Abstract

HERNANDEZ RAMIREZ, Elizabeth Jenny. Pathologization of daily life. Its gender and bioethical implications: borderline personality disorder, a case study. La ventana [online]. 2026, vol.7, n.63, pp.233-271.  Epub Mar 20, 2026. ISSN 1405-9436.  https://doi.org/10.32870/lv.v7i63.8072.

One of the greatest challenges in psychiatry and clinical psychology has been the creation of diagnoses that help recognize and treat individuals’ mental distress, based on criteria rooted in objective models that provide veracity. While in medicine, diagnosis offers clarity for treatment, creates a common language among specialists, and promotes prevention (Jutel, 2009), the situation in mental health is more complex. Despite attempts to establish objective diagnostic criteria, such as those in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5, American Psychological Association, 2014), objectivity remains a difficult goal to achieve.

This article presents a critical analysis of the categorization of mental disorders, using Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) as a case study. It questions the lack of clarity and vagueness of the diagnostic criteria, highlighting the arrogance and epistemic injustice as well as its gender and bioethical implications that, in specific cases like BPD, often lead to the pathologization of individuals without considering their experiences and subjectivities of suffering.

Keywords : psychiatric; Borderline Personality Disorder; arrogance and epistemic injustice; gender and bioethics.

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