At the very least, if someone points out that someone else likely has a personality disorder, I’d qualify it with something like “untreated” or “without a shred of insight.” It’s a lot less stigmatizing that way because it implies that getting treatment out of one’s own accord and working on things mitigates a lot of the potential for damage. Also, while I’m not a fan of stigma around mental health anywhere, I think if there should be some stigma, then it makes sense to at least be more specific. (To be clear, I think there should be severe warnings around people with specific personality disorders in specific contexts, but to my ears, “stigma” goes somewhat beyond that and that’s what I don’t like.) Some personality disorders seem to leave behind no trail of destruction or animosity. And even among people with the same disorder you can notice vast differences based on other personality traits and just generally what sort of ideals or self-image someone has built up.
At the very least, if someone points out that someone else likely has a personality disorder, I’d qualify it with something like “untreated” or “without a shred of insight.” It’s a lot less stigmatizing that way because it implies that getting treatment out of one’s own accord and working on things mitigates a lot of the potential for damage. Also, while I’m not a fan of stigma around mental health anywhere, I think if there should be some stigma, then it makes sense to at least be more specific. (To be clear, I think there should be severe warnings around people with specific personality disorders in specific contexts, but to my ears, “stigma” goes somewhat beyond that and that’s what I don’t like.) Some personality disorders seem to leave behind no trail of destruction or animosity. And even among people with the same disorder you can notice vast differences based on other personality traits and just generally what sort of ideals or self-image someone has built up.