Transactionality and People with Borderline Personality Disorder

In this article, I start from pragmatist arguments to challenge the notion that the diagnostic categories of mental disorders, when considered as irrefutable truths, overlook the living conditions of the individuals, usually women, who suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). I argue that BPD is constituted at both the bodily and mental levels, but it is also strongly influenced by habits. Following James and Dewey, I demonstrate that individuals, whether they have a mental disorder or not, can progress towards a different way of emotionally relating to themselves and the world, moving away from mere reaction and emotional discharge, and instead, embracing their capacity for consciousness and agency from which they can express and transform their experiences.