BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER

Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder is experienced in individuals in many different ways. Often, people with this disorder will find it more difficult to distinguish between reality from their own misperceptions of the world and their surrounding environment. While this may seem like a type of delusion disorder to some, it is actually related to their emotions overwhelming regular cognitive functioning.

People with this disorder often see others in “black-and-white” terms. Depending upon the circumstances and situation, for instance, a therapist can be seen as being very helpful and caring toward the client. But if some sort of difficulty arises in the therapy, or in the patient's life, the person might then begin characterizing the therapist as “bad” and not caring about the client at all. Clinicians should always be aware of this “all-or-nothing” liability most often found in individuals with this disorder and be careful not to validate it.

Therapists and doctors should learn to be like a rock when dealing with a person who has this disorder. That is, the doctor should offer his or her stability to contrast the client's liability of emotion and thinking. Many professionals are turned-off by working with people with this disorder, because it draws on many negative feelings from the clinician. These occur because of the client's constant demands on a clinician, the constant suicidal gestures, thoughts, and behaviours, and the possibility of self-mutilating behaviour. These are sometimes very difficult items for a therapist to understand and work with.

Psychotherapy is nearly always the treatment of choice for this disorder; medications may be used to help stabilize mood swings. Controversy surrounds overmedicating people with this disorder.

Psychotherapy

Psychological and behavioural symptoms are the major manifestations of borderline disorder. They cause serious emotional pain and significantly disrupt the normal development of effective behaviour and important relationships. Therefore, it is critical that you have a safe, supportive, and effective relationship with a person who is able to help you learn about your illness, how it affects you, and how to make those changes that will enable you to gain the best control possible over your emotions, impulsive behaviours, thought patterns, and relationships. An experienced therapist skilled in the treatment of borderline disorder fulfils these needs as well as other roles.

Like with all personality disorders, psychotherapy is the treatment of choice in helping people overcome this problem. While medications can usually help some symptoms of the disorder, they cannot help the patient learn new coping skills, emotion regulation, or any of the other important changes in a person's life.

An initially important aspect of psychotherapy is usually contracting with the person to ensure that they do not commit suicide. Suicidality should be carefully assessed and monitored throughout the entire course of treatment. If suicidal feelings are severe, medication and hospitalization should be seriously considered.

The most successful and effective psychotherapeutic approach to date has been Marsha Linehan's Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. Research conducted on this treatment have shown it to be more effective than most other psychotherapeutic and medical approaches ...