Intensive treatment for borderline personality disorder
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness, and those who have BPD suffer from unstable moods, impulsive and reckless behavior and problematic relationships with others. Many people with this disorder also suffer from anxiety disorders, depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and other personality disorders along with suicidal and self-injurious behaviors.
Unfortunately, it is often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed despite the latest data suggesting about 1.6 percent of adults in the United States have BPD. Mind Therapy Clinic is staffed with mental health professionals experienced in diagnosing and treating BPD - a psychiatrist, psychologist, clinical social worker, or psychiatric nurse— all under one roof to provide immediate and continuous service. These experts work together to detect BPD based on a thorough interview and a discussion about symptoms including a careful and thorough medical exam.
Mind Therapy Clinic offers both intensive outpatient program and partial hospitalization services to people experiencing severe symptoms that require intensive care. For others who develop this disorder but do not need intensive treatment, outpatient services are also available.
Borderline Personality Disorder
Care Planning and Management
Programs for Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment
EEG and Technology-Assisted Treatments
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
How does your case manager help?
Mind Therapy Case Management
Suicide and self-harm - tragic outcomes of borderline personality disorder
As many as 80 percent of people with BPD have suicidal behaviors, and about 4 to 9 percent commit suicide according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
Some treatments, such as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) have been shown to reduce suicidal behaviors in people with BPD.
DBT is a therapy designed to help people change patterns of behavior that are not helpful, such as self-harming or suicidal thoughts.
One study showed that DBT reduced suicide attempts in women by half compared with other types of psychotherapy, or talk therapy.
Unlike suicide attempts, self-harming behaviors do not stem from a desire to die. However, some self-harming behaviors may be life threatening. Self-harming behaviors linked with BPD include cutting, burning, hitting, head banging, hair pulling, and other harmful acts. People with BPD may self-harm to help regulate their emotions, to punish themselves, or to express their pain. They do not always see these behaviors as harmful.
If your loved one is suffering from BPD, what can you do?
Get proper diagnosis and treatment.
The most important thing is to get the right diagnosis and treatment. You may need to make an appointment and go with your loved one to see the doctor. Provide encouragement to stay in treatment or to seek different treatment if symptoms do not appear to improve.
Learn more about how we diagnose and treat borderline personality disorder.
Offer emotional support.
Learn about the mental disorder. Never ignore comments about self-harm.
If your loved one has commented on self-harm, call 911 for emergencies. Call your local Crisis Center for psychiatric emergency services including urgent consultation.
Seek support and therapy for yourself and family.
Seek therapies that include family members such as Dialectic Behavior Therapy - Family Systems Therapy.
Borderline personality disorder and medication
At this time no medication has been approved by U. S. Food and Drug Administration to treat BPD. However, many people with BPD are treated with medications in addition to psychotherapy with success. While medications do not cure BPD, some medications may be helpful in managing specific symptoms. For some people, medications can help reduce symptoms such as anxiety, depression, or aggression. Medications can cause different side effects in different people. People who have BPD should talk with a doctor about what to expect from a particular medication. With proper treatment, many people experience fewer or less severe symptoms. However, many factors affect the amount of time it takes for symptoms to improve, so it is important for people with BPD to be patient and to receive appropriate support during treatment.
At Mind Therapy Clinic, we leverage diagnostic imaging technology, EEG, to identify a course of medication treatment that has shown to be most effective with BPD. Combined with intensive outpatient or partial hospitalization programs, our programs are one of the most comprehensive treatments available today in treating BPD.