I Hate You — Don't Leave Me: Understanding the Borderline Personality

Description

A revised and updated edition of the bestselling guide to understanding borderline personality disorder. After more than two decades as the essential guide to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), this new edition now reflects the most up- to-date research that has opened doors to the neurobiological, genetic, and developmental roots of the disorder as well as connections between BPD and substance abuse, sexual abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, ADHD, and eating disorders. Both pharmacological and psychotherapeutic advancements point to real hope for success in the treatment and understanding of BPD. This expanded and revised edition remains as accessible and useful as its predecessor and will reestablish this book as the go-to source for those diagnosed with BPD, their family, friends, and colleagues, as well as professionals and students in the field. Cover Title Praise Contents Copyright Dedication Acknowledgements Preface Note to Reader 1. The World of the Borderline Demographic Borders How Doctors Diagnose Psychiatric Disease Emotional Hemophilia Splitting: The Black-and-White World of the Borderline Stormy Relationships Job and Workplace Problems A “Woman’s Illness”? BPD in Different Age Groups Socioeconomic Factors Geographic Borders Borderline Behavior in Celebrities and Fictional Characters Advances in Research and Treatment The Question of Borderline “Pathology” 2. Chaos and Emptiness Borderline: A Personality Disorder Comparison to Schizophrenia Comparison to Affective Disorders (Bipolar and Depressive Disorders) BPD and ADHD BPD and Pain BPD and Somatization Disorder BPD and Dissociative Disorders BPD and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder BPD and Associated Personality Disorders BPD and Substance Abuse The Anorexic/Bulimic Borderline or the Borderline Anorexic/Bulimic? BPD and Compulsive Behaviors Clinical Definition of Borderline Personality Disorder “Others Act Upon Me, Therefore I Am” The Relentless Search for Mr./Ms. Right Who Am I? The Impulsive Character Self-Destruction Radical Mood Shifts Always Half Empty Raging Bull Sometimes I Act Crazy The Borderline Mosaic 3. Roots of the Borderline Syndrome Genetic and Neurobiological Roots Developmental Roots Object Relations Theory and Separation-Individuation in Infancy Childhood Conflicts Adolescent Conflicts Traumas Nature Versus Nurture 4. The Borderline Society The Disintegrating Culture The Breakdown of Structure: A Fragmented Society Dread of the Future The Jungle of Interpersonal Relationships Shifting Gender Role Patterns Family and Child-Rearing Patterns 5. Communicating with the Borderline SET Communication Borderline Dilemmas Damned If You Do, and Damned If You Don’t Feeling Bad About Feeling Bad The Perennial Victim Quest for Meaning Search for Constancy The Rage of Innocence The Need for Consistency 6. Coping with the Borderline Recognizing BPD in Friends and Relations Coping and Helping Understanding Your Own Emotions Special Parenting Problems Working with the Borderline Playing with the Borderline The Maturing Borderline 7. Seeking Therapy Beginning Treatment Goals of Therapy Length of Therapy How Psychotherapy Works The Patient-Therapist “Fit” Therapeutic Approaches Group Therapies Family Therapies Artistic and Expressive Therapies Hospitalization 8. Specific Psychotherapeutic Approaches Cognitive and Behavioral Treatments Psychodynamic Treatments Comparing Treatments Other Therapies Which Therapy Is Best? 9. Medications: The Science and the Promise Genetics Medications Generic Drugs Split Treatment Can Borderlines Be Cured? 10. Understanding and Healing Growing and Changing The Beginnings of Change: Self-Assessment Practicing Change Learning How to Limp Leaving the Past Behind Playing the Dealt Hand Boundary Setting: Establishing an Identity Building Relationships Recognizing the Effect of Change on Others Appendix A - DSM-IV-TR Classifications Axis I Diagnoses Axis II Diagnoses of Personality Disorders Future Diagnostic Definitions Appendix B - Evolution of the Borderline Syndrome Freud Post-Freud Psychoanalytic Writers Kernberg’s “Borderline Personality Organization” (BPO) Variable Sense of Reality Nonspecific Weaknesses in Functioning Primitive Thinking Primitive Defense Mechanisms Pathological Concept of Self Pathological Concept of Others Resources Printed Materials Websites Treatment Centers Notes Preface 1. The World of the Borderline 2. Chaos and Emptiness 3. Roots of the Borderline Syndrome 4. The Borderline Society 6. Coping with the Borderline 7. Seeking Therapy 8. Specific Psychotherapeutic Approaches 9. Medications: the Science and the Promise 10. Understanding and Healing Appendix B. Evolution of the Borderline Syndrome Index About the Authors