QUESTION:
I’m sure I have BPD but I’m too ashamed to tell anyone. I’d rather not go on feeling like this. What should I do? I’m going crazy.
ANSWER:
It’s important to realize that hope absolutely does exist. I’d highly recommend the following steps:
1) Review the screening test I use for my patients, and investigate any diagnoses that might fit you. The Biological Unhappiness Disorders and Official Criteria section will help for the other diagnoses.
2) Read about the BPD at length. The borderline personality disorder section has lots of information, and my Website links to many others. The books I’ve written are designed to answer your question thoroughly. My first book “Life at the Border – Understanding and Recovering from the Borderline Personality Disorder” is on the recommended reading list at the National Institute of Mental Health.
3) Once you understand the diagnoses that are present, you need to learn about the medications that work and how they work. My approach to medical treatment of the BPD explains what I do and why.
4) Once your chronic symptoms are under control you need a formal plan for stress, which I explain in the Dysphoria Instruction Sheet I use for my patients.
5) You will then have to find a physician to prescribe the medications (usually a Psychiatrist, Family Physician, Internist, or OB/GYN). You will likely need to do some shopping to find an interested medical practitioner. The Article for Primary Care Physicians and its update have material these physicians can refer to and understand. The literature is referenced in this Website, as in my medication plan.
6) You will need psychological counseling, and the necessary issues are discussed in “Life at the Border“. I also highly recommend Retraining the Brain which is discussed at length in both books, and in the Website. Listening to Zig Ziglar is an excellent step you can begin right away.