Pultizer Prize-winning American columnist Jimmy Breslin wrote a front page feature story on Melanie Cane the author of Poisoned Love. Click on the icon to read Jimmy Breslin's cover story:
Borderline personality disorder Treatment
Borderline personality disorder treatment depends on how severe one’s condition is. The first goal of Borderline personality disorder treatment is to help the person control destructive behaviors, especially if she’s feeling suicidal or self-destructive. When she is less likely to harm herself and able to function more normally, Borderline personality disorder treatment will focus on managing her emotions, such as controlling feelings of anger, unhappiness, frustration and loneliness without acting out impulsively upon those feelings.
Types of Borderline personality disorder treatment commonly used include:
-Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which focuses on changing certain thoughts and behavior patterns.
-Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which helps reduce destructive behaviors by teaching healthy ways to adapt to and cope with challenges and feelings of frustration or feelings of impotence. DBT is a means of treating BPD with a psychosocial, biosocial approach with a focus on behavior modification and practice of recognizing reality, regulating emotions, and increasing interpersonal skills in a positive manner, and finding proper ways of managing stress and fighting self harming impulses. As far as Borderline Disorder Treatment goes, DBT has shown some of the highest success rates. It involves both individual and group therapy with an emphasis on helping Borderlines build real, healthy emotional connections with others.
-Psychodynamic therapy, which focuses on uncovering or understanding your past to gain insight into your actions and current behavior.
-Family therapy, which can help educate your family about your illness and provide support to you and to those who care about you and are affected by your behavior.
-Support groups, where you and people with similar problems to yours share their stories and try to help each other.
-Self-help may be the second most successful borderline disorder treatment. Motivated Borderlines are encouraged to buy a workbook like Joseph Santoro’s The Angry Heart, and then work with a mentor to help them through the difficult process.
Medication may be needed as part of Borderline personality disorder treatment. Marked mood swings can sometimes be treated effectively with two drugs ordinarily used to treat epilepsy: Depakote and Tegretol. Borderline personality disorder treatment for severe depression or eating disorders includes antidepressant medication, especially one of the SSRIs.
Borderline personality disorder treatment may include a small dose of a nueroleptic drug typically used to treat Schizophrenia to help dissipate rage and help calm them in times of severe stress. Borderline personality disorder treatment may also include Lithium (typically used for manic depression) and other mood stabilizers. When using medication in BPD treatment, one should avoid habit forming, addictive drugs, since substance abuse is often part of the BPD symptomatology.
Outpatient Borderline personality disorder treatment includes 2-3 psychotherapy sessions a week over several years. If outpatient Borderline personality disorder treatment is not adequate, (i.e the patient makes multiple suicide attempts, the patient constantly sabotages the treatment by acting out in and out of the therapeutic setting), the patient and family may want to seek a consultation that specializes in Borderline personality disorder treatment. In my book, Poisoned Love, I describe my inpatient Borderline Disorder treatment as well as my many years of outpatient borderline personality disorder treatment. A thorough assessment may lead to the recommendation of a more specific individual BPD treatment, adjunct group or family therapy, referral to substance abuse programs or more intensive BPD treatment in the form of hospitalization or a day hospital program. The patient may need inpatient Borderline personality disorder treatment: if she shows signs of suicide, detachment from reality (psychosis), or excessive use of drugs or alcohol.
As with any other illness, Borderline personality disorder treatment can only be successful with the recognition of the illness and the determination and commitment to overcoming it.
Without adequate Borderline personality disorder treatment, the illness is lifelong and often ends in suicide.
With good Borderline personality disorder treatment, the outlook is favorable in many cases. In a study by Michael Stone of 500 Borderline personality disorder patients over 20 years, 4 out of 10 were clinically recovered 10-20 years after their point of entry into the study during hospitalization. The patients who recovered tended to be those who persisted in Borderline personality disorder treatment for many years. In my book, Poisoned Love, I attribute my recovery to my 13 years of borderline personality disorder treatment.
A recent study out of Baylor College of Medicine, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, may facilitate Borderline personality disorder treatment by using the brain based difference to devise cognitive interventions or even medications that will affect brain reactions. It may also provide a tool to monitor the effectiveness of BPD treatment by determining how the brain’s dysfunctional responses to the input from others changes with Borderline personality disorder treatment.
Dr. Peter Fonagy of Menninger and University College London is a pioneer in Borderline personality disorder treatment using “mentalizing,” a technique that helps people understand the mental states of other people by analyzing their outward appearance.
Successful borderline disorder treatment is more difficult if the BPD has been abused as a child, experienced symptoms early in life, had symptoms over a long period of time, continued to be unable to control her emotions, experienced problems with aggression, substance abuse, or other mental health conditions, such as depression.
Interested in learning more about borderline personality disorder treatment? Get your copy of Poisoned Love today!
