New and confused

hi i just signed up for this forum i have been diagnosed with bpd for almost 3 years now and until last month i never knew a single bpd person. I have felt so lost in this world being designated as an outcast and things, but now its good to see there are other people out there to support each other. I was just wondering if others feel like this disorder is kind of in control right now? for me i feel like i cant even function properly anymore and whenever i look at all the things i do it all leads back to being bpd and bipolar 1. I dont want to be defined just as a disorder, but that seems like all there is to it now. the more i try to get better the more my own mind fights against me and tries to ruin any progress ive made. im almost 21 years old and i wonder if its going to get better as i get older or if the point im at right now is my peak of existance for life. well i just had to say all that i guess. thanks

Hey,

Yeh, this forum is actually one of the most active on the website but it's going through a bit of a transition period right now. i've noticed that you've been creating threads all over the website though. It'd be better to just create one or two new threads and then give people a chance to reply. Otherwise, it can come across as just spam and ppl will not reply to you.

TAke care,
Kevin

Hi there.

I have borderline and I know how tempting it is to post all over t he board...lol. We kind of get "stuck."

There is a lot of false info out there about bpd, and there are varying degrees of it as well. Some can be extremely ill most of their lives and some just have traits...no matter where they are on the spectrum, they can all get a lot of help. Are you in therapy? Let me direct you to some really good sites that are up to date. Unfortunately, there are a lot of misconceptions out there about bordelrine and that can get to somebody who is trying to get better. There is a lot of talk of changing the name borderline to emotional dysregulation disorder and I hope they do! That really is a much better description.

I hope these links help you. The books are amazing! Don't read anything too old because they are learning a lot of late:

http://www.bpddemystified.com/

This is a book about DBT therapy. It's awesome with very good results:

http://www.palace.net/llama/psych/dbt.html

I guess i get carried away knowing theres a place i can talk about issues, be it my anger,bipolar issues or my physical health. all of them have long comments and just asking for advice or whatever so im really not trying to spam just i got a place to talk to about issues without being looked down upon like i have been by some medical professionals just for once in my life i can talk to someone who is going through similar things.

yep im in therapy off and on since i was 13 years old but ive finally taking it seriously the last 6 months so i can actually tell some difference. I own the borderline personality disorder demystified book it was a really great book. I tried to get into dbt but its almost 2 hours away from me (nearest group) and i have to depend on public provided rides and theyre very slow and not very dependable. That name change sound a lot better than the one i read a few weeks ago in an article about the medical book thats coming out.

IMO the second best way to get DBT is to buy a workbook and do it. In of itself, it is VERY helpful. It's pretty much what you would do at a DBT Group. If you go to Amazon there are a lot of great books about DBT therapy. Stick to those books...you'll know they are updated. You don't want a book written years ago...when they knew very little about borderline and thought we were just "nasty people." It's not true. Here's the Amazon link to the books. I think I have them all...lol. I posted directly to my favorite DBT book first, but you can find all of them. I would avoid "Walking on Eggshells." That's a good book for our family members, but not not borderlines.

http://www.amazon.com/Dialectical-Behav ... 383&sr=1-7

Briefly, could one of you explain to me the difference between DBT and CBT? I know that I could look online, but I'm terribly busy here tonight and would appreciate the help.

Thanks and take care,
Kevin

Chucky I pulled this off a site:

http://www.borderlinepersonalitytoday.c ... therap.htm

DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy)
I encourage you if possible to obtain this form of therapy created by Marsha Linehan, from the University of Seattle in Washington. It is therapy especially designed for borderlines.

DBT has assisted many people who have the borderline personality disorder. However, DBT has not helped everyone with the BPD. It is not a "cure-all" in my opinion.

In my opinion Cog Behavior Therapy, was way more helpful for me than DBT.
i have a tendency to look in ward and analyze myself and behaviors and patterns in thinking.

STEPPS - New Cognitive Behavior Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder
STEPPS: a cognitive-behavioral systems-based group treatment for outpatients with borderline personality disorder--a preliminary report.

Blum N, Pfohl B, John DS, Monahan P, Black DW.

Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa College of Medicine, and University of Iowa Health Care, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.

We describe a new cognitive-behavioral systems-based group treatment for persons with borderline personality disorder (BPD). The program is called STEPPS, an acronym for Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving. Briefly, the program combines cognitive-behavioral techniques and skills training with a systems component. The latter involves patients with BPD and persons in their system (e.g., family members, significant others, health care professionals). The program involves 20 two-hour weekly group meetings with two facilitators, is manual-based, and has specific goals to accomplish each week. Here, we review the background and development of the program, and present preliminary efficacy data from a subset of patients which suggest that patients experience improvement in BPD and mood-related symptoms. Survey results suggest moderate to high levels of satisfaction for the treatment from patients and therapists. A new scale, the Borderline Evaluation of Severity Over Time (BEST), developed to measure severity and change in persons with BPD, is described. We propose to conduct additional research to further validate the efficacy of STEPPS. Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

I felt this is very important in treatment and it is off the same site as mentioned above:

It is extremely important to treat depression in borderline patients and to take all suicidal threats seriously. No suicide contracts are not enough. These patients may need to be hospitalized.

While waiting for medications like SSRI's or mood stabilizers to work, a benzodiazepine like Ativan can assist with anxiety.

Remember, how can you help someone with a biological problem with therapy? Remember Dr. Markovitz's statement? "Talking to it is like talking to diabetes. First insulin, then therapy."

Some therapists will say "It doesn't matter what your diagnosis is. I don't group people into categories. I treat everyone the same." If you hear this from a counselor, don't just walk to the exit, run! They simply don't have a clue of how to treat borderlines.

Anytime your therapy takes you to "the edge, feeling suicidal" it is time to STOP! The suicide rate for borderlines is 10% and this moves up to 25% if the person also has a diagnosis of panic disorder.
Yes, therapy is needed, but you need to live through it. You just need the right kind of therapy and therapists desperately need to be educated regarding this.

I hear constantly how borderlines go in and out of the hospital during therapy. On top of that, many counselors will "dump" their client while in the hospital as they don't want to take a "risky client." Many borderlines are dumped by counselors because they display BPD symptoms, when the therapist knew initially that the client had the BPD. Imagine how this would feel to someone who already has tremendous issues with abandonment.

again here is the site that this info cam from, I think the part about therapists not knowing how to
treat a person with this illness, is very important.

http://www.borderlinepersonalitytoday.c ... therap.htm

Actually, CBT was the beginning of my upward spiral because I truly had no idea that there was a gray area of life . When I read that most situations are gray, not black or white, it was a new idea to me...lol. The book "Feeling Good" by Dr. David Burns was a lifesaver for me and changed me forever for the better Then I found a CBT therapist who I saw twice a week for a year and it was the best therapy one-on-one I have EVER had. The last session, and I was told it was time to end, I gave my therapist a hug and kiss on the cheek and a present. He had helped me so much.

I like both CBT and DBT and highly recommend dabbling in both. But I'm a huge CBT fan, so I wanted to chime in on that!