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Daredevil and BPD

Vidhika Gadia

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the portrayal of a character with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in the web series Daredevil, and the accuracy of it. I will begin by introducing the character of Benjamin Poindexter, introducing BPD, elaborating on the character’s coping mechanisms and their implications, and will end by discussing what the character means for BPD awareness and reducing stigma. 
Benjamin “Dex” Poindexter is a character on the American show Daredevil, which aired on web streaming service Netflix, and is introduced in the third season He is played by Wilson Bethel, an American actor. Dex is an FBI agent who is diagnosed with BPD with psychopathic tendencies as a child, after he killed his baseball coach with a well-aimed ball to the head. He engages in numerous illegal behaviors throughout the course of the season, including shooting people in cold blood, blackmailing a fellow agent, etc. 
Borderline Personality Disorder is a personality disorder that according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-V, must have “impairments in personality (self and interpersonal) functioning and the presence of pathological personality traits. The symptoms include antagonism, impulsivity, emotional liability, separation insecurity, etc. 
Poindexter displayed classic signs of BPD, as he frequently lashed out at people, would often do things that were beyond his jurisdiction in an impulsive manner, including switching off cameras and going to talk to a convicted criminal. He did however, with the help of his therapist, develop ways in which he could practice empathy, control his psychopathic tendencies, and mostly keep his BPD under check. These methods included listening to tapes of his therapy sessions, maintaining a strict routine, and following the example of what he called his “North Star”, that is, a fundamentally good person, as his own “moral compass” was “not able to find north”. 
Poindexter did heavily rely on his “North Star”, a woman named Julie, as he did not understand correct ways to behave without her example. When she got angry at him and refused to contact him again, he experienced very intense anxiety and rage, due to his feeling of abandonment brought on by his BPD. He lashed out, acted violently, and felt as though he could not go on without her. All these are classic symptoms of BPD and the obsession with abandonment that comes with it. 
The portrayal of BPD was quite accurate as far as the obsession with abandonment went, as Poindexter was unable to move past his obsession, going so far as to kill people to prevent a person in his life from leaving him. However, the addition of psychopathic tends to his BPD seemed unnecessary, as it simply added to the negative stigma surraounding the disorder, and furthered the stereotype that individuals with BPD are extremely violent and have no moral values. 
However, I would argue that the character did further the cause of awareness about BPD, as it shown how Poindexter was not really in control of his actions, and behaved in the manner that he did simply because he was unable to function the way normal people would. The character also tried very hard to snap himself back to a functioning state, and had pretty much given up hope before he was manipulated into committing illegal acts. The show contains numerous instances of Poindexter doing everything in his power to stop himself from obsessing over abandonment, to practice empathy, to deal with his internal instability, and thus showed how people with BPD are not really responsible for some of their more outlandish behaviour.



References
Daredevil [Television series]. (2018, October 19). Netflix. Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/watch/80129815?trackId=14170287&tctx=0,0,beb6a32b-40f1-4a7d-9840-2aa7acac4acc-1193841695,37e582d8-9ffd-4bae-b0c0-166777b588b1_40471141X3XX1551618864170,37e582d8-9ffd-4bae-b0c0-166777b588b1_ROOT
Widiger, T. A., & Gore, W. L. (2014). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). Oxford Handbooks Online. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199797004.013.016

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