Borderline Personality Disorder Case Study

“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored then to anything on which it is poured” –Mark Twain
Personality disorders are more defined and recognized in societies today. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is used to provide common language and standards to classify mental disorders. Borderline personality disorder currently effect 2% of the population, this is a mental disorder is not as known as the other disorders (i.e. Bipolar, Schizophrenia, depression)) that we hear about most common. “DSM describes Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) as a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and effects”.(www.nami.org). Having BPD can cause an individual

can go through mood swings, feelings of hate one moment love the next moment, their emotions maybe completely unstable. Since a small population has been diagnosed it is a pretty difficult disorder to treat and to offer support. It like many personality disorders are not curable, but along with proper support and/or medication be maintained for years. Indivduals who are expericening BPD can and will still have a normal healthy life. I will now let you in the life of Tia Downs who is currently living with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), and the difficulty she experienced to live a normal life. Her story hopefully will help others understans
Tia Downs was an active and healthy 22 year old young woman, she was married to her high school sweetheart, she was about to start basic training for the Army.

She began experiencing overwhelming sadness that had started a couple of months prior to leaving. Tia was assuming it is because she has never been away from her family and friends for that long, especial having to be in a different state she was a newlywed and knew that being away from her husband for 6 months to a year was going to be hard. He was in school, but she knew he was coming to visit as often as he could. The week before she left for basic training she started asking him every day are you going to wait for me will you keep loving me and his answer was always yes, Tia did not believe him. She states once she was away she started hating him and would get mad for no reason when on the phone with her husband or her parents. What she did not know was that she was experiencing symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. A person who is going through changes, that they cannot explain can be overwhelming. Working in the mental health industry, I experience a large group of people who start self-diagnosing (looking on Wikipedia or Web MD). By time they reach out to get the help they need they are in a much worse place and normally needs more testing. We as humans are afraid of what people will think if we ask for help, that was the case with

Tia.
While being in a hospital for an evaluation, she was told that she was bipolar, over the next few years while being in and out of multiple hospitals, she was given a different diagnosis. Due to all that was going on she was discharged from the Army. She felt her life was going nowhere, because her husband had now filed for divorce after her 4th stay at a psychiatric hospital, which she was admitted to after trying to commit suicide. She felt her life was now in complete shambles, “I did not know what was wrong and I had been placed on so many different medications, due to the multiple diagnosis, I was not even sure any of them were working”. (Personal Interview, 2015) Her parents at this point was unsure how to help their daughter they took her to a Psychologist who handed her the book, “I Hate You--Don't Leave Me: Understanding the Borderline Personality,” and was told if you don’t believe you have BPD, read this book. “The book was a huge help for me, and the psychologist was right, it completely described how I had been feeling; and it finally gave me and my family the answers to what was going on in my life”. (Personal Interview, 2015) Living with BPD, she learned she is not able to stabilize her moods. Tia experience hundreds of emotions at the same time and never really knew how she was to supposed to feel or how did people expect her to feel. It can be overwhelming, stressful and scary. She would shut down and just stop working, emotions setting off panic attacks that most people would confuse with temper tantrums. It is hard for her to stabilize relationships because she cannot establish her own personality; she realized what she had been putting her parents and ex-husband through was no fault of nothing she had done, but of her disorder.

After being diagnosed she made management at a previous job was made aware and she shared her diagnosis with her coworkers. They did not want to work with her because they were afraid she would become “crazy” and asked management to move them away from her. Soon after, she was suspended and told the only way she could come back to work again would be if I talked to a doctor about the proper medication management. After returning 6 weeks later she says “I was so doped up on many prescription drugs, that I reached what I felt was my lowest point.” (personal Interview, 2015). A person with BPD, if they felt no one was supporting them they could shut down and spiral out of control worse than they already are. With the support of her family she then quit her job and decided that the only way to go was up, she needed to get the proper help.
With the help of a psychologist and primary care doctor, she stopped all medications and started Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) “which is based on improving with self-improvement by “doing” and not by taking meds.” (Linehan, Marsha, PhD). She removed all toxic people from her life, especially ones who told her, she would never recover. She started exercising and eating right. Exercising allowed her to take control of my emotions; she also lost 70 pounds which greatly helped with her self-esteem. After a year of eating healthy and taking care of her body, she was told that her BPD had subsided. “I will always have BPD, but it no longer controls me”. (Personal Interview, 2015)
Tia like many others with BPD go through bouts of feeling abandon, not loved they will go through the most extreme actions to keep a love one from leaving. Tia story makes i It is not what many deal with on a daily bases, there is services and groups that can help family and loved ones become educated. Family members need to be educated on how to deal with their loved ones. They should be the advocate to insure proper treatment is received and to be able to point out possible triggers. Without proper education the family can become exhausted and worn out. The most common symptoms can included but not limited to intense emotions and mood swings, Relationship problems, frantic fear of being left alone (abandoned). Symptoms of Borderline Personality can often be mistaken for something else.
What can I do to help you live a normal life? Is a question asked by many family members and loved ones who is dealing with someone with BPD. Support is major part for those with BPD. May not all family or friends will understand or able to support the individual and what they are going through. To those with loved ones with the BPD remember this is a disorder. Your words can mean everything they can lift them up or tear them down in a split second. It was said those with BPD can be compared to third-degree burn victims, “Lacking emotional skin, they feel agony at the slightest touch or movement. What might just be a small slight for you might mean off-the-charts upset for your partner.” (Linehan, Marsha, PhD)
I would suggest if you do not understand any mental health disorder, ask. Learn as much as you can from a book, the internet, an expert or even the person with the disorder, knowledge is power. I would suggest you remember those with BPD and many other disorders are normally quiet, keep to themselves a lot of the time, just remember that they are dealing it a disorder that is hard to control.