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This article draws on arts-based psycho-social research to explore embodied and visceral knowing and feeling in the context of people living with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD). It presents a discussion of creative artworks solicited through a nation-wide online survey conducted in Australia in 2021 that generated intimate and affective understanding about living with a diagnosis of BPD. To investigate what lived experiences of distress associated with a BPD diagnosis communicate through sensation, emotion, image and affective capacity, the authors put to work Blackman's (2015) concept of "productive possibilities of negative states of being" and the broader theoretical framework of new materialism. This approach allows a more transformative feeling-with that exceeds the normative affective repertoires and scripts associated with a diagnosis of BPD. The authors recognise the often unspoken and invisible affects of complex mental distress and trauma, and purposefully open the space for affective and symbolic aspects of creative artworks to communicate what is less known or has less presence in dominant biomedical frameworks about living with a BPD diagnosis. The article foregrounds the lived and living experience of participants to generate experiential rather than clinical understandings of the diagnosis.

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Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a highly contentious psychiatric diagnosis with ongoing tensions over nomenclature, aetiology and treatment recommendations. This article examines a number of these tensions and assesses how greater attention to the voices of people living with BPD may help inform the delivery of new modes of person-centred care. To this end, we present a critical social science research agenda for investigating the experiences, social contexts and support needs of people living with BPD. We canvass issues pertaining to the diagnosis of BPD (including its name), the strongly gendered dimensions of BPD, and the pressing need to improve support for people living with this condition. Throughout our analysis, we indicate how critical interdisciplinary inquiry may drive new responses to these challenges. Our analysis is illustrated with reference to experiences of BPD recounted in two Australia-wide surveys conducted in 2011 and 2017. We argue that greater progress towards person-centred care requires novel forms of evidence grounded in critical social inquiry into experiences of treatment and support among people living with BPD, and the varied social, cultural and political contexts underpinning these experiences.

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This paper explores the experiences of women who "hear voices" (auditory verbal hallucinations). We begin by examining historical understandings of women hearing voices, showing these have been driven by androcentric theories of how women's bodies functioned leading to women being viewed as requiring their voices be interpreted by men. We show the twentieth century was associated with recognition that the mental violation of women's minds (represented by some voice-hearing) was often a consequence of the physical violation of women's bodies. We next report the results of a qualitative study into voice-hearing women's experiences (n = 8). This found similarities between women's relationships with their voices and their relationships with others and the wider social context. Finally, we present results from a quantitative study comparing voice-hearing in women (n = 65) and men (n = 132) in a psychiatric setting. Women were more likely than men to have certain forms of voice-hearing (voices conversing) and to have antecedent events of trauma, physical illness, and relationship problems. Voices identified as female may have more positive affect than male voices. We conclude that women voice-hearers have and continue to face specific challenges necessitating research and activism, and hope this paper will act as a stimulus to such work.

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This article discusses the importance of re-inventing subjectivity as an important analytic concern for understanding the production of lesbian sexualities. It explores the problems and possibilities with focusing on representational practices, and extends such work by analyzing the complex dilemmas, cultural logics, anxieties, and silences that are performed and enacted, particularly in the context of the hetero/lesbian. It argues that the psychosocial dimensions of representational practices might be usefully engaged by focusing on the "dialogic unconscious" that produces the negated background context of such practices. This is discussed in relation to the neo-liberal cultural logic of choice, and the distinction between flexible and rigid bodies.

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Although suicide is relatively common among mental health patients, few studies have been published detailing the effects of a patient's suicide on his or her mental health provider. We reviewed data from 97 active duty, Air Force, mental health providers who responded to an anonymous survey. Forty-eight percent of the providers had experienced a patient's suicide. One-third of them reported a sense of responsibility for that patient's death. More than 20% reported significant emotional or behavioral changes following the death. Many providers experienced alterations in their self-esteem and their use of peer consultation following the suicide. Speaking to clergy members, friends, and other providers was generally beneficial following the suicide of a patient. Recommendations are given to minimize the impact of this tragedy on providers.

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Concern about weight gain after tobacco cessation is a potential barrier to quitting tobacco. Few studies, however, have examined the role of body image in cessation-related weight concerns and anticipated relapse. This study investigated relationships between current body image dissatisfaction, anticipated body image dissatisfaction (discrepancy between anticipated post-cessation body shape and desired body shape), cessation-related weight concerns, and intention to resume tobacco with weight gain. Body image dissatisfaction was significantly related to cessation-related weight concerns. Participants who reported current dissatisfaction with their body image were 2.6 times more likely to intend to resume tobacco use with cessation-related weight gain than those with no body image dissatisfaction. Individuals with anticipated body image dissatisfaction were 3.4 times more likely to intend to resume tobacco compared to individuals with no anticipated body image dissatisfaction. Women and normal weight individuals with anticipated body image dissatisfaction appear to be at particularly high risk for intending to relapse. Results suggest that tobacco cessation interventions may need to target concerns about body image as well as weight gain.

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Numerous descriptive as well as prospective studies have indicated that mortuary workers, body handlers, and those tasked to work with human remains are at risk for symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological sequelae. There have been no controlled studies outlining psychological interventions to prevent or minimize the impact of being assigned to perform such duties. In this article, we describe a method of psychological intervention with mortuary workers mobilized as a result of the September 11 attack on the Pentagon. The intervention included the use of Critical Incident Stress Teams and was based on a behavioral health consultant model that has been demonstrated to be effective for behavioral interventions in primary care settings. The model incorporated knowledge from previous studies on mortuary workers and individuals tasked to work with human remains. Qualitative analysis indicated that the behavioral health consultants were well received, recommendations were implemented, and few personnel were removed from duty as a result of psychological factors leading to impaired performance. Implications related to popular models of critical incident intervention and directions for future controlled research are discussed.

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