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Today’s Take: Unique therapy gives hope to ‘hopeless’
There was a time not too long ago when clients with chronic suicidal, self-harming or other self-destructive impulses were considered impossible cases to treat. Many of them were survivors of severe childhood trauma — trauma that left them feeling worthless, unable to trust other people and having difficulty responding to treatment. For such clients, traditional therapy proved ineffective. The dangerous pattern of self-harming/suicidal behavior makes it difficult for clients to accept help. It is both frightening and frustrating. Often, friends and family feel helpless and are not sure who to turn to for support. In the past, these clients were often termed “impossible” or “hopeless.” Read More No related posts.
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With Borderline Personality Disorder always look for the trigger
In When Hope is Not Enough, I suggest that when asking a validating question, the question that is most effective is: “What happened?” I recommend this because it is open ended and, more importantly, with BPD something usually DID happen to trigger emotional dysregulation. There is almost always a local trigger. This is why I don’t recommend attributing emotional dysregulation to childhood trauma or abuse. With emotional dysregulation, something typically just happened to trigger it. While the conditioned responses – rage or running away – can sometimes be attributed to childhood and the interpretation of the precipitating event can be conditioned from childhood, the actual event is a trigger that sets…