Q. Can your brain heal from the BPD?
A. The answer is yes, mostly. Borderlines will always be at risk of crashing under stress, but this can be easily managed with as needed medication. But many borderlines can see the criteria, the medical symptoms and the need for regular medication go away.
There are three keys:
1) make all the right diagnoses
2) treat all the problems with the right medication
3) living a happy and successful life
Everyone appreciates that severe trauma can change the brain, but so can the good stuff. We are what we think about and what we experience. When you spend your life in an uplifting, happy, mentally healthy, spiritual and positive manner, your automatic thoughts and brain function will change. Medication rarely has this effect, it’s what you do once the medication is right. Most patients aren’t willing to make the effort.
Your body’s chemistry and structure changes with new attitudes and thoughts. Deepak Chopra has many fascinating books on the subject. Anthony Robbins showed that not only does the body reflect how we feel, but we can feel differently by simply acting (physically) like the person you want to be. Meditation is very important as well, I’ve seen TM (transcendental meditation help many patients). There are likely other forms of meditation that work as well, but TM has done the scientific research. I encourage you to find out more.
The most fascinating example of this is some patients with multiple personalities – of which almost all have the BPD as well (it’s now called the DID). One personality can have a breast lump on a mammogram that’s absent for another personality – all in the same person. The power of the mind, thought and personality are far more than most people realize. Documented studies prove you can convince your body to eliminate warts on only one side at a time. Our thoughts define us, even our bodies (including the neurology). Wayne Dyer’s more recent work goes into this at length, as did the bible millennia ago – “as a man thinketh so is he.”
The effort is worth it. It’s also clear that “everything counts.” Everything you do that helps you helps you, everything you do that hurts you hurts you – it’s that simple. It’s really in your power. You must also understand that many things that happened to you make no sense. You’ll never be able to make sense of it, so decide that’s the way it is and move forward. The past doesn’t matter any more. It’s sad to me how many people want to relive their mistakes and traumas over and over again.
Your past often seems like your enemy. There’s an old saying “the only way to get rid of an enemy is to make him your friend.” When you can literally thank God for the traumas you went through because of how it allowed you to become you will be (or are already), your brain starts to heal. The most hurtful human emotion is revenge. The most helpful human emotion is gratitude.
If you want to have a happy, peaceful, loving life, you have to master the skills and thoughts of people who live that way. That’s why I recommend listening to Zig Ziglar’s tapes so much. They show the path and develop a new self talk. The books I recommend are incredibly important as well. As the saying goes, “when all else fails, read the directions.”