[here today]

In another thread:

Originally Posted by redbandit

. . . I was just dxd with BPD the other day, but had been told by a therapist previously that I have a personality disorder. She just kinda left it at that. Didnt explain it further or how to cope.

After 3 years of effective therapy, I feel like I'm finally coming out of my PDNOS. But I still feel very frustrated about the years of ineffective therapy when nobody (including me) understood what the problem was, or how to address it.

It doesn't seem to me like NAMI and other mental health advocacy organizations are addressing this issue. Many focus on the "severe and persistent" mental illnesses. I feel mine was more like "moderate and chronic", although I did have a severe meltdown after my husband died.

Does this ring true for anybody else? With effective therapy becoming available for BPD (and I know I finally found someone who could help me with the who-knew-what-it-was problem that she diagnosed as PDNOS and DDNOS) -- I think generalist therapists need to be educated to diagnose PD's early on and TO REFER those clients to specialist therapists who know how to help. Plus, give the clients handouts of some of the good information that is on the internet. Yes, we can look it up ourselves, and should, but we need SOMETHING to hold onto when we walk out of a clinician's office with a diagnosis of a PD.

[Travelinglady]

I understand what you are saying. I actually found out from my therapist recently that some therapists don't even tell their patients if they have a PD. These disorders tend to be pervasive, and not every patient is willing to accept such a diagnosis, much less do much about it.

I was in therapy for a good while before my therapist hinted to me that I had BPD. I was devastated that she hadn't told me earlier. But when I found out, I asked her to help me with treatment. On my own I even went through two bouts of DBT. I am now to the point where more recent psychiatrists and therapists say they see no BPD symptoms in me. (I was high-functioning to begin with.)

I believe patients should be told and asked if they want any treatment. But we need to realize, as the name says, that these symptoms have become part of their personality--and the patient has to be very motivated to make progress in changing. If we consider diagnoses such as antisocial PD, histrionic PD, and narcisstic personality PD especially, then I'm not sure such people generally have much motivation to change.

[~EnlightenMe~]

It would be nice if there was an advocacy organization! I have had therapy that wasn't helpful for my BPD, and it left me enraged and frustrated. I wish that at the very least that therapists would understand respons-ability and responsibility as you posted about earlier, here today.