Posted by maxime on March 26, 2005, at 13:04:56
In reply to Re: ouch ... my own stupidity » Maxime, posted by SLS on March 26, 2005, at 11:36:20
Hi Scott. No BPD. In fact, I was so upset once at my cutting that I asked two of my pdocs if they thought I was and they said I did not fit the criteria.
Despite that they said, I decided on my own to go through intensive DBT for 20 weeks based on Marsha Linehan's theories. Even though I didn't have the diagnosis I figured it would be helpful to have another tool set of coping skills.
Anorexia my is Axis II diagnosis.
I cut for different reasons. Sometimes I need to know to that I am alive. I need to see the blood. Other times it's to release emotions that I don't know what to do with. This is what the DBT was suppose to help me with and it did. And sometimes I will punish myself for eating and cut myself.
Maxime
> Two quick questions for you, Maxime.
>
> Have you been diagnosed as having borderline personality disorder (BPD) or any other Axis II disorder?
>
> To what degree is anxiety a problem?
>
> I know other people who cut, and I think I can understand what it is that precipitates the behavior. Cutting feels good. It certainly feels better than the painful anxiety and tension that builds up over time with depression or any other mental illness. It is a release.
>
> As a matter of fact, cutting really is a release. It provokes the release of endogenous opioids and an adrenaline rush. Opioids can be feel-good neurotransmitters. The endorphins are the most well-known of these opioids. Enkephalins might actually be more potent. Morphine and heroin are opioids, and you know how addictive these drugs can be. You are somewhat addicted to cutting. Of course, the adrenaline rush helps mask the problems that you are trying to escape. If the cutting gets out of hand, there are drugs used to help with it. They block the opioid receptors so that there is no reward in cutting and cravings to cut are reduced. Naltrexone is one of these drugs. I'm sure there are psychotherapeutic alternatives that might make sense to investigate first, particularly if BPD is an issue.
>
>
> - Scott
poster:maxime
thread:475688
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050326/msgs/475839.html