9 Things You Should Know about BPD

1 We are not untreatable

-people with BPD are often considered high-risk because of self-harming and suicidal behavior, in reality BPD has one of the most thorough and successful treatments, DBT. using a foundation of mindfulness and living in the moment, skills taught in DBT are emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and distress tolerance

2 We can have stable, loving relationships, romantic and otherwise

-regardless of whether someone has a personality disorder diagnosis, human beings crave belonging and validation, wanting to be understood and accepted

3 BPD is an emotional regulation disorder

-that means it’s hard to regulate your emotions to be effective in work or relationships, with therapy we can learn healthy coping skills to deal with our intense emotional arousal, imagine sending a text and waiting for a response, and you get anxiety while waiting for the response, if you imagine that feeling multiplied in intensity and happening frequently throughout the day, it gives you a small glimpse into how painful it can be to have BPD

4 We don’t self-harm for attention

-it’s because we don’t have the coping mechanisms to deal with our pain in a healthy and productive way, we are in intense emotional pain and we don’t know how to express it, a lot of people don’t understand the high emotional pain that comes with BPD

5 We are not manipulative, and we don’t purposefully try to hurt others

-sometimes we simply lack the skills or coping mechanisms to explain what it is that we need, we often don’t realize how we’re affecting the environment

6 We are doing our best (and we know you are too)

-living with BPD is not easy, and we understand it can be difficult for those who suffer as well as for those who love someone with BPD, we really appreciate your support

7 Having BPD can be very isolating

-because of the stigma associated with our disorder, we often feel very alone, it can be difficult for us to speak up when we’re experiencing an intense emotion because we are afraid someone will think we are being irrational, if we’re distant or push you away, it’s not because we don’t love you, it’s because we are trying to cope in the best way we can

8 BPD looks different on everyone

-BPD is pretty individualized in how it presents, we all experience it differently

9 We are so much more than our diagnosis

-there are a lot of strengths in people with BPD, we are very kind, very caring, very loving, we are also brilliant listeners