I guess the important thing to realize from Annette's post (and I am not necessarily endorsing her suggestion that Owl does indeed have BPD)... is that people with BPD do NOT necessarily have to have self-mutilating behavior, even though this is classic for the disorder.
I have no experience in interacting with Owl directly, and I make no reference to her by the following comments, but I once knew someone who in my humble opinion seemed disturbingly close to fulfiling the diagnostic criteria for BPD - and she is pre-med.
I worry often about her mental health - and perhaps even more about the health of any patients she may someday be responsible for if she becomes a successful applicant to medical school. As many have already realized, the health professions involve interacting with a very rich and complex millieu of people with innumerable opportunities for miscommunication and error.
Unless we are all prepared to at least CONSIDER the possibility that we are WRONG sometimes (or even ALL the time), we run the risk of having long standing and fruitless "discussions" about each other's worth, and about who's right and why. In reality, it is probably the case that most involved parties contributed to varying extents to the state of affairs.
It is my impression (from interacting with the person I made reference to above) that people with (suspected) BPD are incapable of acknowledging their role in any misunderstanding, disagreement or mishap. I still haven't yet figured out the best way to interact with such people, but even my patience has a limit, and I have long since given up on trying to explain to her why her relationships keep on ending in disaster.
So if you suspect Owl of having BPD, perhaps you know what you should do,
and Owl, if indeed you do not have BPD (or you believe you don't have BPD), here is a golden opportunity to prove everyone who has suggested (or suspected) that do have BPD wrong.
Whatever the case may be, I wish you the very best in your ultimate career choice and in life, as I do everyone else on this forum.
