Posted by Elizabeth on October 15, 2001, at 10:14:29
In reply to Re: Borderline Personality Disorder Meds » Elizabeth, posted by NikkiT2 on October 14, 2001, at 12:50:07
> D'oh... c\hecked "no message" instead of name of previous poster!! And it was such a long message too!!
>
> Anyway, it was basically thanking you for all the info on BPD.Oh, okay. Well, you're welcome. I was just confused! :-)
BPD is an interesting disorder, and it presents quite a challenge for patient and treaters alike. I hope that you are doing well. DBT sounds to me like an excellent and innovative therapy, and I hope that you find it helpful. I think that after an initial program of about 6-12 months (of group + individual DBT), it would probably be good to continue individual therapy including aspects of DBT and perhaps interpersonal psychotherapy. A DBT group can serve as a support group of people who know what you're going through, too.
I do think that the efficacy of medication for this disoerder has been dangerously underplayed -- it's hard to figure out which class of medication will work for a particular person, but I think that there's always something out there that will at least alleviate the symptoms. Unfortunately, there's a lot of "blame-the-victim" mentality among therapists with regard to borderline patients, which can be hard for them to overcome. IMO, this type of attitude often leads to inadequate treatment and even worsening of symptoms. Patients who are treated as though their illness is their fault and told that medication will not help or isn't "appropriate" are liable to feel rejected, misunderstood, and demoralized, and may become less likely to continue seeking potentially helpful treatment. Because they are often very sensitive to rejection (as I'm sure you know!), they could even become suicidal as a result of such lack of empathy on the part of the therapist. Some therapists even believe that BPD is a manifestation of antisocial personality (sociopathy) in women. Disgraceful.
So, don't give up hope or let yourself become discouraged by the attitudes of undereducated treaters (and remember that they're not all like that!). There are lots of things that could help you, although you may have to go through a lot of trials to find the right ones.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:81137
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011015/msgs/81333.html