General Info on BPD

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The 'bible' for these WelcomeToOz lists is the book titled Stop

Walking On Eggshells (SWOE) by Mason and Kreger. There is also

an accompanying Workbook (SWOEW). Copies can be obtained through

your local bookstore or through the BPD Central website at

www.BPDCentral.com. Ordering through the website helps support

the website and these WelcomeToOz lists.

http://www.bpdcentral.com/books/swoe.shtml

http://www.bpdcentral.com/books/swoe_workbook.shtml

New book:

" I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE: My Recovery From BPD " by

Reiland, a recovered BP. For more info and how to order, go to:

http://www.bpdcentral.com/books/supposed.shtml

Book: " LOST IN THE MIRROR: An Inside Look at Borderline

Personality Disorder " by A. Moskowitz, MD. This is a new

self-help book for those with BPD. It is available in bookstores

or it may be ordered through BPDCentral at:

http://www.bpdcentral.com/books/more_books.shtml

Book: " ECLIPSES: Behind the borderline personality disorder: DBT

therapy from the patient's viewpoint. " There is a link on BPD

Central to the www site of the publisher, which has more

information about this book.

Book: " THE ANGRY HEART: Overcoming Borderline and Addictive

Disorders " , by ph Santoro, Cohen, ph Santoro PhD.

ISBN: 1572240806.

For an overview of BPD go to:

http://www.borderlinedisorders.com/public.htm

Also, The National Institute of Mental Health website related to

BPD is at:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/bpd.cfm

Not all therapists are trained to work with BPDs and/or their

family members but there are different therapies that do work.

For info on " How To Choose A BPD Therapist " , go to:

http://www.bpdcentral.com/resources/therapist/main.shtml

DIALECTIC BEHAVIORAL THERAPY (DBT) is a type of

cognitive-behavioral therapy developed by Marsha Linehan, Ph.D.

at the University of Washington that has been successfully used

to treat people who have BPD. The person with BPD, however, must

WANT to change in order for this therapy to work. Like SWOE, DBT

is geared to high-functioning BPs who are young (teens to

mid-40s). For an overview of DBT go to:

http://www.priory.co.uk/dbt1.htm

DBT SKILLS TRAINING is usually carried out in a group context by

someone other that the individual therapist. In the skills

training groups, patients are taught skills considered relevant

to the particular problems experienced by people with borderline

personality disorder. There are four modules focusing in turn on

four groups of skills:

Core mindfulness skills

Interpersonal effectiveness skills

Emotion modulation skills

Distress tolerance skills

Questions that can be asked in seeking a

BPD-knowledgable/trained DBT therapist are listed on pages

238-239 of SWOE.

To locate a DBT-trained therapist in your area, see the phone

number listed on the following website:

http://www.brtc.psych.washington.edu

Also, Behavioral Technology Transfer Group (BTTG) in Seattle WA

has a list of clinicians, both nationally and internationally,

who have completed Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) training

with their company. You can send an email request for referral

to a DBT-trained therapist in your area to:

DBTinfo@...

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) maintains a

list of therapists who treat BPD; their hotline number is

800-950-NAMI.

Therapists use a book called " The Diagnostic and Statistical

Manual " (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association to make

mental health diagnoses. They've outlined nine traits that

people with Borderline Personality Disorder seem to have in

common; the presence of five or more of them may indicate BPD.

However, please note the following:

* EVERYONE has all these traits to a certain extent. Especially

teenagers. These traits must be long-standing (lasting years)

and persistent. And they must be INTENSE.

* Be very careful about diagnosing yourself or others. In fact,

don't do it. Top researchers guide patients through several days

of testing before they make a diagnosis. Don't make your own

diagnosis on the basis of a WWW site or a book!

* Many people who have BPD also have other concerns, such as

depression, eating disorders, substance abuse--even multiple

personality disorder or attention deficit disorder. It can be

difficult to isolate what is BPD and what might be something

else. Again, you need to talk to a *qualified* professional

familiar with treating BPD.

~The DSM Definition of BPD:

A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal

relationships, self-image, and affects (moods), and marked

impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in a

variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the

following:

1. Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment. Note:

Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in (5).

2. A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships

characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization

and devaluation. This is called " splitting. "

3. Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable

self-image or sense of self

4. Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially

self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless

driving, binge eating, shoplifting). Note: Do not include

suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in (5).

5. Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or

self-mutilating behavior

6. Affective instability (rapid mood changes) due to a marked

reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria,

irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only

rarely more than a few days)

7. Chronic feelings of emptiness

8. Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger

(e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent

physical fights)

9. Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe

dissociative symptoms. Dissociation is the state in which, on

some level or another, one becomes somewhat removed from

" reality, " whether this be daydreaming, performing actions

without being fully connected to their performance ( " running on

automatic " ), or other, more disconnected actions. It is the

opposite of " association " and involves the lack of

association, usually of one's identity, with the rest of the world.

And, finally, there is no " pure " BPD; it coexists with other

illnesses. These are the most common that BPD may coexist with:

Post traumatic stress disorder

Mood disorders

Panic/anxiety disorders

Substance abuse: 54% of BPs also have a problem

with substance abuse

Gender identity disorder

Attention deficit disorder

Eating disorders

Dissociative disorder (formerly multiple personality

disorder)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

- Edith

List Manager / WelcomeToOz Family of NonBP Email Support Groups