Few academics analyze mental illness or the effects of family court foibles in purely economic terms. Yet as a capitalist society (if, in fact, we truly are) this article pursues a compelling conclusion: We’d be wise to identify and treat BPDs than to allow them to continue to extract their harm.

An excellent perspective, and I suspect your estimates of the cost of BPD are extremely conservative. Scary.

So if you’re like me, you’re asking “Why don’t we address this problem? This is a no brainer???”

Answer–because all those billions of dollars the article describes as “lost” in dealing with BPDs aren’t, in fact, “lost” at all.

Nope. Not “lost” at all.

Those billions are going into the pockets of others–many others–who profit from this sickness. Psychologists. Psychiatrists. Lawyers. Judges. Court personnel. And on, and on, and on. These parasites feed off of the illness of BPD. So next time your divorce lawyer/psych/judge pal drives up in a new car, you’ll know exactly who’s blood they’ve been sucking to make the monthly payments.

Sick people who need help, don’t know it, and are delusional enough to throw fortunes away to get their egomaniacal BPD “fix.”

If I had a bat and walked down skid row hitting winos and stealing wallets, it wouldn’t, and shouldn’t, be long before I’d be in a government cage. But if I were a psychologist/lawyer/service provider/judge, etc. picking the pocket of a sick BPD, it wouldn’t be long before my “cage” would have a Mercedes crest on the front grill and an exclusive parking spot at the local country club.

At some point in Jr. High I remember a teacher telling me that America is the only country in the world where the people are free. She should have said that America is the only country in the world that has to work this hard to believe it’s still free.

Good luck America. It’s your city, county, state, and country–vote them out and take it back.

In any case, if the impact really is on the order of US$150 billion per year, that’s more money per year than for any US federal expense other than the Department of Defense, Health and Human Services, Social Security, and Interest on the National Debt. For reference, here’s a summary of the US Federal Budget.

Something has to be done about the negative impact people with personality disorders have on the rest of us. Without some major progress, long-term this problem is a disaster like a hundred year war in Iraq would be.

The best thing that any of us can do is educate the public on this disorder, and be VERY deliberate about tolerating NO ABUSE of any kind. The abuse rate of MALES is very high, and most of the time the abuse goes undetected until the man has a mental breakdown himself and needs therapy. It’s just not manly to complain about a woman hitting you. Men – If you let this continue, this will kill you in the end, my friends.