Mr. Anand A. Rao

Borderline personality disorder 

Borderline personality disorder is experienced in individuals in many different ways. Often, people with this disorder will find it more difficult to distinguish reality from their own misperceptions of the world and their surrounding environment. While this may seem like a type of delusion disorder to some, it is actually related to their emotions overwhelming regular cognitive functioning.People with this disorder often see others in “black-and-white” terms. Depending upon the circumstances and situation, for instance, a therapist can be seen as being very helpful and caring toward the client. But if some sort of difficulty arises in the therapy, or in the patient’s life, the person might then begin characterizing the therapist as “bad” and not caring about the client at all. Clinicians should always be aware of this “all-or-nothing” lability most often found in individuals with this disorder and be careful not to validate it.

Therapists and doctors should learn to be like a rock when dealing with a person who has this disorder. That is, the doctor should offer his or her stability to contrast the client’s lability of emotion and thinking. Many professionals are turned off by working with people with this disorder, because it draws on many negative feelings from the clinician. These occur because of the client’s constant demands on a clinician, the constant suicidal gestures, thoughts, and behaviors, and the possibility of self-mutilating behavior. These are sometimes very difficult items for a therapist to understand and work with.Psychotherapy is nearly always the treatment of choice for this disorder; medications may be used to help stabilize mood swings. Controversy surrounds overmedicating people with this disorder.

The most successful and effective psychotherapeutic approach to date has been marsha linehan’s dialectical behavior therapy (dbt). This treatment was originally developed to help chronically suicidal individuals. Dbt combines crisis intervention support with other intervention practices that are theoretically grounded in eastern meditative and acceptance-based philosophies. Research conducted on this treatment have shown it to be more effective than most other psychotherapeutic and medical approaches to helping a person to better cope with this disorder. Dbt focuses on helping the client build skills in acceptance and tolerance of intense negative emotions as a means to take better control of their lives, their emotions, and themselves. In dbt, the therapist and client are expected to build a relationship where the therapist can help the client start to bridge the gap between “emotional” and “rational” interpretations of their world.