Smoke & Mirrors Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Oats2005 

Cover art for Smoke & Mirrors lyrics by Gotye

This song is a good picture of Borderline Personality Disorder. Poor sense of self you are a people pleaser so you can get a positive projection of self from others that you can see when you look in the mirror. In other words, they dont really know who they are so they put on fraudulent displays. Emotional disregulation, the hallmark of the disorder, is also evident by the "highs and lows."

Finally, the origin of BPD, although unknown, most studies point to issues in parental attachment explaining the mother reference. A good example would be an overbearing mother who is never satisfied with her child's accomplishments. She too likely suffers from the same disorder.

I've spent over a year researching the disorder and not once did the following appear in any text "an overbearing mother who is never satisfied with her child's accomplishments." Sexual abuse at the hands of a mother appeared many times, but it is not a prerequisite for acquiring BPD. Those who have BPD parents (or one parent) may have a higher likelihood of acquiring BPD, but that also is not required. I do agree with you that the song does have similaries to traits of someone with PBD. It's very simplistic, though.

*similarities" ugh.

Yeah, the example was pretty bad I should of explored the other side. Overbearing vs unavailable both have occurrences. They have the same pathology centered around attachment. A child with an overbearing mother must produce results to feel love and still never gets it. A child with an unavailable mother tries to get his mother attention and love and doesnt. Similarly, abuse of any kind will disrupt proper attachment. All different, but all have the same outcome and underlying pathology.