DBT

I started in a DBT group for about 7 months ago and I've seen girls come and go so now I'm the one that's been in the group for the longest time. I've learend a lot, both from the group and from the individual therapy but I can't help wondering... what's it goning to be like when I'm done with this? Some say that they are recovered borderlines, but I also met doctors and psychologists who say that you can't recover, just learn living with it. I don't think I want to recover, I am borderline, but I do not want to have all the anxiety and all the anger with me all my life.

Has anyone gone to DBT or some other therapy? How is it like?

My daughter was diagnosed borderline about 5 years ago as a teen. She went to a therapist and took several medications for 2 years. She has recovered. She no longer goes for therapy or takes medication. She is happy and healthy. She works full-time and is engaged. So there is hope.

I think that Borderline is always inside of you. You will always be over-snsitive, easily disturbed, kinda nervous and so on. However, it doesn't mean all bad all the time. Therpay and medication can help, but the most important thing is that you want to help yourself. Some will call it recovery, some will say, that they just learnt how to live with it, anyway, better life is possible. Keep on working on yourself, you will get better!

BPD is the same as a lot of psychological disorders in that it never totally "goes away". just like there is no miracle pill to cure all illnesses, therapy is not the miracle cure to mental illnesses. There is hope, because therapy teaches us to live with our feelings and to understand them and why we have them and how to deal with them in order to function "normally". The symptoms of the disorder will always be latent within us, but therapy helps us to keep it just that way...latent and not bubbling at the top.

It's not that I don't want to be happy and be able to have a "normal" life (study/work, off medicin, no hospitalizations, no dissociations, etc). There's just that identity part... what and who would I turn into if I change so much? I want to change and see things more clearly (instead of all black or white). I don't want to be suspicious (spelling?) all the time and get that total chaos inside whenever I feel lonely. It just scares me to let those things go... they feel so... real. I don't know. Maybe it's all #######4. I don't know if any of that made any sense.

It's been said here that one can never recover from Borderline. I think it is possible. But the distinction between personality and disorder (what's "right" and what's wrong) may be diffuse. There's no doubt that a lot of the feelings we experience are in response to thoughts we have. A lot of the thoughts are automatic responses to sensory impressions or plain constructed thoughts. One CAN alter automatic thoughts. Mind field therapy efficiently eliminates most of them. We have seen it done on strong phobias and lots of different problems. Even if the source of BPD had been neurological or biological one can change the mind works. It has been proven that by changing thought patterns (or the way we think and responds) the neurological pathways in the brain will change to adapt to the new tasks at hand. Most people probably would never manage to change thought patterns completely, because the brain tends to follow the pathways that are most "walkable". Like a path in the woods. The more one walk there, the more it becomes "walkable".

Anyhow, I think one can change a lot of BPD stuff in oneself, with and without help. One CAN get better.


Angelgorn

I was in a DBT group for about a month (unfortunately, my therapist passed away unexpectedly). I absolutely loved it. There really aren't any others in my area, so I've resorted to books along with my current therapist. I think DBT has a great philosophy with mindfulness and everything. I've heard CBT is helpful to borderlines as well.

I've found The Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Skills Workbook to be a wonderful tool.