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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by madison88 on September 24, 2002, at 19:29:30
My therapist, who I am planning on replacing, is finally wising up to the fact that I most definitely qualify for borderline personality disorder. i have known I probably am for the past few months, and i have been careful to keep certain details out of the conversation. i am try to prepare myself for it, but i have been so upset the last couple days about it i haven't slept or eaten and have been dissociating like mad and have been doing a lot of things i would rather not mention.
some part of me must want her to figure it out b/c today i really shocked her and told her some of it. she proceded to go through the list as dictated in the DSM, asking me questions about symptoms straight from that damn book.
I can't handle this diagnosis. I am not sure it fits with OCD anyway, which I have already been diagnosed with by a former therapist. I consider the BPD the worst there is, besides schizophrena. I feel like I will be doomed the rest of my life if this happens. Any encouragement would be greatly appreciated. Is BPD as hard to treat as I think it is? Do therapists treat you differently w/ the diagnosis?
Posted by Dinah on September 25, 2002, at 8:54:12
In reply to therapist is digging...I'm terrified, posted by madison88 on September 24, 2002, at 19:29:30
I can understand your reluctance to be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, because there are doctors and medical professionals who will see you differently if you have that diagnosis. I suppose the useful part is that you can be treated appropriately by the *good* doctors and therapists, with meds and treatment programs that are proven to be efficacious with those with BPD.
However, I wouldn't worry to much about being aware (as opposed to being diagnosed) that you have borderline personality disorder. I'm not at all convinced, and in fact think it is highly unlikely, that there is a single illness known as borderline personality disorder (or any other personality disorder either). Personality disorders describe a constellation of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. Personality disorders are, in my view, a person's dysfunctional way of responding to the underlying problems, not the problem in and of itself. Have you ever seen the statistics for "comorbidity" of personality disorders? It's quite high. I imagine people who respond dysfunctionally to internal triggers do so in a lot of ways.
So it would probably be more accurate to say that either due to a biological problem with mood, or a set of traumatic life circumstances, you are left with moods that are terribly unpleasant to you. You try to cope with these moods in ways that fit the borderline profile, as opposed to those who cope in a schizoid manner, for example.
It's not that bleak a prospect for treatment, either. Many mental health practitioners have found to their amazement that when the underlying mood disorders were properly treated with meds (such as mood stabilizers, AD's, or AP's) that the "personality disorder" miraculously disappeared.
Also, since borderline personality disorder is mainly defined by behaviors, therapies that teach you to learn other behaviors (such as Marsha Linehan's Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) can help quite a bit.
Incidentally, I've studied BPD as much as I have because I have the internal characteristics of someone with BPD, although I only have a few of the behavioral characteristics. So I review the treatments for it in hopes of helping my own situation with mood instability.
Hope some of this long winded post can be of use. :)
Dinah
Posted by madison88 on September 25, 2002, at 17:42:09
In reply to Re: therapist is digging...I'm terrified » madison88, posted by Dinah on September 25, 2002, at 8:54:12
Thanks Dinah. The DSM description does seem to overlap symptoms of BPD with quite a few other disorders. I have calmed down quite a bit today. One thing i did find hopeful is that usually in a person's thirties and fourties he or she might tend to stabilize. Realizing that i do have characteristics of BPD does help give me insight to why my relationships tend to be freakish, exploding into being and then dissipating rapidly. I exacerbate a lot of hearts :)
Posted by Dinah on September 26, 2002, at 9:17:36
In reply to Re: therapist is digging...I'm terrified, posted by madison88 on September 25, 2002, at 17:42:09
I'm glad you're feeling better about it. I think it's helpful to remember that it is just a description of your behaviors as they are now. If you don't like what your behaviors cause in your life, you can always use DBT or CBT or other therapy to modify your behaviors so that you are more likely to obtain what you actually want in life.
Of course it isn't that easy. It's what I did as a teen. I modified my behaviors, but didn't deal with the feelings, and now so many years later I'm paying for it. But if you're really lucky you can find a therapy that addresses both feelings and actions.
Best wishes with finding a new therapist.
Dinah
Posted by Mr. SadPuppyDog on September 27, 2002, at 14:26:22
In reply to therapist is digging...I'm terrified, posted by madison88 on September 24, 2002, at 19:29:30
> My therapist, who I am planning on replacing, is finally wising up to the fact that I most definitely qualify for borderline personality disorder. i have known I probably am for the past few months, and i have been careful to keep certain details out of the conversation. i am try to prepare myself for it, but i have been so upset the last couple days about it i haven't slept or eaten and have been dissociating like mad and have been doing a lot of things i would rather not mention.
>
> some part of me must want her to figure it out b/c today i really shocked her and told her some of it. she proceded to go through the list as dictated in the DSM, asking me questions about symptoms straight from that damn book.
>
> I can't handle this diagnosis. I am not sure it fits with OCD anyway, which I have already been diagnosed with by a former therapist. I consider the BPD the worst there is, besides schizophrena. I feel like I will be doomed the rest of my life if this happens. Any encouragement would be greatly appreciated. Is BPD as hard to treat as I think it is? Do therapists treat you differently w/ the diagnosis?The reason borderline personality disorder is considered to be basically "untreatable" is because it doesnt exist. How can you treat something that doesnt exist? You cant. BPD is not an Axis I disorder, its not a major mental illness like say, OCD or schizophrenia are. Axis I disorders such as major depression, manic depression, OCD, etc. are well defined disorders with physical manifestations as well as the "mental" or emotional aspects.
BPD is a bullshit psychology label, it was invented by psychologists and is a PURE label. Its not treatable. It is given mostly to patients whom the psychiatrist or therapist does not like personally, patients whom are considered rebellious or hard to work with. BPD is oftentimes a nice, slick psychiatric way of the mental health professional saying to you "I dont like you I wish you'd go away, my life would be easier if I didnt have to treat you."
And yes, once you get this "label" mental health professionals will treat you differently and try to avoid you when possible.
I must ask, why must you use a therapist in the first place? Cant you just stick to a psychiatrist? If you stick to your meds and avoid attempts at suicide or hurting yourself, you most likely will avoid this label of BPD. Like I said, its given mostly to "pain in the ass" patients who dont take their drugs as ordered, who repeatedly attempt suicide or repeatedly make verbal threats of suicide...it drives mental health people crazy.
BPD is nothing but the psychology equivalent of the "I dont like on a personal level" label. Sounds slick, but in the end its all BS.
Mr. Sad PuppyDog
Posted by Dr. Bob on September 27, 2002, at 20:10:15
In reply to Re: therapist is digging...I'm terrified, posted by Mr. SadPuppyDog on September 27, 2002, at 14:26:22
> The reason borderline personality disorder is considered to be basically "untreatable" is because it doesnt exist.
To repeat, please don't exaggerate. I was going to just ask you to be civil this time through, but now I see that already happened before, so I'm going to go ahead and block you from posting for a week.
Bob
PS: Follow-ups regarding posting policies, and complaints about posts, should be redirected to Psycho-Babble Administration, thanks.
Posted by terra miller on September 27, 2002, at 21:11:31
In reply to Re: therapist is digging...I'm terrified » madison88, posted by Dinah on September 25, 2002, at 8:54:12
Dinah, that was an incredible post! in so many ways. Wow.
~Terra
Posted by Dinah on September 28, 2002, at 11:05:59
In reply to Re: therapist is digging...I'm terrified » Dinah, posted by terra miller on September 27, 2002, at 21:11:31
It's a subject to which I've given a lot of thought.
Dinah
Posted by dr dave on October 2, 2002, at 15:31:36
In reply to Re: therapist is digging...I'm terrified » Dinah, posted by terra miller on September 27, 2002, at 21:11:31
I found this very interesting.
Hope it helps. Don't listen to the crap about it not being treatable.
Posted by LostboyinNC2 on October 3, 2002, at 16:16:42
In reply to Useful link? » terra miller, posted by dr dave on October 2, 2002, at 15:31:36
> I found this very interesting.
>
> http://www.priory.com/dbt.htm
>
> Hope it helps. Don't listen to the crap about it not being treatable.There is very little to zippo hard biological evidence that BPD...or any other personality disorder for that matter...actually exists. BPD is mainly a psychological label for "pain in the ass" or "hard to treat" patients. Its also given to rebellious patients. Its also given to those who dont respond to drugs well, sometimes a patient will not respond well to any drug or drug cocktail and the psychiatrist will do the blame the patient thing real bad and assign them a label of BPD.
Major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar depression, OCD, anxiety disorders...these are all REAL biologically based mental illnesses. BPD is an axis 2 disorder, with no real physical symptoms and the diagnosis has ruined one too many psych patients who already have things rough enough as it is.
Psychiatrists would be better off spending their time going back to school to learn Neurology, rather than wasting time perpetrating these psychobabble notions which helps nobody.
Eric LOSTBOYinNC
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