Understanding and Treating Borderline Personality Disorder

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Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has been a disability surrounded by stigma and confusion for a long time, and the time to bring awareness and public understanding to this disability is long overdue. The disability itself often gets misdiagnosed as an other disability since the symptoms overlap with many other disabilities (NIMH, n.d, para 16), or worse case scenario, a medical professional refuses to diagnose or treat the disability due to the belief that these people are untreatable because of a negative schema about the disability and clinical controversies on whether BPD is a legitimate diagnosis (Hoffman, 2007) . However, after nearly three decades of research, it has come to light that BPD does indeed exist, does have a good prognosis for remission with treatment (BPD Overview, n.d, para 3), and that there are many treatment options available such as three different types of psychotherapy (Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Schema-focused therapy), omega-3 fatty acid supplements, and/or medications (NIMH, n.d, para 29, 30, 31, and 39, 41). Even though the disability started as a psychoanalytic colloquialism for untreatable neurotics (Gunderson, 2009), BPD is very treatable and doesn’t deserve the stigma it currently carries throughout society. Symptoms, Comorbidity, and Risk Factors In order for someone to be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, they must experience at least five of the following symptoms: 1) fear of abandonment, 2) a history of intense and unstable relationships with family, friends, and loved ones, which often go back and forth between idealization (which includes love and extreme closeness) to devaluation (which includes extreme hatred or anger), 3) a disto... ... middle of paper ... ...were fewer in individuals who received DBT compared to those in the control group. Additionally, individuals who received DBT retained individual therapy and had an attrition rate of 16.7 percent compared to the control group, who had an attrition rate of 50 percent. DBT varies from CBT because it seeks a balance between changing and accepting behaviors and beliefs (NIMH, n.d, para 23). Additionally to CBT and DBT, Schema-focused therapy is a type of therapy that combines elements of CBT with other forms of psychotherapy that focuses on reassessing an individual 's schemas about themselves. This therapy is based on the theory that BPD stems from a dysfunctional self-image that affects how an individual reacts to others, their environment, and how they cope with problems or stress, whether it originates from negative childhood experiences or not (NIMH, n.d, para 23).

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