In order to understand the impact of this local murder on an emotionally-troubled 14 year old, we should probably pause for a moment and look at the wobbly web of intersecting mental health problems. I’ve heard Borderline Personality Disorder described in many ways over the years, and my own ways of characterising it have changed as I’ve learned more, and developed an understanding of the way in which in manifests in me, in particular.

In the early days, I could sometimes be heard bemoaning The Tight-Rope Walk – feeling that without intense concentration on my part, to maintain proper mental balance with every single step, I would be sent hurtling to the ground, only to have to clamber back up and start again. In time, I took to describing BPD as a being the ball in a pinball machine – wh...

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