As Amber Heard’s legal team argues her side of the story in Johnny Depp’s televised defamation case alleging that the Aquaman actress’s Washington Post op-ed in 2018 about the domestic abuse she suffered while in a relationship with an unnamed high profile male celebrity. Although Heard’s article did not name Depp, the Pirates of the Caribbean actor claims that his ex-wife cost destroyed his Hollywood career. As evidence in the defamation case, Depp’s legal team called a licensed clinical psychologist as an expert witness to testify that when Heard was in a relationship with the Blow actor, she exhibited symptoms of histrionic personality disorder (HPD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD). The expert-for-hire added that people diagnosed with BPD may become violent to stop their partner from leaving, according to the Independent.
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On the ninth day of the trial, Tuesday, April 26, 2022, Dr. Shannon Curry, PsyD, MSCP, a licensed clinical psychologist and forensic expert, took the stand. She was hired by Depp’s team to perform a pre-trial psychological evaluation of Heard on “two separate dates” in December 2021. During the two sessions, Dr. Curry spent a total of 12 hours with Heard and concluded that “Ms. Heard’s evaluation supported two diagnoses: borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder.”
National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder defines BPD as a “serious mental illness that centers on the inability to manage emotions effectively,” occurring in the “context of relationships: sometimes all relationships are affected, sometimes only one.”
While on the stand, Dr. Curry added that BPD is “a predictive factor in women who implement violence against their partner.” However, a study meta-analysis of personality disorders as predictors of intimate partner violence published in the Clinical Psychology Review in 2021 contradicts Dr. Curry’s claims. Besides, no two BPD diagnoses are the same, and as the psychologist stated herself, a diagnosis is only a “predictive factor.”
Dr. Shannon Curry Also Alleges Amber Heard Doesn’t Suffer from PTSD
Law & Crime Channel
Amber Heard has been open about the trauma she experienced while living with an unnamed leading man since her 2018 Washington Post op-ed, who man fans and Johnny Depp himself believe is about Johnny Depp, and this week she has been testifying on television about their relationship and the sexual abuse she experienced while married to Depp. The actor, for his part, has claimed that the only person he ever abused is himself. So the trial has come down to the battle of the psychological experts.
The first to testify was Depp’s hired gun, Dr. Curry. In addition to diagnosing Heard with BPD and HPD, Dr. Curry also noted the actress didn’t appear to suffer from PTSD and dismissed her PTSD symptoms as exaggerated. However, it can be difficult to distinguish PTSD, BPD, and C-PTSD, and psychologists can misdiagnose the disorders easily because they have overlapping symptoms, and expert witness bias is a problem in court proceedings even when all efforts are made to minimize it. In her expert witness statement, Dr. Curry added, “Just because somebody doesn’t have PTSD doesn’t mean that they weren’t harmed psychologically by whatever is being alleged—in this case, Ms. Heard is alleging that she was psychologically harmed and that she suffered PTSD because of abuse that she alleges occurred by Mr. Depp.”
Finally, Dr. Curry testified that Ms. Heard “externalizes blame,” can be “self-righteous” and “judgemental,” and has anger. However, regardless of whatever diagnosis the experts give Heard, a mental health diagnosis (or lack of one) is simply not proof of any sort of alleged abuse.
