There are many symptoms of BPD.
Do any of these ring a bell?
Experiencing emotions that come on very quickly and very intensely
Experiencing your romantic relationships as intense, unsteady, and unpredictable
Feeling afraid that the people you love will abandon you
Feeling like your self-image is unclear - like you're not sure how you see yourself
Learn how to work with, not against, your emotions.
It can be incredibly difficult when your emotions are dialled up to 11 and feelings of intense anger or sadness come out of nowhere. When you’re being told that you’re too sensitive or too emotional, it can be hard to not feel alone. Emotions are signals, but when you don't know how to understand what needs they're communicating, they can overpower you and make you feel out of control.
You might be surprised to hear this, but psychotherapy - not medication - is considered the first-choice treatment for BPD. Through tailored approaches like dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), you will learn coping skills to manage intense emotions in the moment and better communicate your feelings to other people. Instead of being labelled as overly sensitive or dramatic, you will learn how to explain what you're experiencing in a way that they'll understand.
How We Will Work on Your BPD:
Learning Distress Tolerance Skills
Very intense emotions are what probably often lead you to act impulsively or lash out. Together, we’ll develop a skillset to help you learn how to manage those emotions in an intentional way so you feel like you’re in control of your actions.
Developing Emotion Regulation
Your emotions will never go away altogether, so you'll learn the skills that will help you manage your emotions, reduce your vulnerability to unpleasant emotions, and insert more positive emotions into your life.
Improving Your Relationships
You probably feel like no one in your life understands what you're going through. We will teach you skills that will help you communicate your needs in a healthy way so the people you love will be able to understand what you need.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy
The most well-known treatment for BPD is dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT). DBT was created by Dr. Marsha Linehan, a clinical psychologist who actually has BPD herself, to treat her own borderline personality disorder symptoms.
DBT includes numerous skills that help its users create positive changes, and they fall into four categories:
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Mindfulness: How to become more in tune with their thoughts and feelings
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Distress Tolerance: How to handle really painful moments without making them worse
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Emotion Regulation: How to gain more control over emotions and introduce more positive emotions into your life
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Interpersonal Effectiveness: How to communicate better so you can improve your relationships
To learn more about this therapeutic approach, as well as others, visit Types of Therapy.