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If you have a loved one that has been struggling with their mental health for a while and they tell you that they have borderline personality disorder, you may be understandably unsure and confused about the situation. Most people have never heard of borderline personality disorder, let alone understanding it. In order to be there to support your loved one as best you can, learn a few things you should know, if your loved one has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Then, you can better help and understand your loved one and their mental health struggles.
Borderline Personality Disorder Gets a Bad Rap
One of the things you need to know about borderline personality disorder is that it gets a bad rap. Many people accuse borderlines of being manipulative, selfish, or even evil and violent. This is not true of everyone with the disorder. In fact, most people with borderline personality disorder could not be described in such a way.
Try not to put too much stock in memes and other cultural perception of borderline personality disorder. Your loved one is the same person they have always been. The only difference is now they have a diagnosis which will help them get treatment to improve their life. That's all.
Borderline Personality Disorder Is Mainly Treated with Counseling
Most psychiatric conditions are treated using medications first and counseling or therapy second. This is not the case with borderline personality disorder. The primary means of treating this condition is adult counseling services.
Counseling can take several different approaches including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). Therapy usually occurs in individual sessions and may also include family therapy and group therapy. These group sessions can help a person with borderline personality disorder immensely, as many symptoms of borderline personality disorder have to do with interpersonal relationships.
Medications are secondary to therapy for people with borderline personality disorder. In fact, there is no medication specifically prescribed to treat borderline personality disorder as a whole. Instead, medications address specific symptoms of the condition. If a person with borderline has depression, they may be given antidepressants. Alternatively, a person with anxiety may receive medications designed to treat their anxiety (like Xanax or Valium).
Borderline Personality Disorder Is Not a Life Sentence
The good news about borderline personality disorder is that with the right treatment, it can be managed to the point where it is basically gone. A person needs to meet 5 of 9 basic criteria to have borderline personality disorder. Treatment with counseling can actually lead a person to no longer meet those 5 criteria, in which case they no longer technically have the condition. This is not to say that they will never meet those 5 criteria again, but with continues support and counseling, the borderline person could make a full recovery.
Now that you are aware of the facts to know if your loved one is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, you can be the best support system for your loved one possible.
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