Stop Walking on Eggshells

Eli Lilly promotes sales of their #1 drug (Zyprexa $4.8 billion per year) that can *cause* diabetes and then turns around and makes billions selling more drugs to treat the diabetes.
Lilly's cash cow Zyprexa has been over-prescribed and linked to a 10-times greater risk of causing type 2 diabetes and increased risk of heart attack.
At 5 to ten times the cost of the old standby thorazine,recent comparative studies show the diabetes inducing zyprexa class of drugs are only borderline better in controlling symptoms.
Only 9 percent of adult Americans think the pharmaceutical industry can be trusted right around the same rating as big tobacco. No Wonder!
Daniel Haszard Zyprexa whistle-blower http://www.zyprexa-victims.com

I am a diagnosed Borderline as well as my teenage son. I have recently begun blogging my journey through DBT. The more I research about BPD, the more information I am coming across about how much stigma is attached to this disorder. So many therapists are warned to stay away from BPD patients as they are "untreatable". I find this astounding, frustrating and unbelievable.

I personally hold onto hope that improvement will come with DBT and refuse to believe there is no hope for all of us out there. The biggest reason I have chosen to blog my journey is to help those who suffer as well as their loved ones see there is hope and healing in this very painful disorder. There needs to be a better understanding and awareness of BPD for everyone out there. Thank you for being a part of that.

Kelly

www.journeyofaborderline.blogspot.com

There is a gaping hole in this article. BPD is not caused by genetics. Please research the large number of articles from the 1980's and 1990's regarding the correlation between BPD and early sexual and physical abuse. After the big backlash from perpetrators fomenting the "implanted memory" syndrome (thus blaming victims and their therapists), the mental health field has turned tail and run from that very real and present social issue. The full spectrum of underlying etiologies for this symptom presentation (BPD) needs to be understood. Medical mental health has re-buried the issue under genetics once again.

This article is not a look at the causes of BPD, but the perspective of a medical director of a BPD DBT inpatient unit. When an adolescent presents BPD in a clinical setting, the clinician can't go back in time and change early childhood experiences, even if it were 100% of the cause of BPD 100% of the time. So while there are very definitely environmental contribution to the causes of BPD, Dr. Aguirre didn't mentioned them. (That's a topic in itself I really should address soon.)

Psychiatrics used different classes of meds off-label to treat some of the SYMPTOMS of BPD. In a hospital setting, patients come in on a variety of meds, sometimes from several doctors. In the hospital, these meds are assessed and "cleaned up." Take a look at this site: http://bpddemystified.com/index.asp?id=21. It by Robert Friedel, who is on the psychiatric advisory board of the National Educational Alliance for B...P...D...

Randi Kreger
www.BPDCentral.com

I have 2 adopted children, male 22 and female 17, who both exhibit "BPD" tendencies. Their birth mother also has been diagnosed w/BPD. I definitely think it's genetic. I have 2 biological children and they do not exhibit ANY of the behaviors my other kids do.

To say this journey has been tough is a gross understatement. We are exhausted financially, physically emotionally and even spiritually. My friends have suggested we seek a support group but I can't find one in our area and I am searching for a DBT therapist right now in the South Eastern region of Philly but not having much luck either. Any suggestions?

I was quite recently introduced to BPD by MY therapist as I spoke of my daughter's symptoms and our journey the past six-seven years. None of her 3 therapists, outpatient program coordinators or hospital staff introduced this as a diagnosis; only the symptoms of depression and anxiety were discussed. After reading more about this online and showing the content to my now 18 year old, she simply replied "Why didn't anyone tell me this before?". So we are both now encouraged that we can seek more targeted counsel for a diagnosis and perhaps treatment that will help her adopt better life skills. My regret at not knowing this is immense since she is very intelligent and creative, but has been unable to finish high school, further impairing her self image. Conversely, I am deeply hopeful that we can find a program (McLean is within our area) and make progress. I beg the psychiatric community - particularly those treating children under 18 - to be more aligned about this disorder, educate themselves completely and be willing to treat this seriously. My daughter feels like the poster child. I look forward to reading Mr. Aguirre's book on the subject and thank you all for sharing these resources.

I guess it depends on who you ask but from my experience it's pretty passe to deem someone manic-depressive and now there's 5-8 varieties of bipolar on the spectrum. I mention this only because in my mid-twenties I was given the big red book by Marsha Linehan. Please understand I am a Huge supporter of DBT. I know those skills are helpful far beyond just treating BPDisorder. I wish that would be acknowledged more. I was diagnosed with bipolar in 2002 but after a particularly rough 2006, a student Dr. deemed me as having "Borderline Personality Disorder" as well. I do not know what specific criteria she based that on but in my mind the first thing that flashed through my memory was Glenn Close in 'Fatal Attraction'. Crap. Yes it's just an old thriller but it made quite the mark. Yay! Now my ex-boyfriend would have further validation that it was me not him! (I'm joking...we hold no grudge to this day).

The problem is, once I was given this label, I looked to identify with it so that then I would have SOME identity when I was feeling extremely fragile and desperate to change. It was almost like I was checking for symptoms that weren't there. I did some acting out in ways I never had before getting BPD on my chart. I stopped myself when I realized I was overidentifying with my bipolar symptoms and creating this BPD person in addition. Got a weeeee bit too indulgent there.

Yes it was therapy but it was also a matter of growing and learning to put some of these diagnoses into my peripheral vision and stop having them define me. What use to feel like infinite pain (when it was really just an hour) is finally starting to come in the mode of "This too shall pass".

Bottom line: On Linehan's book...excellent advice with concrete skills to learn for anyone struggling with means to cope but please change the title already with the next edition if there ever is one! This was published in 1993!!!

Over the last 18 months I have read so many article on BPD it's almost ridiculous. After reading all of those articles I could see traits in my father & myself and medication made a big difference. I could also see how my daughter at just 2-3 yrs old acted inappropriately. Yes, it was cute to see her run up and hug kids at the park or when she cried because kids "trick or treating" on Halloween left our house.(she thought of everyone as her friend and wanted them to stay forever)

My now 17 year old daughter was hospitalized 3 times in 11 months in the past year. Her private psychiatrist actually "diagnosed" BPD when she was only 15. We live in CT and back in 2/2010, after an attempted suicide, I called every hospital in CT trying to find an adolescent DBT program. I even called McLean Hospital, hoping they might know of a Dr in CT. No such luck. There is only one adolescent DBT program in CT and they don't accept insurance. So, we drive to NY Presbyterian in White Plains, NY twice a week. (NY is 1 hour, Boston is 3 hours)

The NY Presbyterian DBT program, run by Dr Stone, is awesome. 20 weeks later my daughter is truly stable. She is attending school and has joined swim team. (inpatient there is great too better than any of the CT hopitals. we did have a setback)

Is she cured? No, but, her coping skills are much better now. She copes with setbacks and hasn't self injured in 4 months. (yea!)

One other comment. In an article I read that there was some talk of renaming the disorder "Emotional Disregulation". Personally, I think that really sums up what the disorder is. It takes away the stigma of it being personality. And explains that the person has trouble regulating their emotions in the same way that a child with ADHD has trouble sitting still. (That is how I explained it to my daughter back when she was 16 when her psychiatrist did not want me to tell her)

Oh, and Yes, I do understand that there are many cases that stem from traumatic incidents. But, that does not negate the genetic instances. Maybe they need to be classified as type 1 and type 2 in the same way as diabetes, one that begins before adulthood and one that begins as an adult.

what the heck is going on here! The d
aughter I use to have is gone. In need of serious help before it is too late. Cannot afford McLean. Live in Florida and so far , cannot find adequate DBT.

My daughter is 13 and last year spent 10 days in a lock down facility because she was in a red zone and was cutting. Westwood Lodge was mental chemotherapy-- you hope the cure does not kill you. All she learned there was more bad habits. She was diagnoed with bi-polar, depression, ADHD, and maybe some other stuff. Some of her new "friends" visited her last summer and I found out she dropped acid twice!
She managed to pull herself out of the funk over the succeeding 8 months without medication (she refuesed to take any after about 3 weeks because it made her head feel "fuzzy like a zombie". Her grades in school went from zerooo to straight "A" by the end of the year. She plays 4 instuments exceedingly well and paints and sings. We had a great summer. Now she is in 8th grade-which is housed at the local high school because of budget cuts-- and informed me she is dating a junior boy and she can do what ever she wants and I can't stop her. She is a bright, talented kid who now wants to hang out with a kid who smokes dope and is academically challeneged. What high school junior wants out of a 13 year old girl??!! Her personality did an 180 degree turn again only 2 months into the school year-- only 3 weeks after meeting this kid. My husband and I are sick of the profanity, lying, devious behavior, her starve/binge dieting,using cutting as a threat to us so she can have what she wants, making life miserable with the family, etc.

I think bpd and adhd/depression might be a more accurate guage of her disorder more than bipolar. Her menstration is random becuase of her diet and I think that hormones may also contribute to this whole mess. There is no genetic link to pbd although I am being treated for depression (my mom has it too).

I might have expected the defiant behavior when she was 15-16, not 12/13. My husband is ready to throw in the towel, but I can't throw away a 13 year old incredible kid --when she is not acting out.

I want a kid "boot" camp to knock sense into her. My other two children -16 and 11-- are upset, worried, angry with her volitile behavior, and very scared for their sister.

What happens when she is 16?
Can pbd present at 12-14?
how do I protect my other kids?

I'm concerned about some inaccuracy in the presentation here of criterion #1 for BPD.

First, the actual wording of the diagnostic item is "frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment". While not including the word "frantic" in this post may be a semantic issue, I think it's got a meaningful impact. In general, nobody likes to be left behind, so someone trying to avoid it is normative, not pathological. For example, turning your work in on time to avoid being fired isn't exactly a pathological behavior. Only when efforts to avoid abandonment become a frequent and frantic preoccupation do they meet this BPD criterion.

Second, criterion number one also explicitly notes: "Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5." Yet, the example presented here uses suicidal behavior and self-injury to illustrate the point.

I think this is an important topic to raise awareness for adolescents struggling with BPD issues. As such, I hope the presentation of the issue is done in as clear and accurate a way as possible to try and avoid the misconstrual of normative responses to interpersonal distress (i.e. efforts vs 'frantic efforts' to avoid abandonment) and to highlight that there's more to the BPD problem than suicidality.

This raised a bit of concern for me because I was in a serious relationship with someone at the age of 15 who should have been diagnosed and receiving the proper treatment for BPD. Why is it that other disorders get diagnosed in children, but this one, which (as witnessed firsthand) is extremely self-destructive and harmful, is put on hold until the age of 18? There was serious raise for concern long before then, such as the constant threats of suicide and the way he treated me personally.
If the symptoms are there, why should someone wait to get help? It could be too late by then.

This is the first time I have entered anything onthis site. I feel badly because I've only taken and have not contributed. Not sure where to begin, but do feel there is something I may be able to share about our experience that may be able to help someone. By the way, I'm the father, which is irrelevant but interesting since it seems all that I have read have come from mothers.

My daughter was literally the perfect child, until around 12.5 years old. Smart, incredibly sweet, and very bright. We never so much as had to raise our voice to her- ever. Then she started to stay in her room, look very sad, moody, didn't want anything to do with us, etc. We mistakenly thought all of it was the " teenage girl thing". She has had a very stable family envirnment - two stable brothers, stable marriage with her parents, loving grandparents, private school environment, etc. No chaos, no drama, just really a very blessed and normal childhood. She was the last person we or anyone who knew her thought something would go astray.

The moodiness, hibernation in her room and all that progressively got worse. A couple of years ago at 14 I insisted one night when I went to kiss her good night that she talk to me. It was obvious she was very depressed. We took her to our Dr and then a councilor. She was actually saying that she need one. Turns out she was telling a friend she had feelings of hate toward her parents and she know it wasn't right, as well as other feelings. She knew she needed some help, and was actually trying to diagnose herself on the Internet at night. That was the beginning of the journey. October 2009.

Over ther coure of the next couple of years she was admitted three time to an adelesant psyc ward. She was eventually diagnosed with BDP. What is very interestesing is that when she was finally told what she had, she has never mentioned it, and all the inquiry about her diagnosis stopped. Her councilor does not mention BDP, but has been working with DBT. We have had the cutting, impulsiveness, sex, etc, etc. One thing that everyone needs to be aware of is the fact that they get exposed to some bad situations when they are admitted. She met a boy that is really bad news. Currently in jail, nut still in our lives.we monitor and restrict most everything, but the truth is they are only one cell phone ( any cell phone) away from connecting with anyone via Facebook or whatever! It has been incredibly difficult to say the least.

But, a glimmer of hope. She has been somewhat stable for a few months now. Of course the boy is in jail. She doesn't socialize, communicate and live like a normal 16 year old (17 this month), but it certainly has been better. I attribute this to a lot of things, but one is certainly the DBT therapy and an excellent councilor. As well as an excellent Dr. She take prozak (60mg), lithium, and wellbutrin. Took agile to get these right. She still sleeps too much , but again , you learn it isn't going to be perfect. I'm certain we have a tough road ahead of us. But thankful for somewhat of a stable time. There is so much I could talk about that may be helpful to someone. I know I have never even heard of BPD and I'm sure most of you haven't either. It's frightening, and incredibly sad to have your daughter or child to suffer from this. And the tool it takes on the family, well everyone on here knows that. I will stop there, as I could go on for days, and if our story resonates with anyone, please let me know. Ita an extremely difficult journey, but at least there seems to be some degree of hope- whereas apparently use to there wasn't any.

I just wanted to say hi to everyone who shares my same concern and tell you a little about myself. I'm a mother of a child who has personality disorder. not bpd. she has exhibited a full array of behaviors ever since she was very young. At 3 she skillfully knew how to pitch people against each other. At 5 she started school and it has been a daily struggle since. She has always talked to herself. She thinks part of her is wolf. She can not control her impulses. She has extreme attention demands. She is extremely intelligent. She has no conscience towards others. In other words she can hurt the whole world but she's ok with it as long as it doesn't hurt her. And she has done this many times. My daughter comes from a good family. Not perfect, just regular middle class people. I'm a mom with a lot of love but strong values. She has never been abused and never been seriously ill. She's been through the normal trauma such as a pets death and parents divorce. When she was 15 she breached national security and escaped out of the country with a boyfriend. She was too young to even date but she managed to create a double life, one on the family front and the darker one. We didn't buy it completely but she definately bought herself some time. We had a fight with the other country she went to and forced them to send her back. They did. But in the meantime the incident was on national news where she declared that she'd rather come home in a body bag. She completely abandoned and sold out her entire family on national tv. After the other country returned her she went into voluntary dcf custody and for 9 months received treatment and they were able to keep her safe. But it was a facility for typical teenagers with teenage angst. Most of them had been abused or neglected. We were the rarity, the loving family. My daughter and I were told at that time she has personality disorder but she could not receive the diagnosis til she turns 18. I don't believe she had the right care there. During her 9 months in the facility they had to change their entire system and dedicate new staff and a room just for her. The last six weeks I was getting really scared still having no idea what was going on and told her that people were starting to think something was really wrong. People were starting to tell me I'd have to care for her for the rest of her life! The next 6 weeks she had what I learned since is a 'fake recovery'. She was able to go through all the motions to get out of that facility. They sent her home. Right away we felt we couldn't keep her safe because my husband and I are just two people, we don't live in a locked facility and we have to sleep some time. We had several agencies from dcf come to the house 3 - 5 times a week including counselors. But less than 3 months at home she started creating a double life again while she was doing things she wasn't supposed to like dating 27 year old men who I call pedophiles very openly! Then she started dating a 23 year old man. After her 17th birthday she ran again. In her note it just said life is too short. Again she planned to cut off her family entirely. Same as last time, for a boy she's only known for a few weeks. Only now that she's 17 there's nothing we can do. The state considers her an adult yet so far she's been too young to receive proper treatment. It was like she just bought herself sometime until she knew no one could do anything this time. We had the police over and dcf has been involved and even as a parent there is nothing I can do because of her age! She's too young to vote, in some cases I'm still responsible for her, yet there's nothing no one can do??? Now we have to watch as she ruins her life. I'm not about to settle for that. My plan is to wait for something to happen, as it will, I give it about 6 weeks. We noticed she seems to be cyclic and they seem to be getting shorter as well as her disease seems to be coming into it's own. But when something happens she will either want to or have to come home. I have a feeling the amount of help she is going to be receptive to is going to directly correlate with as much as she gets hurt. But when it happens I need to be ready and have something lines up for her, possibly bring her to the best treatment facility in the area so she can receive proper diagnosis and treatment finally. I live in central Massachusetts. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions I would be grateful. Thank you for letting me share my story. (more like get it off my chest)
nbcwebmistress@msn.com

I am not sure where to begin but I guess I can say that I had never really heard anything about BPD until about 8 months ago when a woman in the family court/ mediation system (Australia) unofficially 'diagnosed' my ex husband with BPD. I researched and was amazed when his behaviours and actions fit everything I was reading on the websites to a T. It certainly explained a lot about the 17 difficult year I had been with him and the ridiculously difficult divorce.

Now to our eldest son.. his best friend Scott died suddenly of a still unexplained medical condition - and it has destroyed his world. The first couple of months after Scott died my son's behaviour seemed to be 'normal' grief but progressively it has become like so many other teenagers everyone on this post is writing about. He has been diagnosed with severe depression and is on anti depressants. These have caused a psychotic episode which required 4 police and my son in handcuffs to bring him under control. He was taken to an adult hospital psychiatry ward but released into my care later that same night. Since then he has self harmed, attempted suicide and began a very methodical preparation plan for a 'final' suicide attempt. He spent a short amount of time on a children's psychiatric ward and has now had his medication upped. However, his behaviours are becoming more worrying every day and I am at my wits end,

His father has been emotionally abusive to him, particularly over the past 4 or so years and in that time we have also experienced a few occasions of physical abuse at his hands. My son has, in spite of all this and in spite of not having a close relationship to his father - to move in with him! This is a disastrous situation as his father lets him do whatever he pleases and has no rules or boundaries. My son is alienating everyone around him, he has become self centred, arrogant, demeaning, disrespectful, verbally abusive not to mention showing episodes of mania, running away and cyclic love/ hate in regard to his relationship with me.

I have been researching mental illnesses as I feel certain that he is affected by something other than simply depression. I don't know if he has Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or BPD as he seems to exhibit symptoms from all three however BPD resonates the most with what he is going through.

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas on my situation, I would welcome your feedback.

Thank you