‘You can’t live like I did and grow up normal’: An IPA study of how men diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) experienced their early childhood.

This article focuses on how men diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) experience and make sense of their early childhoods, based on an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of interviews with six adult men. The study reveals that these men commonly endured chaotic, neglectful, and abusive family environments, including physical and sexual abuse, which they often normalized as part of their upbringing. Findings highlight that men's coping mechanisms frequently involve maintaining control amid uncontrollable circumstances, yet current diagnostic criteria and clinical approaches may inadequately capture men's distinct expressions of emotional dysregulation shaped by gender norms. The authors argue for a broader understanding of BPD that incorporates men's trauma-related presentations to improve diagnosis and access to long-term psychotherapeutic interventions, emphasizing the role of counselling psychologists in addressing these needs.