I am a student at Wright State University interested in Borderline Personality Disorder; this website has been developed as an assignment for Health Communication Course.
As a family member of someone with borderline personality disorder, I was previously very confused about what it meant. Over time I have found that to best handle the situation, it is crucial to understand the nature, symptoms and treatment options of the disorder. My goal is to create a path to understanding.
While there is no definite treatment for borderline personality disorder, understanding within relationships can help one overcome many symptoms. "Borderline" was once used when a more distinct disorder could not be named, but the disorder has made a name for itself over time. In order for a family to help a loved one with BPD, they first must understand the nature of the disorder. They may ask questions like "why do they act the way they do?" and "what are they experiencing right now?" Family and friends need to be on the lookout for symptoms. What we may attribute to natural anger or other emotions may be different or harmful to someone with BPD. By understanding the disorder and its symptoms, family and friends can help.
As a family member of someone with borderline personality disorder, I was previously very confused about what it meant. Over time I have found that to best handle the situation, it is crucial to understand the nature, symptoms and treatment options of the disorder. My goal is to create a path to understanding.
While there is no definite treatment for borderline personality disorder, understanding within relationships can help one overcome many symptoms. "Borderline" was once used when a more distinct disorder could not be named, but the disorder has made a name for itself over time. In order for a family to help a loved one with BPD, they first must understand the nature of the disorder. They may ask questions like "why do they act the way they do?" and "what are they experiencing right now?" Family and friends need to be on the lookout for symptoms. What we may attribute to natural anger or other emotions may be different or harmful to someone with BPD. By understanding the disorder and its symptoms, family and friends can help.
Susanna Kaysen wrote her memoir, Girl, Interrupted, depicting her experience with borderline personality disorder. Above is a compilation of clips from the film adaptation.
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"In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital as renowned for its famous clientele--Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor, and Ray Charles--as for its progressive methods of treating those who could afford its sanctuary. Kaysen's memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers. It is a brilliant evocation of a "parallel universe" set within the kaleidoscopically shifting landscape of the late sixties.Girl, Interruptedis a clear-sighted, unflinching documnet that gives lasting and specific dimension to our definitions of sane and insane, mental illness and recovery. "
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Emma Harmeyer, 2012