Description
Book SynopsisBPD is a potentially devastating mental disorder characterized by unstable moods, negative self-image, and dangerous impulsivity. Many people with BPD excel in academics and careers while revealing erratic, self-destructive, and sometimes violent behavior only to those with whom they are intimate. Others have trouble simply holding down a job or staying in school. It is believed that suicide claims about one in ten people with BPD. Overcoming Borderline Personality Disorder: A Family Guide for Healing and Change is a compassionate, informative, and reassuring guide to understanding this profoundly unsettling--and widely misunderstood--mental illness, believed to affect 2-3% of the general population. Overcoming Borderline Personality Disorder offers families and loved ones supportive guidance that both validates the difficulties they face and shows how they can be overcome. Rather than viewing people with BPD as manipulative opponents in a bitter struggle, or pitying them as emotional
Trade Review"Valerie Porr has championed the cause of people with borderline personality disorder for decades. Her understanding of the disorder and its effects on the individuals themselves and their families, partners, and friends is outstanding. This readable and informative book distils her years of experience and her first hand knowledge of how to help patients and families, providing the practical wisdom that comes only with a genuine understanding of what it is to be 'borderline'. This is required reading for anyone, from novice to expert, who seeks an understanding of borderline personality disorder and who wants practical guidance on what helps." --Anthony Bateman, Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, Barnet, Enfield, and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust and Visiting Professor University College, London "Overcoming Borderline Personality Disorder by Valerie Porr is like water for a parched land. Few psychiatric disorders are as misunderstood as borderline personality disorder, a condition that can be profoundly disabling to patients and devastating to families. Opinions about what families should do are plentiful, but evidence-based guidance, derived from solid research, is rare. This is what this book delivers. It is an invaluable roadmap for families of patients with BPD." --John Oldham, Chief of Staff, The Menninger Clinic "An important book for family members of people with BPD." --Larry Siever, Professor of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine "She ably explains neuroscience as it applies here and emphasizes understanding, validation, and acceptance (not unconditional love)... An outstanding model of the psychoeducational approach, this volume bridges a daunting gap between laity and psychotherapists. Highly recommended for professionals as well as families of these patients." --Library Journal
Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Foreword ; 1. A Voice for the Voiceless: Validating Families of People with BPD ; 2. The Juggler: Reframing BPD - An Overview of Neurobiology of the Disorder ; 3. How Do You Change Behavior ; 4. Validation: Talking to the Amygdala ; 5. How to Speak Emotion: What are Emotions - Learning the Language of BPD ; 6. Radical Acceptance and Grieving ; 7. Understanding DBT ; 8. Mindfulness and DBT Coping Skills ; 9. Is DBT enough? Understanding Mentalization ; 10. Putting it All Together: How to Do the DBT Dance ; 11. Collaborating for Change: What Clinicians Need to Know ; 12. Advocacy ; References
