A psychologist has blasted a ‘misogynistic’ children’s book that claims women with borderline personality disorder have smaller brains and suggests sufferers are a ‘lost cause’.
Dr Jessica Taylor, 34, from Stoke-on-Trent, has taken issue with the book ‘My Mummy Has BPD!’, which she claims perpetuates harmful ‘myths’ about the condition that affects one in 100 people in the UK.
Earlier this week, chartered psychologist and women’s rights campaigner shared snippets from the book by Scottish author Sophie McLelland with her 42,400 Instagram followers.
The book, which is aimed at children aged five to 12, is written from the perspective of a young person whose mother has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD).
It begins by sharing an illustration of their mother’s brain, which claims her amygdala – the part of the brain that processes emotion – is ‘smaller’ than average.
The page reads: ‘The activity is different, some parts may be small, she can’t regulate her emotions at all!’
Dr Taylor wrote: ‘The book is filled with myths, including this blatantly incorrect claim that women with a BPD diagnosis have smaller parts of their brain – something we have never proven as there are no structural differences in brains with and without psychiatric diagnoses – hence why there are no tests.’
On the next page, the book, which appears to have been self-published, contains an illustration of the child’s brain and reads: ‘If you scanned Mummy’s brain, it wouldn’t look the same!’
Dr Jessica Taylor, 34, from Stoke-on-Trent, has taken issue with the book ‘My Mummy Has BPD!’ (pictured), which she claims perpetuates harmful ‘myths’ about the condition
The chartered psychologist and women’s rights campaigner (pictured) shared snippets from the book by Scottish author Sophie McLelland with her 42,400 Instagram followers
The expert continued: ‘Another page teaches children that their mummy’s brain will look different if scanned, because BPD can be seen in the brain. This is totally false.
‘Not a single “psychiatric disorder” can be seen on a MRI/fMRI/PET/CAT scan. This is why we have no diagnostic tests in psychology or psychiatry.’
Elsewhere in the children’s book, the author includes an illustration of a ‘wave of emotion’ – with the words ‘panic’, ‘hurt’, ‘anxiety’ and ‘anger’ floating around it.
‘She knows what she’s saying and doing is wrong,’ the page reads. ‘But the wave of emotions is far too strong!’
Accusing the author of ‘blaming’ BPD patients, Dr Taylor added: ‘Resources like this only serve to cause more hostility and misogyny towards women with “psychiatric disorders” – by weaponising their kids to believe they have brain disorders that they need serious medical help for.’
The expert then went on to argue that this type of book is ‘raising a new generation of victim blamers’ and teaches children that parents struggling with psychological conditions are a ‘lost cause’.
Dr Taylor continued: ‘This resource isn’t unique. In the last few years, the mental health industry and individuals have pumped out hundreds of books and resources that encourage children to see their parents (predominantly their mothers, if you look at the products), as mentally ill.
‘They encourage children as young as five to see their mum as ADHD, schizophrenic, bipolar, BPD, or depressed. They teach children to pathologise and patronise their own mother – despite the fact that these women are highly likely to have been traumatised, abused, distressed, pathologised and totally failed by their support networks and our systems.
The post has amassed over 1,200 ‘likes’ since it was shared yesterday – and followers were left equally ‘gobsmacked’
It begins by sharing an illustration of their mother’s brain, which claims her amygdala – the part of the brain that processes emotion – is ‘smaller’ than average
On the next page, the book contains an illustration of the child’s brain and reads: ‘If you scanned Mummy’s brain, it wouldn’t look the same!’
‘The resources are usually medicalised – filled with misinformation and lies about the brain, about disorders, and medication. Children are being groomed as early as possible to believe the myths about mental illness, so they comply, and so they become customers.
‘Nothing good will come from teaching children that mummy is mentally ill. We are raising a new generation of victim blamers, misogynists and pro-psychiatry children who ignore anything their mother has ever been through, and instead see her as a lost cause with an incurable brain disorder.’
The post has amassed over 1,200 ‘likes’ since it was shared yesterday – and followers were left equally ‘gobsmacked’.
One follower wrote: ‘What a coincidence that it’s Mummy that has BPD and not Daddy?’
Another joked: ‘What in the middle aged white male psychiatry is going on here?’
A third added: ‘Shocking and serves no benefit at all for parent or child. In fact, it’s harmful to both. Seething.’
Meanwhile, a fourth mused: ‘I wonder if they’ll bring out a book “my daddy is misogynistic with violent tendencies towards women” and all the illustrations are pictures of his brain with descriptors “she provoked him”.’
A fifth said: ‘I’m gobsmacked that nobody thought to fact-check this book before it was published. Consequently, it’s out there, doing who knows what damage.’
Femail has contacted author Sophie McLelland for comment.
Dr Jessica Taylor was raised in poverty on a council estate on the fringes of Stoke-on-Trent.
She fell pregnant with her first son as a teenager and after giving birth to a second son, she worked full time while completing her degree, and later a PHD in forensic psychology – but says she was judged on her upbringing and for being ‘too’ open about the abuse she experienced.
Speaking on a recent episode of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, the psychologist recounted how an email discussing her upbringing was sent around an ‘entire department’ while she was studying for a PHD
‘I never expected to be framed as stupid, dangerous and unsophisticated just because of where I come from’: Dr Taylor, now 33, pictured in childhood
She told MailOnline she was driven to write her memoir because of the ‘them and us’ culture that still exists in the profession, saying: ‘The elitism and superiority in psychology and academia sickens me.
‘I never expected to be framed as stupid, dangerous and unsophisticated just because of where I come from and my childhood.’
Dr Taylor, who now lives with her wife and two teenage sons in the Midlands, said she discovered a university colleague had emailed her entire department of professors and psychologists during her PHD after she shared a tweet about her own childhood in 2017.
Her post on Twitter, now X, had read: ‘I remember growing up poor as f*** and hating living on a council estate. Now I love that I grew up there cos it gave me the connection to real poverty & real life I need to be a great psychologist and activist. Ain’t enough of us in this field.’]
The email that followed to her university colleagues warned that being so open about her upbringing might bring ‘the entire field into disrepute’.
Speaking to Woman’s Hour presenter Clare McDonnell last week about the incident, she said: ‘A psychologist basically sent a load of emails around all the other professors and psychologists in my department saying: ‘”Did you know she’s from a council estate? Did you know she’s been raped? Did you know she was a teenage mum?'”
Dr Taylor added that the person also told colleagues: ‘”If someone like her ever becomes a psychologist, she will bring the entire field into disrepute.” That is word for word in those emails.’
The mental health professional says she was also repeatedly given the advice: ‘Stop talking about your council estate, stop talking about being abused as a child, stop talking about being raped, stop talking about being a teenage mum because people are not going to take you seriously if you carry on.’
Dr Taylor told MailOnline that she hoped her new memoir would encourage greater transparency in the profession.
She said: ‘I wrote Underclass for a range of reasons. I am so tired of psychologists and therapists hiding who they truly are.
‘We are told to never to give away anything about ourselves, never talk about our own trauma and our own abuse, because then we would be ‘the same’ as the people we help.
‘But we ARE the same as the people we help. We cannot help anyone whilst we see ourselves as above them.’