This is part one of my interview with artist, writer and mental health advocate, Courtney Cook. This year, she released her debut graphic memoir, “The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline in Pictures and Pieces." The book provides a candid and brave look at her life and struggles with BPD, depression, anxiety and OCD through a combination of her colorful and unique artwork and personal essays.
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Below is a breakdown of the subjects we covered in part 1:
• BPD and creativity - how Courtney uses her art and writing to connect to others
• Courtney's experience growing up in a sheltered "village" in suburban Illinois
• Being born with a nagging sense of emptiness, regardless of her "idyllic" upbringing
• Family history of mental health problems
• Growing up feeling like "a turtle without a shell" and how it feels to be a highly sensitive person (HSP)
• Childhood friend groups turned toxic
• On being told as a teen that she would "grow out of " her big feelings
• The hesitation to diagnose teens with BPD even after periods suicidal ideation / attempt
• On teen angst and feeling like a lost cause
• On Gooning (the legal industry of kidnapping teens and forcing them to process their feelings in the wilderness)
• On the guilt and shame of feeling depressed when we are in positions of privilege ("Why can't I be happy if I have all the things in place to feel whole and satisfied?"
• Being a "frequent flier of the psychiatric hospitals of the Chicago area"
• Her diagnosis at age 23 and feeling like things "clicked into place"
• Switching towns, schools and friends (owning our victim mindset and projections)
• The stigma against BPD in the mental health community and beyond
• Neuroplasticity and our brain's ability to modify, change, and adapt both structure and function throughout life and in response to experience (how this provides hope for BPD recovery)
• Courtney's relationship and experience with SSRIs and antipsychotics for BPD (Lexapro, Abilify)
• Struggles with OCD, body dysmorphia, dermatillomania, and trichotillomania
• How she was able to begin to re-frame and re-train her brain to find hope
• Internalized ableism and demonization of BPD
• On BPD and relationships and feeling “too much” and “crazy”
Follow Courtney on Instagram @thewaycourtneyfeels
Visit Courtney's website
Buy "The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline in Pictures and Pieces"
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