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bpdtransformation · Feb 05, 2014 at 12:51 PM

Starling,

Thank you for your kind message. Regarding your physician, he sounds like a terrible doctor!

I'm sorry you had to hear that BS. The funny thing is, what he said doesn't even make sense. If the problem is with someone's personality, there are studies out there that show that personality and level of well-being does change significantly over time. There was a recent German study of thousands of people that showed that people's level of well-being sometimes changes dramatically based on differing environmental conditions and during important life events. It's not all genetic or inborn personality. There is a very good book about this topic called "The Mirage of a Space Between Nature and Nurture" by Evelyn Fox Keller. It explains how nature and nurture interact in complex ways so that one cannot exist without the other, in other words, "nature via nurture". I recommend it if you like reading. Also, Jay Joseph's work refuting genetic determinism and predetermined personality is verying useful. If you search for Jay Joseph on Google, his books and articles are on his website for free. I don't have any affiliation with these people by the way, but they helped me feel more sure that those who say BPD is genetic or unchangeable are dead wrong.

Good for you for intending to be fully recovered. There is no reason that you cannot do it! If you need any more sources or articles about borderlines who have recovered fully, private message me and I will send you some.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starling.

Thanks for posting, it was good to read this and I'm so pleased that you're doing so well. That is great to hear.

I absolutely intend to be fully recovered. I have no intention of resigning myself to a life of 'being borderline'.

I was diagnosed relatively recently, and read a lot of articles and forum posts and so on about how it couldn't be recovered from, and only managed, but I also found quite a bit of research which just doesn't support that idea. Within only a few years from diagnosis, many people will no longer fit enough criteria for the diagnosis.

Of course, not everyone will end up being able to fully recover. But even then, being able to manage and cope with it is a positive thing! The recovery model is becoming very popular with regard to mental health in general, but it seems like when it comes to PDs, the same ideas are often framed in a more negative way. Instead of emphasising the positives about being able to live a meaningful life in spite of symptoms, and the resilience that that takes, it can be put more like "oh BPD? You'll never get rid of it, the best you can hope for is learning to cope a bit better and reducing some of those behaviours."

It frustrates me. I was told by my doctor that since it's a personality style rather than an illness, there's nothing that can be done, and it can't be changed. Which I think is just such an unhelpful and outdated point of view, and I think it's terribly sad that he's telling people this.

Anyway, for me right now, it's hard to say how recovered I am. I have been very well and I think I cope better with the bad bits, but for me it's always been very episodic, so we'll see whether that can be sustained. Hopefully it will and I won't end up back where I started!