Borderlines Seeking Therapy

Borderlines Seeking Therapy

Therapy is the process of discussing the past and present in order to discover patterns that can affect the future.

The therapist should suspect that he is dealing with BPD when he takes on a patient whose past psychiatric history includes contradictory diagnoses,

multiple past hospitalizations,

or trials of many medications.

Therapists who treat Borderlines often find that the rigors of treatment place a great strain on their professional abilities as well as their patience.

Treatment sessions are stormy,

Frustrating and unpredictable.

The treatment period proceeds at a snail-like pace much of the time and most psycho therapists agree that effective treatment requires at least several years.

More than 90% of us who seek therapy eventually drop our prematurely.

Angry tirades against the therapist and the process of therapy are common.

Often,

We can be very perceptive about the sensitivity of the therapist and eventually goad tem into anger,

Frustration,

Self doubt and hopelessness.

Some forms of therapy such as behavior modification and hypnosis are not usually employed in treating us except in special circumstances.

For carefully selected patients,

hypnotherapy can be used to help recall past traumas.

However,

Because a trance state may induce an unstructured or unfamiliar state of consciousness,

Severe panic or psychosis may be precipitated in those who are inappropriately selected for this kind of treatment.

Unstructured therapy can be devastating for us.

In classical psychoanalysis our defenses are attacked,

but we lack the resources to replace them;

Transference feelings toward the therapy and for others can be so intense that they take on psychotic proportions.

In some cases the couch,

The silent analyst,

And free association are replaced by face to face communications with a more interactive therapist.

The most important part of any therapy is the relationship between the patient and therapist.

This interaction forms the foundation for trust,

Object constancy and emotional intimacy.

The therapist must become a trusted figure,

A mirror to reflect a developing,

Consistent identity.

Starting with this relationship,

We learn to extend to others appropriate expectations and trust.

Financial limitations,

significant life changes,

or just a need for a respite from the intensity of treatment may mandate a time out of therapy.

The therapist must consider both our propensity to run from confrontations with our unhealthy behaviors,

and our tendency to cling dependently to the therapist and others.

For some of us therapy may never formally end.

We might derive great benefit from continuing intermittent contact with a trusted therapist.

Such arrangements would be considered refueling stops on the road to greater independence,

provided we do not rely on the contacts to drive our life.

In seeking therapy,

we must not lose sight of the fact that we are bravely committing ourselves,

our time,

and our resources to the frightening task of trying to understand ourselves better and to effect alterations in our life pattern.

Honesty in therapy is therefore of paramount importance for our sake.

We must not conceal painful areas or play games with therapist to whom we have entrusted his care.

We should abandon our need to control,

or wish to be liked by,

the therapist.

In our quest to satisfy a presumed role,

we may lose sight of the fact that it is not our obligation to please the therapist but to work with him as an equal.

#BPD