When BPD has been diagnosed in a patient, there is usually a three-pronged attack to beat the illness. This includes:
1. Medication to alleviate the other symptoms that usually accompany BPD, such as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and any other illnesses.
2. Therapy, especially cognitive-behavioral therapy. The major problems are finding a qualified therapist and getting the BP into therapy. Researcher Marsha Linehan’s cognitive-behavioral method of treatment, called Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), has been shown in empirical research to help BPD patients experience less anger, less self-mutilation, and fewer inpatient psychiatric stays than patients who received other forms of treatment. There is now another treatment that is seeing great success in BPD patients, called Transference-Focused Psychotherapy. This is very new, and it will probably be impossible to find a qualified therapist in Australia in this technique.
3. Long-Term Therapy to enable the BPD to deal with the issues that may have contributed to the patient developing the illness in the first place. This can only be done once the patient has enough tools and emotional stability to do so. It is no good rushing into talking about past issues when the BPD does not know how to deal with the emotions this will bring up.
It is necessary to add here that the only way to beating BPD is for the sufferer to want to do it. If their family organises a treatment program for them and they are not ready to participate, then there is no use in even trying. The BPD sufferer needs to fully participate in their recovery or it won’t occur. The biggest obstacle to a BPD sufferer getting the treatment they need is their own belief that nothing is wrong, or that it can’t be BPD. There is a stigma in the psychiatric community towards BPD patients, as the general theory is that hospitalisation does not help even when in crisis, so most doctors are reluctant to admit BPD sufferers. Based on first-hand experienced, I have been rushed out of the hospital door once the doctor suspects or is told BPD is the issue, so I have hoped that it was something else as I was desperate for the help. This treatment, or more accurately lack of treatment, only serves to embarrass the BPD sufferer and make them feel even more hopeless. This could be why the suicide rate amongst BPD sufferers is higher than all other mental illnesses.
When a person is diagnosed with BPD, they need to be spoken to with care, and they need to know that they have a real illness for which there is help. When doctors trivialise BPD they trivialise the patient and make the whole thing worse. It is a real illness and it has serious consequences for the sufferer and their family. Non-BPD sufferers need to understand that the sufferer does not know that what they are feeling is not real, as their emotions and brain are telling them otherwise. The acceptance process can take a long time, but I feel if it is approached properly and with respect then the time frame for recovery would be much quicker.
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