Johnny Depp Trial: Psychologist Diagnosed Amber Heard With 2 Personality Disorders

A psychologist hired by Johnny Depp’s legal team has testified that she believes Amber Heard suffers from two personality disorders while on the stand for the defamation trial currently taking place between the former couple in Virginia.

A forensic psychologist called by #JohnnyDepp‘s team diagnosed actress #AmberHeard with borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder. @LawCrimeNetwork pic.twitter.com/buYGVQMQmu

— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) April 26, 2022

1. Dr. Shannon Curry made her testimony on Tuesday, April 26. She told the court that after meeting with Heard on “two separate dates” in December 2021, she felt she had spent enough time with Heard — a total of approximately 12 hours — to make her evaluation. She was helped by her review of medical records, mental health treatment records, audio and video evidence, and case documents.
2. Dr. Curry believes that Heard suffers from two disorders in particular. Her evaluation led her to the conclusion taht Heard has borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder. She clarified to the court that the disorders are a dysfunction of the normal traits and characteristics that determine how we think, feel, and act.
3. Heard displays multiple problematic symptoms. According to Curry, Heard “externalizes blame” and can be “self-righteous” and “judgmental.” She’s also said to have an issue with rage that occasionally explodes as well as a “desperate fear of abandonment” that leads them to act out in extreme and occasionally violent ways.
4. Curry explained how these personality disorders manifest more clearly. As per The Independent, Curry said: “When somebody is afraid of being abandoned, by their partner or by anybody else in their environment and they have this disorder, they’ll make desperate attacks to prevent that from happening. And those desperate attempts could be physical aggression, it could be threatening, it could be harming themselves, but these are behaviors that are very extreme and very concerning to the people around them. Over time, the anger, the explosive anger, that they show when somebody is needing space, or when somebody is really not doing anything wrong, because a lot of times they read into things that they perceive as being a slight to them or being somebody intending to harm them that actually isn’t happening. They’ll exaggerate it, and they’ll explode. They’ll react in this heightened manner that is just exhausting for their partners.”
5. Curry went on to claim that Heard could be guilty of “administrative violence.” By this, she means that Heard could be using “one of the most common tactics” used by those with personality disorders to keep a partner from leaving. This often manifests as “actually physically assaulting and then getting harmed themselves.” Dr. Curry went on to say that these people then “make threats using the legal system.” She explained: “So they might say that they are going to file a restraining order or claim abuse, or they might do these things to essentially try to keep their partner from leaving in the moment.”
6. There are a few caveats to Dr. Curry’s assessment. When cross-examined, she revealed that she’s not board-certified and has never testified about inter-relationship violence in the past. It was also pointed out that she was hired to testify on behalf of Depp after having dinner and drinks over a three to four hour period at the actor’s home.