Borderline Personality Barriers

This article is about Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and its evidence based treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder (Chapman, PhD & Fraser, 2006). The article also discusses how DBT can be used to help parasuicidal women with borderline personality disorder (BPD) as well as those with Substance Use Disorders (SUDs), binge-eating disorders and depression in older folks (Chapman, PhD & Fraser, 2006). DBT includes aspects of cognitive-behavioral therapy, and cognitive restructuring. The five functions of treatment with DBT are also discussed; enhancing capabilities, generalizing capabilities, improving motivation and reducing dysfunctional behaviors, enhancing and maintaining therapist capabilities and motivation and structuring the environment.

The aspect of BPD that drew me towards it was the notion that it is a more widespread mental illness than people think, often tied down to difficulties in diagnosing it due to crossovers with other illnesses such as depression which uses similar diagnosis criterion from the DSM V. In fact BPD affects 50% more people than Alzheimer’s disease and nearly as many as schizophrenia and bipolar combined (2.25%). There are a number of treatments available including new advances in epigenetics meaning a potential for more effective medication, as well as ' talking therapy ' treatments such as schema based therapy, metallization therapy and dialectal behaviour therapy which I am going to evaluate in order to decide according to scientific evidence and application what the most effective treatment for BPD is at present. The most effective treatment will be decided upon a

A personality disorder is characterized by a distinct pattern of behavior that does not meet normal standards of behavior within one’s culture. This pattern is ingrained as the norm to the person affected, and the characteristics of the affected person deviate markedly from societal standards (Hebblethwaite, 2009). The two main features that help to identify a personality disorder are chronic interpersonal difficulties and persons with one’s identity or sense of self (Livesly, 2001). Within this set of mental health disorders lie several other subsets, including one of the most prominent personality disorders - Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). BPD is a severe, long-lasting disorder that has an incidence of occurrence approximately equal to that of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia combined (Grant, Chou, Goldstein et al., 2008). BPD also puts those affected at risk for damage in many areas of their life if not properly diagnosed and treated, including personal relationships, school, work, and self-imagine. Furthermore, this disorder has a high co-morbidity with other disorders such as depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and social phobia, among many more (Hebblethwaite, 2009). Misdiagnosis of borderline personality disorder can have serious clinical implications. This paper looks to identify the risk factors associated with BPD, the affects on various aspects of the person’s life, treatments, and give recommendations as to how to properly identify and

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious psychiatric illness. People that are diagnosed with this disorder suffer from an intense pattern of affective instability, extreme difficulties in interpersonal relationships, problems with behavioral or impulse control, and disrupted cognitive processes. The estimated prevalence of BPD in the general adult population is about 2%, mostly affecting young women.

BPD affects about four percent of the community, but can be as high as twenty percent in many clinical psychiatric populations. It can be difficult to treat because it responds poorly to most conventional methods of treatment and because of how little we still know about it. There have been many great discoveries about BPD in only a few decades. There are still many questions to be answered about this disorder, but it has gone from a label attached to those who did not quite fit into other categories to a completely separate and somewhat understood mental illness.

Introduction: This article discusses the significance of psychotherapy options in treating borderline personality disorder (BPD). Borderline personality is a disorder with a variety of symptoms that can be briefly summarized as instability in mood, thinking, behavior, personal relations, and self-image. Psychotherapy options include cognitive

The purpose of this paper is to review and summarize the different challenges in treatments for consumers with borderline personality disorders (BPD) and how they are slightly different from treating other disorders. Rates of co-occurring mental health disorders are very high among individuals with BPD, which present challenges for treatments in those individuals. This paper will explore the complications in diagnosing consumers due to the fact that borderline personality disorder rarely stands alone and is often co-occurring with other disorders. Gender differences among individuals with BPD will be discussed as well as the prevalence of this disorder. In addition, we will describe and present the different challenges for clinicians, the families of individuals with BPD, and the individuals themselves that are suffering from BPD. The paper will also include an implications section for behavioral healthcare.

Though several personality disorders are highly complex and a challenge to treat, there are effective treatments available (“Treating Borderline” 1). The various treatments are broken down by method, the first of which being cognitive behavioral therapy, which attempts to alter the conscious thoughts and behavioral patterns of patients (Daniel); (“Treating Borderline” 2). Cognitive behavior therapy itself is broken down into two therapies, dialectical behavioral therapy and schema-focused therapy (“Treating Borderline” 2). Dialectical behavioral therapy, developed by Dr. Linehan, is centered on the basis that personality disorders are formed when hypersensitive patients are in situations which lack the emotional support they require, therefore leading to their “inability to regulate emotions” (“Treating Borderline” 2). Thus, the treatment serves to help the patient gain control over their emotion and behavior (“Treating Borderline” 2). The treatment itself consists of group and individual sessions and typically lasts approximately one year (“Treating Borderline” 2). During the group sessions, patients learn to become more aware of their behaviors and emotions through sessions pertaining to “problem solving, mindfulness meditation, and breath training“(“Treating Borderline” 2). In personal sessions, referred to as psychotherapy, the psychiatrist explains to the patient how the lessons from the group therapy sessions are applicable

Dombeck, M., Hoermann, S., Zupanick, E.C. (2011). Personality Disorders: Problems with current diagnostic system. MentalHelp. Retrieved on 14th March, 2013, from http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=569

As the name BPD infers, it was thought to be on the border between psychotic and neurotic behavior. With stigmatizing negative association, BPD is slowly changing to no longer be considered a relevant term for diagnosing. There is a movement to change the terminology of the diagnosis to Emotional Unstable. This new term may more accurately depict what someone is going through as well as remove the negative stigmatism associated with BPD.

BPD can be an extremely difficult illness to diagnose and treat. Whatever treatment one chose to use needs to address the disorder and symptoms the patient might have. A typical treatment plan includes psychotherapy, medications and group and family support. The overarching goal is for someone with BPD help direct the patient to their treatment plans. It is a situation where they need to find what works and what doesn’t

When using DBT with BPD we assume the following: that the cause and maintenance of BPD is a combination of a biological disorder within the emotion regulation system, and an invalidating environment. In other words, we assume an individual with BPD has a disturbance in their emotion regulation system due to genetics, a traumatic event when they were very young, etc. that is mixing with an invalidating environment and, as a result of the combination, is causing the unregulated emotions to increase, along with the invalidating environment. We also assume that for individuals with BPD it is not just specific emotions that are disordered, but rather the whole emotional regulation system that is disordered, meaning all problem behaviors are a result

DBT walks the BPD individual through four stages. Stages are determined by the severity of the client's behaviors, and therapists vision to propel individual towards a positive self growth.

The history of BPD can be traced back to 1938 when Adolph Stern first described the symptoms of the disorder as neither being psychotic nor psychoneurotic; hence, the term ‘borderline’ was introduced (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2009, p. 15). Then in 1960, Otto Kernberg coined the term ‘borderline personality organization’ to describe persistent patterns of behavior and functioning consisting of instability, and distressed psychological self-organization (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2009, p. 15).

Over the past few units, I have greatly expanded my knowledge about several different psychological topics. Though many of the topics that were discussed sparked my interest, there were two types of disorders that furthered my knowledge, but also eliminated some stereotypes that I had about them. The two main areas that I learned more about regarding these disorders were characteristics of the disorders and different methods of treatment. A common theme that has been discussed in multiple different units is that several psychological disorders can have similar symptoms and characteristics. It is crucial to understand what makes one psychological disorder different than another one. Determining what type of disorders an individual might have can lead to better and more accurate treatment options; treatments methods are important because they help individuals manage their disorders. The two disorders that I found to be the most important and most interesting are borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia.