Recently diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

I recommend Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), a type of therapy specifically designed to treat people with BPD if/when you feel ready for working on change. I would call around for therapists who do this treatment modality. It can be very helpful to feeling more whole and in control of one's own life. People learn to accept themselves while learning to control emotions and have better social interactions. You can also check out the book and workbook. I'm a retired therapist and I found DBT helpful for both myself and clients!

@shelleyw I'm here when you want to ask questions. I hope the surgery goes well.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is mentioned by @msmerz You might like to look into it as it is a good approach for people diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. Also, DBT has a lot of research evidence in its favor as the approach has been around long enough to be well studied.

msmerri, DBT, CBT are both great and work well for some people... I have done both twice, I keep a set of brightly colored cards with the helpful hints, next to my recliner. For me, example: reading "radical acceptance " translates to just give up. Then I start thinking (not always a good idea for BPD +MDD with recurring episodes, that now don't recur, cuz the episode is just basically permanent), and being told that radical acceptance is a positive tool, just makes me mad and feel worse about myself. I'm not sure it's even possible to feel worse about myself, the negative/self hatred/stupid failure gremlin inside my head never shuts up.

Hey! I kinda think you might give DBT a better chance. It seems that maybe you expect to read about radical acceptance and to have that take hold. If you work it and read those cue cards every day for a year it will make a difference. If you do it for another year it will help more and more, etc. It also helps a great deal if you work to talk back to that negative/self-hatred/stupid failure gremlin in your head and take charge of that ugly beast. It's your head and does not belong to anyone else! Tell it to SHUT THE F___ UP! and tell it who is in charge, again and again. It's up to you to take charge of who you are - a little at a time.

I recommend Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), a type of therapy specifically designed to treat people with BPD if/when you feel ready for working on change. I would call around for therapists who do this treatment modality. It can be very helpful to feeling more whole and in control of one's own life. People learn to accept themselves while learning to control emotions and have better social interactions. You can also check out the book and workbook. I'm a retired therapist and I found DBT helpful for both myself and clients!

Thanx for your reply, funny you mention that I tell the gremlin to shut up... I actually do this almost everyday, on bad days I scream it many times l out loud and use your words. I have had to tell my husband that if he hears me, it's ALWAYS ME that is being screamed at and about, it is never him. Fortunately, our children are adults, and we live out of town on an acreage, so no one else will hear my screaming 😱 Shelley

I am hearing how horrible your bad days are. You say you have tried all these things that work for other people. What are you trying persistently to help yourself? Please try another way of thinking - I believe that persistence on a track that does not seem to work for a while is the way to go. It has worked for me over years of trying.

Medicine labels everything a disorder, I guess that’s better than nothing. Unfortunately it often leads to treatments that cause cognitive impairment and emotional blunting, (two ways of saying the same thing) precisely the tools we need to heal.

My experience and research has lead me to believe that humans exist along a spectrum of “normal for them” behavior.

Behavior manifest as a result of the biological changes are body (the brain is part of the body) makes to cope with the trauma, biological or emotional really, both are the same as one begets the other.

The adaptations are real and effect how the brain and the whole body develop and function,

The problem with turning everything into a disorder is that we try to heal it with medical interventions when what is need is to help the brain heal itself.”

We know how to do this but no one makes any money from a simple, but not easy, way to heal.

I’m sure there are times when medical intervention is warranted, but most psychiatric medications actually make it more difficult to heal.

Numb is not healing, it is often just much needed relief from the suffering.

The only way to cure, yes cure, mental illness is to help the brain and body heal.

Again science has made it clear what is needed, but if everyone heals, the self-organizing system we call the pharmaceutical industry will suffer and no system be it biological or self-organized wants to suffer, so it fights back and we get sicker and sicker.

I think we can change this.

I hope everyone lives in peace and good health.