Where's the success stories bit?

Waelwulf · Jul 20, 2013 at 06:35 PM

I just wondered is there anybody out there with a Personality Disorder success story? As we don't have a separate forum for it I was wondering do they even exist? or are those suffering cursed to be like it forever? I really don't think they are. I have come along way since first being diagnosed as PD and although i have some way to go yet I would say I am almost a success story. but am i delusional? will i get worse again? hmm...

here today · Jul 21, 2013 at 04:54 AM

I feel kind of the same way. So, I doubt that you are delusional. I’m also curious about what your experience has been. Would you like to share some more of your story?

Waelwulf · Jul 25, 2013 at 06:00 PM

I'm not sure because i still have alot of issues surrounding the mental health services and trusting the internet. I'm not paranoid however just a little concerned, but i will tell you what i do and don't experience anymore.
I was diagnosed at first with schizotypal pd but i recovered from this meaning i was more normal, less outlandish and able to communicate and things like that.
so they labelled me as borderline because i self harm and take overdoses.
but i no longer do those things i'm not paranoid, unstable, self harming, or anything
personally i believe myself to be mis labelled. but if i had either of these disorders i certainly don't any more.

Multiple survivor · Aug 05, 2013 at 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waelwulf

I'm not sure because i still have alot of issues surrounding the mental health services and trusting the internet. I'm not paranoid however just a little concerned, but i will tell you what i do and don't experience anymore.
I was diagnosed at first with schizotypal pd but i recovered from this meaning i was more normal, less outlandish and able to communicate and things like that.
so they labelled me as borderline because i self harm and take overdoses.
but i no longer do those things i'm not paranoid, unstable, self harming, or anything
personally i believe myself to be mis labelled. but if i had either of these disorders i certainly don't any more.

Hi Waelwulf- I was a "success story" until I relapsed due to re-engaging w family. I was strong, confident, and ready to live the healthy life I always knew I could live. It took me 15 yrs to recover the first time... It has taken me 4 yrs this time around. U kno yourself better than docs do; however, always remember to dbl check ur sanity and find affirmations thru what ever methods u find most helpful.

here today · 11:57 PM

With my PD issues, I have felt like I needed to be “re-socialized”. I had dissociation issues, too, which a trauma specialist therapist has helped me with. Getting in touch with and reconnected to a lot of emotional pain has been essential. We’ve pretty much done that and are working on mostly the PD stuff right now and I feel like we’re making progress on that, too. I’ve also been attending activities at a local peer support center, trying to learn to be “myself”, take some social risks, experience the consequences, and consciously learn from them. I’m not close with family currently and don’t work so the peer support center is an important part of my social life.

From what I’ve read the general consensus is that personality is a joint product of nature and nurture, of temperament and socialization.

Does the idea of “re-socialization” as a component of help for personality disorders (or maybe it should be called “personality dysfunction”) make sense to anyone else here?

here today · Aug 29, 2013 at 07:49 AM

There’s a good new article in the main (professional) blogs called “Borderline Personality Disorder: Disconnectedness and Emotional Chaos”. There are several “success stories” in it, along with the people’s accounts of their symptoms and difficulties before they were diagnosed and treated, and how they are different now.

This is certainly good news. BPD is a difficult and potentially life-threatening condition. It is not the only PD, however, that is difficult to live with – for ourselves and others. I wish there were more attention and research paid to the “rest” of the PD’s, too.

It’s important, too, that the success stories get into the mainstream media. It’s a real bummer to be struggling to understand myself and find help and “get better” (how does one define that?), only to have the internet blasting articles about how terrible people with PD’s are. That’s probably just a fad – 2 decades ago, when I was looking to understand why I had continuing mild to moderate depression, the insurance companies wouldn’t pay for treatment for PD’s so therapists weren’t officially diagnosing them. So, another ten years and maybe people with PD’s will routinely have a chance at improving themselves and their lives. Just for right now – it still sucks.

Atypical_Disaster · Sep 03, 2013 at 06:07 PM

Personality disorders get a bad rap, because by their nature they are stable and enduring over time. It's hard to change those deeply ingrained patterns. It is possible though and I think it'd be great if more people talked about "success stories" with personality disorders.

My other thought though is that even on the forums that do have success stories there tend to be very few posts. Why? Simply because most people who are seeking support on an online forum are not "recovered" by anyone's definition of the word. They're seeking support because they are still struggling.

here today · Sep 10, 2013 at 10:51 AM

A couple of breakthroughs recently, both personally and in a family relationship. Family member had issues, too, so it was not just me – the “mentally ill” one, scapegoat, identified patient.

But I am still pissed that it has taken so damn long for me. 50 years of therapy on and off, 11 years since I had a major breakdown.

T says nothing I can do about it, just grieve. OK, so yeah, the anger and wanting to change things IS a well-ingrained defense against hopelessness and loss in my personal life. But I’m 66, almost dead for heaven’s sake! Since I’m still here, just passively accepting the fact that many therapists don’t know how to recognize, let alone treat, personality disorders and thinking that’s OK – NO, it’s not.

I think many therapists need the success stories, too. So they can have some direction if they are treating someone or, perhaps more importantly, they can be willing to recognize problems and refer people on to a specialist. Knowing that success can be had for the person – but maybe NOT by a non-specialist therapist – could, perhaps, mobilize something besides an avoidance and rejection reaction. Good Lord, I’ve had so many of those!! I’d be “nice”, as I learned to do in the 1950s, and then honest, as I understood I was supposed to be in therapy, and then therapists would recoil. And I didn’t have a clue – which is part of the point of having a PD, at least mine.

Key for me, in the last 3 ½ years, is that I’ve had a therapist who specialized in trauma. Also I’ve found some in-person support groups, as well as online forums.

Personality is something that develops in the process of socialization, so my belief and theory is that, to be changed, it needs re-socialization. Therapy may be a part of that, but can’t be all.

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here today Grand Magnate Member Since Jun 2012 Location: USA Posts: 3,515 12 1,429 hugs given	Jul 21, 2013 at 04:54 AM #2 I feel kind of the same way. So, I doubt that you are delusional. I’m also curious about what your experience has been. Would you like to share some more of your story?
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