Amanda Sigel Borderline Personality Disorder Essay

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In this case study, Amanda Sigel is living her life with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). She is the oldest of three in a middle-class family and her parents divorced at a young age and thought that maybe she was the cause. After the divorce, her mom and siblings had significant financial difficulties until her mom got remarried when Amanda was 13. Mike, her new stepbrother, sexually abused her and felt unable to tell anyone because he threatened to tell everyone she’s a “slut.” Her behavior was deteriorating and grades were declining even though she is a very intelligent young woman. In middle school, she began experimenting with street drugs and continued this going into high school. When she was in high school, she started promiscuous …show more content…

Despite therapy sessions she thought were helpful, her behavior continued. At 22, she was admitted into a psychiatric hospital for the eighth time. She had terrifying episodes of feeling like her body wasn’t real and sometimes would cut herself to inflict pain so she knew her body was real. Her psychiatrist noticed she was flirtatious, asked inappropriate questions, angry, loud, and used abusive language. Out of anger, she would say things she didn’t mean and break meaningful personal items and would regret her actions, but despite this, she couldn’t gain control of her anger and still believed she wasn’t self-destructive. After three weeks of believed improvement, the therapists were ready to discharge her until she told them that she had been secretly been giving other patients street drugs. No therapy attempts had a lasting impact on Amanda and it didn’t seem like she could ever be independent and it was likely she will be in a state hospital …show more content…

Women are more likely to be affected by this disorder and child abuse seems to be a precursor to the development of BPD. People with BPD have the inability to control their emotions and relationships are affected and unfortunately, long-term function can be greatly affected and in many cases therapy shows promising results to getting better. In Amanda’s case, this wasn’t true. Negative thinking of themselves and the world greatly influences their demeanor and their inability to function in relationships and in general life. Self-harm is common because of feelings such as guilt, shame and anger. Some people with this disorder can function relatively well, but there is also the possibility they won’t get better and need to be hospitalized for most of their lives. It can be frustrating to treat as a therapist, but with learning how to change their thought patterns and improve their social relationships, their function and quality of life can be

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