Posted by ramsea on December 3, 2003, at 6:16:25
In reply to ban for suicide postings??, posted by stjames on November 20, 2003, at 19:52:37
I find it hard not to respond to this comment, though I am not in sequence here.
It's a myth that borderliners are necessarily gameplaying with their risky, self-destructive behavior. In other words, since any human being is capable of manipulativeness and acting out in a negative way, I am sure borderliners do this too. Because they are troubled people, they may well do this more often, ntil treated successfully. But it seems a mistake to jump to the conclusion that a borderline pd person is playing games/or that a person who plays "games" with suicide-issues is ipso facto a borderline personality disordered person. Borderline diagnosed people don't own the rights to manipulativeness. The human race does.
It's also a myth that BPD people are only ever calling wolf. In fact, Borderliners have a high rate of successful suicide. 1 out of every 10 bpd dx persons will die as a result of suicide.
Every successful suicide that I have known was labelled borderline PD. I know quite a few because of both my personal family circumstances, the community I hang out with due to my own illness (bipolar) and my previous profession (in mental health). It is so tragic.Self-harming, in terms of certain cutting behaviors, is frequently not a suicide-effort, but a self-medication. It releases endorphins and distracts the person in pain from their overwhelming emotional difficuties. Head banging can be like that, and overexercising, overeating, etc. It's important to know what self-harmers are up to, because they are often very misunderstood.
I try to remember that reasons for self-harming can be quite complex. Sometimes there is a cry for help, and one can only hope they get help. Sometimes attention seeking, and I can only hope they find appropriate venues for receiving attention--clearly they are in great need.Sometimes they are angry, consumed by rages. I can only hope they are given urgent treatment to root out sources of anger and resentment, biological or psychological. Many times, however, self-harming activities are a private means to make the hurting self feel better. This came as a surprise to me but many years ago I attended work-related self-harming workshops, led by self-harmers who also wrote extensively on the subject, and this is what I was told. I have since seen it to be true. (Tragically, one of the leading lights in self-harming self-help and awareness, successfully suicided a few years ago.)I have known individuals with sub-normal IQs and very low cunning, who were addicted to self-harming behaviors. They self-harmed because it physically soothed them. They didn't give a monkies whether anyone was watching--it was no show, no clever tactic to be the star of ER. Just a physical action that brought momentarily relief. We need to remember that "manipulating" others is not by any means the main goal of all unfortunate behavior.
poster:ramsea
thread:281008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20031120/msgs/286148.html