Does Jenny Humphrey from ‘Gossip Girl’ have BPD? (+3 Causes of issues)

This interesting article will be discussing if Jenny Humphrey has BPD. We will also be explaining the other psychological issues that Jenny Humphrey seems to struggle with in ‘Gossip Girl’. Finally, we will be describing some of the factors which could have contributed to these.

Does Jenny Humphrey from ‘Gossip Girl’ have BPD?

No, Jenny Humphrey does not have BPD. In the drama series ‘Gossip Girl’, Jenny Humphrey does not portray the main characteristic signs and symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. This has also never been confirmed by the creators of the character.

However, many fans and critics of the series have felt that Jenny Humphrey is struggling with some undiagnosed mental health condition as a result of her actions and her behaviors. She even shows a lot of emotional instability in the series.

Jenny Humphrey’s psychological issues

The series ‘Gossip Girl’ covers the lives of a bunch of very prestigious teenagers who live in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. They are being stalked and written about by a blogger, and in order to make themselves look good, they each manipulate the other.

Jenny Humphrey is one of the girls who follow Blair Waldorf around and is the youngest one in the gang. She undergoes a wonderful story arc where she finds herself and develops her personality in a unique and interesting way. Some psychological issues Jenny might have are:

An identity issue

Throughout the series, Jenny Humphrey definitely struggles with her identity. She starts off her appearances by following Blair around and cumbering to her bullying nature. Soon, Jenny can be seen struggling to come out of her cocoon and create her own identity.

It is not that Jenny has no abilities or skill sets. She is truly creative and comes up with new ideas all the time. But, she seems to give up so much of herself for the sake of her friends, even diluting her personality for this.

When Jenny moves out of the Upper East Side later, she finds more space to explore her abilities and her talents. This character arc is more redemptive in nature, but also points to her tendencies to allow herself to be overshadowed in her past.

Her gullibility

While Jenny is certainly quite smart, she can be too gullible. This is seen in many instances in the series where she whole-heartedly believes what Blair would tell her. She seems to lack the assertiveness to make decisions for her life, but finds her spunk later in the series.

Her emotional swings

Jenny Humphrey also goes through an unhinged phase in the latter part of her appearances. As a result of her emotional swings, many fans and critics often assume that Jenny Humphrey may actually have bipolar disorder, but this is certainly not true.

Causes of Jenny Humphrey’s psychological issues

Many Gossip Girl characters have been tagged with mental health disorders and issues, including Jenny Humphrey, although her actual diagnosis is lacking. But, she definitely shows a number of signs of struggling with psychological issues.

Jenny Humphrey’s psychological issues and emotional conflicts can be blamed on a number of causal or contributing factors. A few of these factors have been highlighted in the following section.

• Jenny’s father seemed to be overbearing in the series. He may even be classified as a helicopter parent since he does not like it when Jenny tries to do her own things, in her own way. This parenting style can severely damage the child’s self-esteem.

• Asher Hornsby, who was Jenny’s boyfriend for a considerable amount of time, comes out as gay much later on. Basically Jenny was his beard. This also could have further traumatized her and played with her identity.

• Her surroundings are also definitely to blame. Jenny is brought up in a society where too much glam and success is expected from everyone. Jenny tries her best to get some of the spotlight on her by staying near to someone like Blair Waldorf.

Conclusion

This interesting article has discussed if Jenny Humphrey has BPD. We have also explained the other psychological issues that Jenny Humphrey seems to struggle with in ‘Gossip Girl’. Finally, we have described some of the factors which could have contributed to these.

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