t surprise me if some musical artists were impacted by this disorder.  However, I think everyone struggles with these feelings at times… which is what makes those feelings of isolation, lonliness, and abandonment such a great basis for music.  It’s something people can relate too, and being able to relate to a song is what makes it so powerful.  It let’s us know we are not alone in how we feel.

~ by Enygma on July 14, 2008.

Posted in BPD, Borderline Personality Disorder
Tags: , , , ,

3 Responses to “BPD is Top of the Charts!”

  1. lol I think in order to be creative enough to create good music you pretty much have to have issues and of all the issues you could have BPD is one of the most common and must usable for lyrics. *hugs* so when ya gonna start making some music for us all *smiles*

    ~Falreth

    falreth said this on July 14, 2008 at 5:15 pm

  2. I’ll get right on that in my copious free time! ;)

    Seriously though, I think some of my best poetry has been written in the throws of a BPD moment. Like this one…

    Lost

    The sun sets crimson on another stormy day
    Casting me into darkness
    Alone, confused, saddened by the loss
    Of your touch, your smile.

    Since you have wandered from my side
    The nights are filled with visions of what will never be
    And like a frightened child, I weep
    Longing for you to hold me in your arms once again.

    I spend my days searching for comfort, for peace…
    Only to find myself surrounded by a wall of blackened chains
    Holding me far from what I need most
    Understanding, acceptance, and end to grief.

    Until then, I wander through the night alone
    Searching… hoping that I will again be able to find you
    And that you will take me into your arms, into your heart.
    Only then will the walls fall
    The darkness will fade and I will finally find peace.

    ~Enygma (1995)

    Enygma said this on July 14, 2008 at 5:32 pm

  3. Heh heh… this is definitely the case. I’m a musician with BPD, and if I didn’t have my music to throw all my crap into I would definitely be in a far worse state…. Although after a show I tend to crash really badly which can be very ‘inconvenient’ if I am not with people that I know…..

    Also, I’ve found that different music scenes seem have very different demographics in respect of people with BPD…. I think the industrial music scene has about 25% rather than the usually quoted 2% ;)

    detritusdave said this on August 19, 2008 at 4:46 am

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