This was written about two years ago but thought it was a great fun read.

Diagnosing Anakin Skywalker

by Carolyn Kaufman, PsyD

A group of French researchers have proposed that Anakin Skywalker had Borderline Personality Disorder. This article looks at why, along with the evidence for and against such a diagnosis.

WHAT IS BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER?

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is essentially an inability to modulate (manage) emotion, which means all emotions come out far more intensely than the average person’s — especially the negative ones. Because most of them were raised in unhealthy, abusive situations, people with BPD don’t tend to have healthy coping mechanisms, and that means they experience a lot of difficult emotions. Rage and depression are two of their most common emotional states. The internal chaos is so overwhelming that many self-injure (cut, burn, or otherwise deliberately harm themselves) in an attempt to get the inside pain out into a physical form.
Splitting

If the first hallmark of BPD is self-injury, the second is “splitting.” When children are little, they go through a stage where the “good” Mommy (or “good” Daddy) they love and the “bad” Mommy (Daddy) they get angry with feel like two different people. Most people eventually integrate the two and come to understand that you can love and hate someone at the same time. People with BPD continue to split into adulthood, which means they categorize other people into those who belong on pedestals and those they hate. And they can shift people from one category to the other very quickly.

People with BPD are often frantic to have someone else there to deal with all that emotional overload for them, which can be exhausting for the other person. They will do anything to hold onto the person — scream, cry, beg, threaten to kill themselves (or make an attempt), or use other manipulative methods.
Controversy

BPD is a controversial diagnosis, though. Feminist therapists and institutions tend to feel very strongly about not diagnosing anyone with BPD. They believe the symptoms are actually indicative of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and that referring to someone as “borderline” is stigmatizing them rather than addressing the problem. (Especially because some therapists don’t want to work with BPD — it’s arguably the hardest thing to deal with because BPD clients need so much.)

ANAKIN’S SYMPTOMS

So what about the Anakin we meet in Star Wars episodes I, II, and III?

The diagnosis works, at least for those episodes, if you spin it right.

Anakin has particularly strong negative reactions to a variety of events, which could arguably be due to an inability to deal with the unpleasant feelings they cause. He certainly has trouble taking Obi-Wan’s criticism, and his ourburst in the Tuskan camp after watching his mother die is extreme: he goes berserk and kills everyone. Then when he sees Padme he breaks down, saying, “I killed them… I killed them all…even the women and the children…”
Continue Reading…

A lil over a month ago coming home from a birthday party, I noticed a billboard for a block party not only was it free but one of Lela’s all time favorite artist was performing there, Ms Teena Marie. I think I almost crashed the car wanting to double check as driving down the freeway. First thing I did when I got home was to check the website for more information and yes I was right. I couldn’t help it I got so excited and went over to tell her not to make any plans for the 26th of September. She asked why and I said cause we are seeing your girl Teena Marie. She was pretty happy I must say. So yesterday finally came. And while we were sore and tired from standing up a good 5 hours in a small crowded area it was worth it.

Debbie Deb started it off but was only up for 30 mins, alot of us would say “thank goodness”

After about 30 minutes Lisa Lisa performed next giving a better show and lasting almost an hour

Waiting over an hour for the next performer we took a few pictures

The crowd behind us (we were about 15-20 feet from the stage

The Video Screen

The Stage

But what the crowd was really waiting for was Teena Marie aka Lady T

Lela singing while watching her girl Teena performs

Little did I know (guess I’m not a real fan lol) that she played the guitar and the Congo drums

Performing Déjà Vu which I didn’t know is known as her signature song

It was hard to keep camera steady when your hand is getting tired from holding up the camera and being bumped into with dancing people.

Performing the big hit Lovergirl – This one is blurry because the camera kept focusing on the mans head in front of me