Posted by Noa on February 6, 2000, at 22:30:22
In reply to Re: borderline personality disorder / bipolar, posted by KATHRINE on February 6, 2000, at 19:18:36
In my opinion, Borderline Personality Disorder is not a valid or useful diagnosis.
But more importantly, please understand that the art of diagnosis is in large part just a way to organize how to think about whatever symptoms a patient presents with.
Borderline tends to be used when the symptoms seem resistant to treatment attempts, so the thinking is that they are long term ingrained patterns, ie part of a personality pattern caused by difficult early experiences.
But there are now researchers (Akiskal, for one) who challenge that way of thinking.
I think what is most helpful is when target symptoms are addressed. What is or are the symptoms that are most distressing to you? That is a place to start.
There are therapists who focus on developing coping skills in order to stabilize your life. You probably also would benefit from seeing a psychopharmacologist who will help you find the right combo of meds to address the symptoms.
poster:Noa
thread:20639
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000128/msgs/20667.html