BPD Treatment in NYC

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) Treatment NYC

bpd awareness

“Do I have borderline personality disorder (BPD)?” When you ask yourself this question, you may constantly have a hard time managing your emotions, have fear of abandonment, feel unworthy of love, and have difficulty maintaining a healthy relationship. If you are looking for borderline personality disorder treatment in NYC, our therapists at Mind Connections deal with symptoms and live a happier life.

Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder

Someone with BPD can feel emotions very intensely. Borderline Personality Disorder can make someone experience extreme episodes of sadness and depression, anxiety, anger, or shame. These emotions are strong and can be challenging to cope with. 

Symptoms of BPD 

To spread BPD awareness, let’s go over this disorder’s symptoms. The DSM-5 shares 9 symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder:

1, Fear of Abandonment. People with BPD may also feel like they have to reject people before being left behind, that is, a typical defense mechanism. 

2, Rocky Relationships. Because of the idealization and devaluation of people and themselves, as well as their extreme emotions, their relationships can be unstable. 

3, Unclear Self-Image. This struggle to define who they are can cause them to be harsh on themselves and feel lost in life. 

4, Affective Instability. Mood swings, reckless behavior, and get triggered easily.

5, Impulsive and Reckless Behaviors. These actions can consequently risk their lives and put them in danger. 

6, Suicidal Ideation and Self-Harm.

7, Inappropriate Anger. BPD can cause extreme anger issues and express these emotions at inappropriate times. 

8, Chronic Feeling of Emptiness. 

9, Stress-Related Paranoid Ideation. Paranoia makes someone stressed that they are, for example, being constantly watched, judged, and put in danger. 

High-Functioning BPD

What is high functioning borderline personality disorder, or quiet BPD? On the surface, you may be calm, friendly, energetic, and successful at work; however, deep inside, you may feel sad, lonely, anxious,  and having a lot of shame. You may have intense emotions of fear, anger, and shame, yet you keep it to yourself. That is, you suffer quietly.

How does borderline personality disorder affect relationships?

When you suffer from BPD, usually your intimate relationship is bumpy. You have repeated the same pattern of a push-pull type of relationship. It seems common to have this: Fear of abandonment, feeling unworthy of love, and difficulty maintaining a healthy relationship.

Do any of these sounds familiar to you? For example, tremendous fear of abandonment, be highly competent at work, and perhaps many look to you for leadership and advice. You may be popular and friendly amongst friends, and appear energetic and optimistic. Behind the screen, however, you suffer from intense lonelinessshame, and may be extremely critical of yourself.

What Causes Borderline Personality Disorder?

it is likely that a combination of genetic, environmental, and neurological factors play a role to cause BPD. Some possible causes include:

  1. Genetics: Research across three countries suggests that there may be a genetic component to BPD, as the disorder appears to run in families.

  2. Trauma: Many people with BPD have experienced childhood trauma, including physical or sexual abuse, neglect, or abandonment.

  3. Environmental factors: In particular, a chaotic or unstable home environment can contribute to the development of BPD.

  4. Neurological factors: Research has shown that people with BPD may have differences in brain structure and function, particularly in areas of the brain that regulate emotions and impulses.

Emotions Regulation (ER) Issues

Furthermore, people with BPD struggle with emotional regulation (ER), the overall maintenance and response system of emotions. Moreover, struggling with ER can make it hard for someone to respond to stressful situations more healthily. The lack of ER can cause relationships or friendships to face some rough times. 

Additionally, if you have BPD, you may notice you repeat the same pattern of a push-pull type of relationship. You may feel fear of abandonment, unworthy of love, and difficulty maintaining a healthy relationship. 

Borderline Personality Disorder Therapy and Treatment NYC

Social support system

Having BPD can feel difficult at times. What is more effective borderline personality disorder treatment? When learning to develop more emotional regulation and how to navigate your emotions/triggers successfully can help people with BPD do so. To conclude, here are some therapy options that can help people with BPD and spread BPD awareness.

Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT) for BPD:

DBT helps people handle their emotions effectively and lead more productive life. It focuses on common symptoms of BPD including impulsivity, mood changes, unstable relationships, poor sense of self, and fear of abandonment. DBT also helps people with BPD to work on distress tolerance and ER.

Emotion Regulation Therapy: 

Emotion Regulation Therapy (ERT) ERT helps participants understand and accept their emotions better. It provides them with the tools to respond better to challenging situations and decrease the use of emotional avoidance strategies.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): 

CBT focuses on taking your negative thoughts and reframing them to be healthier and more realistic. Examples of CBT techniques include cognitive reconstruction and behavioral changes. 

Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT): 

Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT) is a psychodynamic therapy designed to treat borderline personality that focuses on the capacity to understand how mental states influence actions.

Anger Management:

Talking to a therapist about anger management can also be beneficial. Significantly, since people with this disorder struggle with controlling their emotions, working on keeping their anger in check can help! Check out our other article for more.

To learn more about BPD therapy and treatment, contact us, and we’ll walk towards this healing journey together.