In "Remission"/Recovery.

[Keri]

Who here is in "remission"/recovery from their BPD?

How has your life changed?

What changes did you made to get to this point?

 

[madison1101]

I don't believe it is healthy to look at recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder as in remission. That is all or nothing thinking, which always trip me up big time.

The behaviors that people with BPD experience are basically acting out our negative emotions. Those emotions are basically extremes of the normal human emotions that everyone experiences in life. Same goes for the thinking. At some point in most of the "normal" people's mind, they have similar thoughts as we do. Ours just become distorted to an extreme.

In therapy I learned to identify my emotions and how to soothe myself, instead of acting those emotions out. Also, in therapy, I learned to reframe my thinking in order to avoid acting out.

The changes I have made was to first start taking responsibility for all of my thinking, emotions and behavior. If I am upset about something, it is because of how I think about the incident. I can't blame anyone for how I think, feel or behave.

Now, I am extremely calm, and in total control of myself, when I am taking care of myself. I must do a lot of self-soothing. In therapy, I learned the importance of deep breathing exercises, visualization, and Mindfulness Meditation. If you have a Smart Phone, you can download a Mindfulness Meditation App. It guides me through meditations of different lengths. It's very helpful.

I hope some of this helps.

 

[peckaboo]

I was referred to a CBT therapist, who was amazing. She really stressed the fact that BPD doesn't have a physical cause, but that it consists mostly of patterns of behaviour you've developed or learned over time. It was empowering to be reminded so often that I had the ability to "unlearn" these behaviours, and she equipped me with the tools to do that. One of the most helpful tools was, whenever you're about to react strongly to a situation, stop and assess whether you're reacting to the situation itself, or to your own beliefs about the situation. For example, if you make plans with a friend and then they cancel on you at the last minute, it's normal to be a bit peeved. But if you go into a meltdown over it, chances are that you're ascribing greater significance to it than it really warrants (as in, you believe your friend's behaviour indicates that she doesn't really enjoy your company, or that you're not worth investing time in, or that she doesn't respect you enough to tell you in advance that her plans had changed.) We need to react to the facts of the situation, rather than to our own beliefs about it.

Madison is right - it's hugely important to take responsibility for your own thoughts, feelings and behaviour.

 

[madison1101]

I was referred to a CBT therapist, who was amazing. She really stressed the fact that BPD doesn't have a physical cause, but that it consists mostly of patterns of behaviour you've developed or learned over time. It was empowering to be reminded so often that I had the ability to "unlearn" these behaviours, and she equipped me with the tools to do that. One of the most helpful tools was, whenever you're about to react strongly to a situation, stop and assess whether you're reacting to the situation itself, or to your own beliefs about the situation. For example, if you make plans with a friend and then they cancel on you at the last minute, it's normal to be a bit peeved. But if you go into a meltdown over it, chances are that you're ascribing greater significance to it than it really warrants (as in, you believe your friend's behaviour indicates that she doesn't really enjoy your company, or that you're not worth investing time in, or that she doesn't respect you enough to tell you in advance that her plans had changed.) We need to react to the facts of the situation, rather than to our own beliefs about it.

Madison is right - it's hugely important to take responsibility for your own thoughts, feelings and behaviour.

Great job explaining CBT. Learning to reframe a situation has helped me soooooo much in working my program.

My therapist has helped me learn to self-soothe. He's given my some neat tools for it. While I currently can't afford the Mindfulness Meditation workshops, I did get the iPhone app, which is great. Mindfulness Meditation guides you through focusing your thoughts, for a certain period of time, on your breathing and your body sitting in the chair. It may sound silly, but it does help the body relax, and helps clear your mind of the day's issues.

I also like to meditate on Scripture. My CBT therapist encourages a patient's spirituality in each session. That is, if they have some sort of belief system. He's even written an article about it for a scholarly journal. http://www.humandevelopmentmag.org/articles/fa-summer09.pdf

Of course, Bible study and being mentored/discipled by a mature Christian woman has helped me tremendously. My discipler has helped me process my therapy sessions, by showing me Scripture that guides me in reframing my thinking from God's perspective. Romans 12:1-2.

I journal, and also do visualization exercises.

God is so good.

Hugs,
Trish

 

[Luna1991]

I'm in recovery in the sense that I have been diagnosed and am going through treatment, but I'm not going to (and never will) use the term 'recovered' or 'cured'. But I'm a big believer in the DBT approach of "creating a life worth living", in which you can live with the disorder effectively.

And I'm very far from getting where I need to be to reach that point regardless.

Personally, I never found CBT that helpful in relation to BPD - I'm not being critical of it, and am extremely happy that God has used this form of therapy to heal people. And I myself have found it helpful in relation to other mental health concerns.

For me, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy has been my biggest turning point and biggest relief so far. If you're not familiar with it, it is a form of therapy (which incorporates some CBT skills) which was developed by Marsha Linehan, a sufferer of BPD herself. It focuses on 4 key components: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness. If couldn't recommend it more, particularly those who went through years of CBT with limited results, like myself.

But like I said, I'm still quite early on in my DBT, and am planning on doing a long term outpatient program in the near future (have previously done medium term intensive inpatient), as this is considered to be the most effective method of DBT.

 

[artqween]

I'm in recovery in the sense that I have been diagnosed and am going through treatment, but I'm not going to (and never will) use the term 'recovered' or 'cured'. But I'm a big believer in the DBT approach of "creating a life worth living", in which you can live with the disorder effectively.

And I'm very far from getting where I need to be to reach that point regardless.

Personally, I never found CBT that helpful in relation to BPD - I'm not being critical of it, and am extremely happy that God has used this form of therapy to heal people. And I myself have found it helpful in relation to other mental health concerns.

For me, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy has been my biggest turning point and biggest relief so far. If you're not familiar with it, it is a form of therapy (which incorporates some CBT skills) which was developed by Marsha Linehan, a sufferer of BPD herself. It focuses on 4 key components: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness. If couldn't recommend it more, particularly those who went through years of CBT with limited results, like myself.

But like I said, I'm still quite early on in my DBT, and am planning on doing a long term outpatient program in the near future (have previously done medium term intensive inpatient), as this is considered to be the most effective method of DBT.

Wow... Hi and plezd to meet u.
Suggestion: disability benefits,
Easter seals, u may want to discuss
How u feel with ur family as well
With ur family dr with ur family
Find out other medicines maybe
Able to take. Or over the counter
Remedies u can take.. U will
Feel a thousand fold better.
Possibly write journals on how u
Feel.
Check out local support groups
In ur area with ur family. With
Ur condition.

 

[Luna1991]

Wow... Hi and plezd to meet u.
Suggestion: disability benefits,
Easter seals, u may want to discuss
How u feel with ur family as well
With ur family dr with ur family
Find out other medicines maybe
Able to take. Or over the counter
Remedies u can take.. U will
Feel a thousand fold better.
Possibly write journals on how u
Feel.
Check out local support groups
In ur area with ur family. With
Ur condition.

Hi - pleased to meet you also Thanks so much for your suggestions!!

I have been meaning to look into disability benefits - in rehab they suggested that I would be entitled to some easily. Would be helpful in getting me through uni & paying for therapy.

I'm on Prozac at the moment, but have been on it since before I was diagnosed - so I should probably ask my psychiatrist whether it's best to keep on it or try something else.

I love the idea of writing journals - I don't do that enough!

 

[artqween]

Hi - pleased to meet you also Thanks so much for your suggestions!!

I have been meaning to look into disability benefits - in rehab they suggested that I would be entitled to some easily. Would be helpful in getting me through uni & paying for therapy.

I'm on Prozac at the moment, but have been on it since before I was diagnosed - so I should probably ask my psychiatrist whether it's best to keep on it or try something else.

I love the idea of writing journals - I don't do that enough!

Hi back Luna.. What does ur family think About ur condition! Huge to go toa A support with ur condition with
Ur family? Ull really benefit from it.
Thats what they r for. along with
Easter seals help.. Consider also
Signing up for access program
Online?? Asap would be a great idea? the disability either online
Or locally?? Asap would be a good
Option? always tell ur family how u
R feeling is also suggested?!
We r always rootn for ya ;-)
Never give up...

I take it u like... Mlp- my little pony??
Im a pegasus myself ;-) btw..