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The strange case of Ashley Todd
When I saw the backward-carved “B” in Ashley Todd’s face last week, I couldn’t help but think about Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). And one Mental Health professional actually came out and said that Ms. Todd did, in fact, exhibit traits of the disorder. Personally, I have to disagree with the experts that have “diagnosed” her with BPD. While self-injury is a hallmark of BPD, the motivation behind self-injury in BPD is usually NOT to get attention. Clearly, Ms. Todd, who was the “victim” of an attack by a black man in Pennsylvania (which later she admitted was a hoax), carved the “B” in her own cheek and she must have…
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Another Article about Treatment and BPD from NY Times
I stumbled across this article from 2006 in the Health section of the NY Times regarding treatment and BPD. I think it illustrates that certain treatments can be more traumatic on the patient than others (or no treatment at all). Personally, I think it also could make the case for CBT/DBT (or another behavioral treatment) because those treatments are generally focused on effective skill-building for the here and now, rather than dredging up the past right away, which could cause more trauma to the patient. May 30, 2006 Behavior A Case in Point for the Maxim ‘Do No Harm’ By RICHARD A. FRIEDMAN, M.D. Everyone knows that talking about your…
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Amy Winehouse Threatens Suicide
Well, Amy Winehouse is in the news again. This type she supposedly threatened suicide. Some times it makes you wonder if she or Pete Doherty will be the first U.K. celeb with (possible) BPD to burn out completely. Here an article from “Now” (who knows how much truth there is to it though): Amy Winehouse threatens to kill herself Singer on 24-hour watch by worried friends Monday, 6 October 2008 Amy Winehouse is said to be on suicide watch after she allegedly threatened to stab herself. The singer is thought to have been pushed further downhill after her husband Blake Fielder-Civil rejected an offer of parole last month – because…
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Self-injury Report
From the blog of “Random Thoughts of Self” I found a link to a British Study of Self-Harm called “Truth Hurts.” I also found a nice little image and blurb on the left side of that blog. The blurb said: “I want to be free… an attempt to relieve pain rather than inflict it…” which is IMO right on target when it comes to self-injury (Read “My Take on Self-Injury” to see why). I recently I had a member of my email list post a message thatsaid something to the effect of “these people (with BPD) have to punish themselves” (with self-injury).Of cours, I couldn’t disagree more. More often than…
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Mentalization Based Therapy Shows Promise with BPD
Here’s an article on mentalization based therapy (MBT). A snip: The study, “8-Year Follow-Up of Patients Treated for Borderline Personality Disorder: Mentalization-Based Treatment Versus Treatment as Usual,” is the latest analysis of a randomized trial first reported in AJP in October 1999 and titled “Effectiveness of Partial Hospitalization in the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Joel Paris, M.D., an expert on BPD, explained that mentalization therapy, developed by Bateman and Fonagy in the 1990s, is based on attachment theory and on observations that BPD patients have a failure of “mentalization”—the ability to observe their own emotions and those of other people and to appreciate how their…
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Bill of Rights for People Who Self-Harm
I found this Bill of Rights for People Who Self-Harm on the Internet. Copyright is as follows: © 1998-2001 Deb Martinson. Reprint permission granted with proper credit to author. So, it is rather old, but I think it still applies… Bill of Rights for People Who Self-Harm Preamble An estimated one percent of Americans use physical self-harm as a way of coping with stress; the rate of self-injury in other industrial nations is probably similar. Still, self-injury remains a taboo subject, a behavior that is considered freakish or outlandish and is highly stigmatized by medical professionals and the lay public alike. There are a lot of options for people who…