A: This is an excellent question and one that I have grappled with for years. My wife’s behavior before I started down the path to effectiveness was off-the-charts and was affecting my children’s feelings of safety in our household. Numerous times I felt the only solution to protecting my children was to leave my wife and apply for full custody of our children. When my wife was “acting out” and/or in a rage around the children, I would take the kids to the library or to events around town. I worried that they would associate going to the library (a nice quiet place) with my wife’s raging. However, once I understood the reason for her raging, I also understood that there was a more effective solution to my wife’s behavior. The reason my wife was raging was because she had dysregulated emotional states that were painful for her, yet out-of-line with the evidence of the world around her. Still, these emotional states seemed quite real and justified to her. All of her life she has felt that her very being is under threat from those around her. This situation causes fear in her, but the fear quickly turns to rage and no-holds-barred behavior toward others, even those she supposedly loved. In fact, this dangerous and confusing behavior was worse with the immediate family. The reason is that she felt that her emotional states were not understood, not accepted and judged by those with whom she had the most at stake. If your immediate family doesn’t accept you, who will? This judgment and rejection was seen as a prelude to abandonment, rejection and confirmation of her shame. This situation made her frightened, desperate and angry. The anger then translated into rage from which much of the emotional abuse arises.

Behavior is most often conditioned and based on previous beliefs, reactions and conditions. I found that if you, as a loved one of someone with BPD, change the conditions, the behavior will change. If the emotions are accepted and validated, they don’t typically spiral out of control and trigger dangerous abusive behavior. It is not a question of right and wrong, like many people believe it is. It is a question of effective reactions and behavior on your part versus continuing to react ineffectively and, essentially, throwing gasoline on a raging fire. Better to put out the fire with water, which is a soothing elixir. Punishing a person for their feelings becomes translated into more shame since “all feelings all the time” is how they “are”. Rejection confirms that to the borderline that he/she is a bad person, which, in turn, causes more and more rage. Remember, however, that emotions and behavior are not synonymous. You can validate emotions without condoning the resultant behavior.

What about past abusive behavior? When will my borderline take responsibility for that? Should I let that go?

If I’ve learned anything about borderlines in the past five years, it’s that they generally know what they’ve done “wrong” in life, whether or not they will admit it to you. The shame component causes a “deepest, darkest” reflection about who they really are. When a borderline identifies with a particular role in life – such as being a mother – anything that threatens that identity is usually met with fire. Yet, on the flip-side of the defense of their very being, there’s shame, unworthiness and self-flagellation. It is most likely that your borderline will punish herself for the discretions she has committed. Of course, sometimes, the emotion-fueled behavior is not even remembered. It’s sometimes an emotional vomit session to get all the bad feelings out, to purge the nasty sickness of the painful emotions – of course,  those around them can get spewed on. When I said that it might not be remembered some time ago on the ATSTP list, I got a response from a recovered borderline that went “oh, we remember it. We just can’t run to the toilet when it is occurring. And we almost always see the mess that has been made and feel bad about it afterwards.”

My suggestion about “balance” between validation and protecting the children from emotional abuse boils down to the belief that, if the borderline doesn’t let the emotions run away with them, the abusive behavior will (almost) cease entirely. I still get raging from my wife every once in a while – maybe once every 4-6 months. It used to be once every 2-3 days, then it was 2-3 weeks, then once a month and so on. What I changed was the environment for my wife’s emotional expression. I stopped judging her. I validated her when she felt bad. I built a safe, accepting environment for her emotional life. One that she has never experienced before. It was not my “fault” that she felt that way – it was merely how is actually was in her life. I had to accept the reality of the situation and do what I could do to change it.

Several members of the ATSTP list have reported that once they “turned their mind” (and behavior/reactions) toward what I purpose in WHINE, the raging in their borderlines ceased. The Buddha said of dependent origination: “When this exists, that comes to be. With the arising of this, that arises. When this does not exist, that does not come to be. With the cessation of this, that ceases.” My suggestion to each of you is to cause the “ceasing of this” (the non-accepting, judgmental, invalidating environment) to insure that “that ceases” (the abusive, dysregulated behavior).

NOTE “Ask Bon” is a new category within this blog in which Bon answers burning questions about being a non-BPD from his perspective and with the skills an attitudes with which he was able to rebuild his relationship with his borderline wife. The opinions are Bon’s alone.

Related posts:

1. Adopted Children and BPD
2. Ask Bon: Why do you emphasize emotional validation so much?
3. Ten signs of possible Borderline Personality Disorder in children

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Got BPD? Get This! Great for Everyone Who Needs Validation!, June 16, 2011

I have BPD and I love this book! I no longer walk around feeling like BPD is stamped on my forehead and everything I say or do is a result of my lousy emotional filtering. I can constructively offer suggestions to myself (or others) on how I would rather be treated or spoken to. I can laugh with myself and my partner when something my partner says today about 1 cup of noodles sets off a cascade leading back huge resentment about to 2 tons of dirt and threats of leaving —10 years ago. I am proud of myself as a unique person. I can notice feelings of shame without going down the tubes. My partner bought this book for herself and I love it FOR ME! I don’t feel criticized or judged. I feel validated. I am happy and proud. I’ve been dealing with BPD diagnosis for over 35 years and this book is so fantastic! Give it to your DBT therapist, family members, yourself. This is the only book I have ever written a review for. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

I’m posting it here for more than just shameless promotion of my book (click here for the post on “Why I Bothered to Write a Book”). I’m posting it to point out that people with BPD generally like my work and approach to BPD. That’s more than can be said of Stop Walking on Eggshells which I know from the borderlines who I know despise SWOE. The reason seems to be that in WHINE, I promote something that one of my list members calls the “Platinum Rule” of interpersonal behavior. The platinum rule states “treat others like they wish to be treated” (as opposed, of course, to the Golden Rule “treat others as you wish to be treated”). People with BPD and other emotionally sensitive people wish to be treated in a particular way. They respond positively to a certain way of treatment. Sometimes I get people comment on my methods as being too “easy” on the borderline, “letting the borderline win”, “giving into the borderline” or “not holding the borderline responsible for their actions”. The reality is that when a person is being treated like they wish to be treated, most of the poor behavior will fall away. When someone feels heard and accepted, there’s no need to scream and yell to be heard and accepted. I heard a borderline daughter once tell her mother “you only listen to me when I’m screaming at you”. That sort of thing goes away when you actually listen and accept the person and understand what they are really saying. I believe that much of the trouble between borderlines and their loved ones is due to a communication problem. Borderlines speak one language, their families speak a completely different language. WHINE really seeks to give you the tools to be fluent in the borderline’s (or any  emotionally sensitive person’s) language. Several people on my list have reported that when they started speaking the borderline’s language, the raging, yelling and abusive behavior ceased – in some cases almost immediately.

I like to sell books as much as any other author. Yet, sales is not the reason I write or continue to write, here and on the ATSTP list. In reality, I continue because I discovered something that worked really well for me and wanted to share it with other people who were in the same predicament I was in a few years ago. And, of course, this review also demonstrates that even borderlines like WHINE, so the dread that you may have experienced when your BPD partner finds SWOE might be mitigated if your BPD partner finds WHINE (and actually reads it).

See larger image When Hope is Not Enough (Kindle Edition) By (author) Bon Dobbs List Price: $7.50 USD Release date June 15, 2008.

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1. Book Review of WHINE from “Tides of Crazy Love”
2. Internet Searchs on BPD and Why you need WHINE
3. My best review of When Hope is Not Enough

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Splitting is not just for people with borderline personality disorder. Some (but not all) people who have expertise with high conflict personalities and borderline personality disorder (BPD) also think in black and white. In my opinion, when you read their books, blogs, message sites, and other forms of media, consider if they have a bias they are passing along–sometimes unknowingly, sometimes quite deliberately.

And goes on to say that these biases arise from stereotyping and:

But people with power to influence others need to allow for the complexity of these issues and not make stereotypes and generalizations.

I feel that Randi is actually doing the very thing that she is decrying here. Because she didn’t specify WHICH “people who have expertise” are “splitting”, I believe that her message can be interpreted as generalizing about these “experts” (myself included). I also feel the timing was interesting, because I have recently posted a few comments on her blog, clarifying my position on BPD and on being an effective non-BPD. Now, Randi assured me that that message was not directed at me. Yet, I believe that by not specifically enumerating the “bloggers and authors” in question, people will generalize and cast a wide net to include those bloggers and authors who DON’T have an agenda or a bias.

Additionally (and here is where I am really defending myself and explaining and clarifying), she cites 3 ways that she sees these bloggers and authors are biased. They are 1) generalizing and mind reading (I don’t think I do that), 2) Sexism (pretty sure I’m not in that category) and 3) Making people’s decisions for them (this is where the perception of my book and blog get a bit stickier). While I have never (that I can remember) told any non-BPD to stay or leave, there’s little question that my book When Hope is Not Enough: a how-to guide for living with and loving someone with Borderline Personality Disorder is a “staying” book. I mean, golly, just read the subtitle. In the introduction of WHINE, I say:

Unlike many books on this subject, this book starts with the premise that you want to continue to have a relationship with this difficult person. If you are a spouse, I assume that you want to stay married. If you are a parent, I assume that you want to continue a relationship with your child (sometimes you may have no choice). If you are a child of a parent with the disorder, I assume you want to learn how to effectively interact with your parent. Finally, if you are a friend, I assume you want to continue to be friends with this person. I do not cover how to sever a relationship with someone with the disorder in this book.

So, while I’m not telling people they SHOULD stay (or leave) or making the decision for them, my work assumes that they have already made the decision to stay and instructs the non-BPD reader of the book the ways (the know-how) in how I was able to transform my relationship with my borderline wife and daughter. I guess the only bias that I have is my own experience, which is staying with someone with BPD. I have no experience in leaving someone with BPD, although I do know many non-BPDs that have successfully left their BPD partner. Of course with kids and parents, the issue gets stickier still.

Finally, Randi says this:

It is clear from some people’s description of their own life–at least to me–that the relationship is unhealthy and needs to change. But in my opinion that must come from the non-BP themselves: list managers/authors/others don’t know if that person is using effective tools to improve the relationship.

I would agree with the first part of the clip, many Non-BPD/BPD relationships are unhealthy and need to change. The question is how? What does one DO to change the relationship? That is what I cover, based on my experience, in my book. The second part of the sentence, “list managers/authors/others don’t know if that person is using effective tools to improve the relationship” I actually have to disagree with. I have met hundreds of people with BPD and their loved ones, both electronically and in person, and have been trained in both DBT-FST (Dialectical Behavior Therapy Family Skills Training) and in Mentalization techniques. While I am NOT a mental health professional (and neither is Randi), I have “discovered” that a synthesis of these techniques, adapted for the partner/parent environment has worked wonders in my life. These skills are effective in a relationship with a person with Borderline Personality Disorder. Of course, you don’t have to agree with them and I have found several people that are unable to accept the skills from my book for various reasons. In WHINE, I say this, without realizing that for some people it would actually be impossible for them to implement these tools because the tools were counter to such strongly-held beliefs, the tools are rejected out-of-hand:

While some of the tools may be difficult to implement in your life and some may seem counter-intuitive, these tools are effective in managing a Non-BP/BP relationship. Depending on your background, biological make-up and sensibilities about the world, you may have an easier or more difficult time understanding and implementing these tools in your life.

I have also discovered that certain other skills are ineffective in the same context. Like any set of skills, these have to be practiced and practiced effectively and from the “proper” stance. They often say that “practice makes perfect” and sometimes people counter with the saying “perfect practice makes perfect”. I’m not one for the idea of perfection. I am one for the idea of agility and “second nature”. The thing is you’ll never hit the baseball out of the park if you don’t practice, with the proper stance, hitting a baseball. And furthermore , you’ll never hit the baseball out of the park if you’re swinging a kayak oar.

I think that Randi’s post actually has done some damage to the non-BPD “support community”. There are a number of individuals that are not mental health professionals and that fall into the “list managers/authors/others” category that in my opinion have been caught in the wide net that Randi has cast in that blog post. If non-BPDs can’t trust the people who now seem to have an agenda and are biased, who can they trust?

I’d just like to caution Randi with her own words: “But people with power to influence others need to allow for the complexity of these issues and not make stereotypes and generalizations.” She is a “person with power to influence others” because of the wide success of SWOE and her platform over at Psychology Today. Using this broad brush that creates doubt as to the motives of people who are actually attempting to help and share what worked effectively for them, does a disservice to the non-BPD support community in my opinion.

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It is most important to be effective (rather than right all the time)

This particular attitude is one that has been the most controversial in my Internet group. Many people in life pride themselves on their morals and ability to discern right from wrong. Many people try to do the “right” thing in any given situation. Sometimes people will do what they think is right, even if that hurts another person that is close to them.

People are typically very judgmental. Before I started down this path, I also was very judgmental. Sometimes I can still be judgmental. When I talk about judgmental, I am talking about judging whether other’s behavior is “right” or “wrong” in your eyes. It is the act of labeling other people’s behavior as “good” or “bad.” The problem with being judgmental when dealing with someone with BPD is two-fold. First, because of the shame involved in BPD, when a person’s behavior is judged as wrong or bad, the person will expand that judgment to his or her feelings and further expand it to his or her self. Therefore, a judgment of the other person’s behavior is essentially a judgment of the other person’s self. Secondly, the person is acting on their feelings and doing something that has, at one time in their life, been used to assuage negative feelings. They are acting in a way in which they will feel better. They are acting in a way that they have used to adapt to strong negative feelings in the past. While the behavior may be maladaptive, it is understandable behavior based on how the person feels. You might not behave in the same fashion, but if you had their history, thought like them, had strong negative feelings as they do; chances are you would behave in the very same way. Thus, judging their behavior as “wrong” or “bad” is missing the objective of the behavior. Yes, the behavior may be self-destructive or nasty, but the behavior is a tool for adapting to how that person feels.

One of the biggest problems with being judgmental toward someone with BPD is that it denigrates their feelings and creates the “invalidating environment” that I spoke about earlier. If you judge another person’s feelings (by way of their behavior) as bad, you are judging them as bad – at least for a highly emotional person.

It is extremely difficult to drop the judgmental attitudes that you have. It takes time and practice. Being judgmental is taught to us from a very young age and it seeps into our language. In some respects, we are taught that being judgmental is a positive thing, a moral attitude. We are taught not to accept others and their behavior because their behavior is bad or wrong. This attitude helps keep us within our social group and helps keep us from risk. However, in interpersonal relationships, particularly with a highly emotional person, it is corrosive. If someone feels they can’t be accepted “as is” and “for what they are,” that person will be either shameful or will fly into rage against the judge (or a combination of the two).

A sure sign of being judgmental is name-calling and labeling. If you find yourself, internally or externally (meaning to yourself or to others) labeling someone, you are likely being judgmental. I will talk about how to be less judgmental shortly.

I say, “It is most important to be effective.” What does it mean to be effective? Before I could talk about effectiveness, I had to dismiss being judgmental, because it is a roadblock to effectiveness. Being effective is doing whatever is necessary to gain a positive outcome in any given moment. In the case of emotions, it is doing what is necessary to feel better in any given moment. The major difference between effectiveness and mere adaptive behavior (as mentioned above) is that effectiveness takes into account the consequences that are associated with a given behavior, not just the immediate effects. That is where the idea of “positive” outcome comes into play.

In the case of emotional situations, sometimes the most “conditioned behavioral” response is not the most effective one. An example of this is self-harm. Most often, self-harm – such as cutting, burning oneself or pulling at one’s own hair – functions to reduce pain, not to inflict it. In other words, it is an adaptive response to internal (usually emotional) pain. While you might not think that the behavior is “right,” it is a valid response to internal pain, because it works to reduce pain. Although it is adaptive and “works,” it is not effective, because of the significant negative consequences involved. It can lead to embarrassment, injury, infection or death. The potential negative consequences outweigh the effectiveness of the behavior.

So, doing what “works” is not always the most effective solution to a problem. Learning to identify the most effective solution is a skill itself, and I will discuss it at length later. The point of bringing it up here is that one must adopt an attitude of doing the most effective action in any given situation. You have to be dedicated to being effective.

Now you might ask (as many of the people on my list ask), what if the most effective thing goes against my values? What if being effective is “wrong” in a particular situation? Well, my response to that is that emotions trump values. Emotions are immediate and primal, whereas values have been developed over time (sometimes over generations) and are more abstract than emotions. Again, this is not a case of “if it feels good, do it.” This is the accumulation of the first few attitudes I have directed you to take. If emotions are important (attitude #1), not all people think the way you do (#2), no one has a corner on the truth (#3) and some things have to be accepted (#4), what we arrive at is the attitude that your values and judgments are not necessarily valid for other people. If someone is overcome with powerful negative emotions, we find that: 1) it is important to them; 2) they are not thinking the same way you might; 3) your version of the truth in this situation does not match theirs; and 4) the fact that they are in this state is a truth and must be accepted. Once those attitudes are applied to an emotional situation, you can start to be effective, even if being effective goes against the grain of what you deem is “right” or “good.” I know this might be a difficult concept for you to understand at this point. It was extremely difficult for me to come to terms with it as well. However, in the case of emotional situations, it is essential.

OK, well there it is a long quote from When Hope is Not Enough. The reason I am posting it today is that I have come to understand more fully how this attitude conflicts with many strongly-held beliefs of my readers. It takes a LOT of time to understand and “grok” this approach to life and to your relationships with a person with BPD or any emotionally sensitive person. Once, I was asked what qualities do I dislike the most about other people and I answered: contempt, sanctimoniousness and judgmentalism. I feel that all of these qualities are those that hurt relationships with other people and they all center on the idea that person A (with those qualities) is RIGHT and person B is wrong, for whatever reason. That reason could be that person B is disordered, like have Borderline Personality Disorder. However, person B is no BPD, person B is a person first and can be respected as a person. I read recently an introduction written by the Dalai Lama to a book. His first words were “Every person wants to be happy.” I agree. A person with BPD wants to be happy. The nons want to be happy as well. Yet one stumbling block to happiness is the desire to be right and lord it over the other person. Relationships are not competitions in which one person is right and the other wrong. That’s my belief anyway. When you’re ineffective, what you’re really doing is “winning a battle but losing the war” by gaining points on a particular situation yet hurting the relationship in the longer run.

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See larger image When Hope is Not Enough (Paperback) By (author) Bon Dobbs List Price: $19.95 USD New From: $18.21 In Stock Used from: $17.30 In Stock

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Sometimes Hope is Not Enough

Bon Dobb’s book, “When Hope is Not Enough” is bar none, hands down the single best how-to book I’ve ever read. I wish I were more eloquent, for this book deserves a far better review than I am able to offer. Out of the dozens of relationship books I’ve read over the last three and half years, this is the ONLY one that actually made a difference. My wife and I were on the verge of divorce and I had just moved out of the house when someone turned me onto Bon Dobb’s book. I read it in two days and, when my wife called me on the evening of the second day, I put his suggestions into practice. Following his techniques stopped the fight and took our marriage to a whole new level of intimacy and communication. Of course, it will take a lot of practice to perfect all the techniques he offers, but saving my marriage is worth all the time and effort I can give it.

If you’re a man, having troubles in your marriage, this is the first and best book I could recommend.

That’s a really nice review of the book and I’m totally glad this guy got results from the book. I certainly never expected anyone to call the book the best how-to book they’ve ever read. As one of my ATSTP Group members once said: this sh*t works!

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IAAHF

As you can see, I also get lots of searches on “famous people” or “celebrities” with BPD. I only post those types of articles to relate to those with BPD and their families that perhaps they are not alone in their struggles – perhaps (again it’s a maybe because the closest celebrity to actually come out and say he/she has BPD is Megan Fox – who speculated about it).

I’ve written a lot about IAAHF here. I also explain the concept and how it relates to validation skills in the I-AM-MAD communication skill. The concept of IAAHF is extremely important to fully understand if a non-BPD is going to understand what is going on in the emotionally dysregulated moments (EDMs). It takes some time to understand and to truly “get” it. For me, it was one to the most valuable perspectives on BPD and emotional dysregulation.

Sometimes, however, nons have a problem with this concept because they misinterpret it. Here is a brief note from “When Hope is Not Enough” (the second edition, on which I am working) about IAAHF:

I found that many people bristle at the idea that it’s “all about” the borderline’s feelings. Sometimes this formulation makes the Non-BPD’s ask: what about my feelings? (which, in a way, is a reformulation of “what about me?”). The intention of this concept is for you to understand the motivation of behavior, not the entire landscape of the relationship. There will be times in which the context of the relationship is about your feelings. Yet, when the “crazy” behavior takes place, it is most often motivated by dysregulated feelings and emotions. The purpose and intent of the behavior is to quell those feelings, even if it seems as if it’s your fault that those feelings exist. To understand and use this attitude properly, you have to remember that it’s (the behavior) is all about (motivated by) his/her feelings (dysregulated emotions that require calming/quelling of pain).

Related posts:

1. A Note about BPD and Boundaries And SWOE
2. A primer on Emotional Dysregulation and its role in Borderline Personality Disorder
3. Confirmation of IAAHF

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Sometimes Love Hurts

I’m currently reading the book ‘The Essential Family Guide to Borderline Personality Disorder’ by Randi Kreger. This is the first book I’ve read on the subject & I’m finding it really helpful.

I started to research other books and found the one I’m ‘reviewing’ on the US Amazon website. There are lots of reviews of the book there and it made me decide to buy it as the reviews are very positive. So, if you want to read reviews before you buy this book, have a look on the American site.

I’ve now read the book! Just this minute finished reading it in fact. I have found it so very very helpful, not just with the tools Bon Dobbs gives you for improving your relationship with your BP loved one, but for improving their experience of life. It’s a book for being a kinder, more understanding, more enlightened person in all relationships I think.

The first book I read by Randi Kreger (mentioned above) was more about looking after yourself when in a relationship with a BP. Bon Dobbs’ book is about looking after them too. He says “a BP’s brain is working against them by upsetting the emotional regulation system. It is impossible for a BP NOT to feel those emotions. The emotions are not right or wrong, they just ARE. It is the behaviours that arise from the emotions that can be changed, and that is where we will focus our attention.”

The book is very practical and very intelligently and insightfully written, based on years of experience of living with 2 family members with BP (wife & young daughter). I am so grateful to the author for so generously sharing his experiences and the ways he’s found to improve life for his wife, daughter, the rest of the family & himself.

I have learned so much about why my own loved one developed BPD in the first place and what I can now do to help alleviate some of the suffering that goes with this condition.

The title ‘When Hope is Not Enough’ sounds a bit bleak, but what the book has given me IS huge hope! I now very clearly understand that my loved one needs validation of their feelings. The author has shown me that validating their feelings in no way compromises my own core value of acting with integrity – rather, it will enhance it.

The reason I find this review interesting is two-fold (beyond the thank-yous and the nice words about me): 1) I believe that the reviewer is correct about the nature of my book – it is for the relationship, not for the non-BP exclusively and 2) The reviewer is also right about the fact that you can enhance the relationship, through validation and other tools, without sacrificing your own value or values.

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1. Why Hope is Not Enough
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See larger image When Hope is Not Enough (Kindle Edition) By (author) Bon Dobbs List Price: $7.50 USD Release date June 15, 2008.

I am pleased to announce that When Hope is Not Enough: a how-to guide for living with and loving someone with Borderline Personality Disorder is now available in the Kindle format in the United States and in the UK. I had been asked about getting this book on the Kindle and I finally figured out how to do it. I should have my other books on the Kindle format shortly. If you have a Kindle, now you can read the Non-BPD book that has helped hundreds of people in their relationships.

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Clearly, the reviewer didn’t understand the idea of emotional dysregulation or the difference between motivation, intent, action and consequence. I attempted to separate and explain each concept in the book, but perhaps I did a poor job.

In “When Hope is Not Enough” I write about the concept of IAAHF (or “It’s all about his/her feelings”). That statement, which is an exploration of the idea “it’s not about you,” is a statement of intent and motivation, not a release from the consequences of someone’s actions. The “all about” statement concerns the motivations of a person with BPD’s actions – that is, rarely does someone with BPD intend to hurt the non-BPD, despite appearances. What the intention of this statement of intent seeks to do is release the non from the paranoia that their loved one with BPD is out to get them. This is typically not the case. Usually, the actions of a person with BPD are intended to reduce their own emotional pain (stemming from emotional dysregulation). Sometimes this emotional pain and emotional dysregulation is triggered by (what I call) perceptions that are “misaligned” with the situation. That is, the “attack” on the borderline is not intended by the non to be an attack at all and through a highly sensitive emotional profile and emotional dysregulation, the borderline will attack back as a way of defending their self from a perceived attack. But the real point here is that the motivation and intention of the borderline’s attack is actually to quell the painful feelings within herself, not to cause interpersonal strife or manipulate the non.

However, as I also say in “When Hope is Not Enough”, the action (or cause) sometimes has unintended consequences (or effects). When a borderline is emotionally dysregulated and overcome with feelings, the action that she takes is likely to be impulsive and the consequences of her actions are not taken into consideration. When behaving this way, the borderline will often behave in an “effect -> cause” way – meaning she will think “I feel bad, so you must have done something to specifically make me feel bad.” If a borderline is to consider the consequences, even the unintended ones, of her actions, she will need to approach the situation in a “cause -> effect” way. Intentions do not provide a free pass for consequences. As I have said on the ATSTP list, just because you didn’t intend to burn down the house while playing with matches, doesn’t bring the house back into existence when you express your intention. One thing that separates the understanding of consequences (that follow from a cause – and in this case the cause is the behavior of the borderline) from blame is that there is an analysis based on observation as opposed to judgment. If you feel that the borderline has done something “wrong,” then you are inserting your judgment, rather than understanding the observed consequences of the behavior. I tried to explain this fully in “When Hope is Not Enough”, but I suppose some people either are so caught up in fault-finding and blame-storming that they can’t separate judgmental thoughts from the understanding of consequences or I have expressed it poorly in the book. If a borderline can begin to understand the consequences of her actions (and especially powerful are those that go against her goals), then, in my mind, the borderline can become responsible for her actions and do so in an effective manner.

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When Hope is Not Enough discounted for the holidays

Just in time for the holidays, I am offering a 25% discount on the Publisher’s version of When Hope is Not Enough. You can now buy the book directly from the publisher for only $14.96! That 25% off the retail price and cheaper than buying it at Amazon. This deal will only be valid through the end of the year. To buy the book at this price follow this link:

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/when-hope-is-not-enough/2994088

If you need some skills to help you through the holidays, read this post.

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When Hope is Not Enough
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staying and working on the relationship

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The core problem with BPD is poor emotional regulation. That particular problem can cause other symptoms to arise as the person with BPD becomes emotionally dysregulated. This term emotionally dysregulated (or just dysregulated) is used to denote the state in which a person with BPD is overcome with powerful and, at many times, misaligned emotional reactions. Remember that emotions don’t arise on their own; they are based on cues or triggers from the environment and compared by our “emotional immune system” to the meaning of the cue. For a person with BPD, the meaning can be misjudged or, as is more often the case, the sensitivity to emotional cues is greatly heightened.

An example is a heat-sensing system that helps to detect and suppress fires. Sometimes companies will install heat-sensing equipment in addition to smoke detectors so that they can protect assets that need a certain temperature to operate (e.g. computer equipment which might cease working at a high temperature). The setting at which an alarm goes off might be 80 degrees Fahrenheit. In the case of someone with BPD, the setting (or “tolerance” as it is called in the control community) is naturally set much lower, at say, 50 degrees Fahrenheit. That means that the alarm will be raised much more often and lead to a reaction to the alarm. In other words, people with BPD will experience many, many (what you would consider) false alarms. However, these false alarms seem completely real to them, because their tolerance for emotional triggers is set very low. They are constantly running a fire drill. Unfortunately for you, the BP may drag you along unwillingly and unwittingly for the drill. (Pages 32-33 of WHINE)

As you can see, the position I take in WHINE is that emotional regulation is the “core issue” of BPD. This position is in line with the DBT way of thinking, which is why one of the “modules” of DBT is emotional regulation skills.

The question is today: is emotional regulation at the “core” of BPD? Or does it go deeper than that? Is there a “cause” for emotional regulation? What are the triggers and how does a person with BPD’s internal feelings affect this “systems dysregulation”?

In the American Journal of Psychiatry, Drs. Stanley and Siever recently (January 2010) publish an article entitled “The Interpersonal Dimension of Borderline Personality  Disorder: Toward a Neuropeptide Model “ in which they seem to posit (in my interpretation again, since I am a lay person and not a doctor) that this systems dysregulation actually has another cause instead of being a “core cause’ of the disorder. They begin the article like this:

Borderline personality disorder is a complex disorder associated with substantial morbidity, mortality, and public health costs. Prominent symptoms include suicidal behavior, nonsuicidal self-injury, aggressive outbursts, and emotional reactivity, all of which typically manifest in an interpersonal context. For several years, there has been an ongoing discussion about whether impulsive aggression or affective dysregulation is at the core of the disorder. While these factors are important in borderline personality disorder, it is the exquisite interpersonal sensitivity that frequently triggers both dysregulated affect and impulsive behaviors, which suggests that this sensitivity perhaps rests at the core of the disorder and may in turn drive impulsivity and dysregulated affect.

They go on to say this:

It is noteworthy that many symptoms in the interpersonal domain of borderline personality disorder are actually manifestations of intrapersonal difficulties (e.g., difficulty being alone and misperception of the intentions of others as malevolent), and this dimension could perhaps be reconceptualized as “intrapersonal dysfunction.” We suggest that an internal feeling of well-being, stability, and self-regulation in borderline personality disorder is tenuous and may rely heavily on a sense of interpersonal contact and connectedness.

So, what’s afoot here? What are they saying and what does it mean to the nons of the world?

It seems to me that they are saying two very important things about BPD that has previously been “unnoticed” as DBT has reigned the clinical community. These are:

• “…it is the exquisite interpersonal sensitivity that frequently triggers both dysregulated affect and impulsive behaviors, which suggests that this sensitivity perhaps rests at the core of the disorder and may in turn drive impulsivity and dysregulated affect.” Basically, that the interpersonal sensitivity is the “control” of is sensitive to the (emotional) heat.
• “We suggest that an internal feeling of well-being, stability, and self-regulation in borderline personality disorder is tenuous and may rely heavily on a sense of interpersonal contact and connectedness.” That means that the lack of internal well-being makes the person with BPD sensitive to interpersonal cues.

What do those two important factors mean to you – the loved one or family member? In my mind they mean that a person with BPD uses people in close personal relationships to self-regulate. In other words, being unable to self-regulate internally, they look to external people to regulate their emotions, reactions, sense of well-being and behavior.  They believe at some level that you, the loved one, is an extension of their mind, emotions and feelings and assume to you “should know what to do” when they are feeling dysregulated.

What SHOULD you do when this situation occurs? What should you do when they are triggered? What should you avoid?

I believe that the most effective answer is to help them learn to self-regulate and self-validate. This “lack of well-being” is an unpleasant feeling (I would imagine) and probably feels like a HUGE lack of control. I mean, if a person has to rely on other (unpredictable) people to self-regulate, how must that feel? Having compassion for that feeling is definitely a goal. However, before that comes (and it can be cultivated BTW), one can listen, ask, redirect the choice, validate, normalize and cheer lead when appropriate. Don’t defend or minimize. Living a life in which you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop has got to be unpleasant.

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When Hope is Not Enough Hits #5 on Lulu/Amazon List

When Hope is Not Enough
Get the Non-BPD book that is designed for
staying and working on the relationship

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When Hope is Not Enough reaches number 10 for May sales Lulu books

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Where are you on the tree?

In the sky:

• She is selfish.
• She is lazy.
• She’s a chicken.
• He’s a bully.
• She’s a liar.
• He’s too rigid.
• He’s closed-minded.
• She’s so dramatic.
• She’s immature.
• He always has to be right.

In the leaves:

• Her up-bringing made her that way, so she can never change.
• He doesn’t care about anyone.
• She needs to be more rational and not freak out all the time.
• She was spoiled by her dad.
• She was abused.
• He thinks he’s better than everyone else.
• She doesn’t care about my feelings.

In the branches:

• He lacks empathy.
• She doesn’t know how to communicate.
• He’s got to listen more.
• She screws up all the time.
• He doesn’t spend enough time with the kids.
• He rages at me for nothing.
• She needs to learn to cope.

On the trunk:

• He needs to come home earlier.
• She needs to learn how to do it herself.
• He should be on time more.
• She has to stop making so many commitments.
• He has to be more polite to my friends.
• She has to stop finishing things halfway through.
• He has to be less critical of my family.

On the ground:

• I’d like for him to spend Saturday afternoons with the kids.
• I’d like for her to pay the phone bill.
• I’d like for her to send a thank you note to my mother.
• I’d like for him to say hello to my friend when she comes over.
• I’d like for her to work on the kitchen project we agreed to do.
• I’d like for him to arrive home at 6PM on Tuesdays.

What I have found is that many nons come to support forums with a basket full of problems at various scales along the tree. Some are character traits, some are psychological explanations, some are wide behavior patterns, etc. The problem with this approach is that a non can’t solve (or work with the BPD to solve) all the problems at once. Secondly, large, general problems are not solvable in a support forum. One has to solve, through behavior modification (and the use of the other tools in When Hope is Not Enough) specific problems with specific outcomes. Once you are at ground level, you can actually get something worked out, because if the specific positive behavior is observed, you can reinforce that specific behavior. That is the “one small step at a time” approach to behavioral change. It is the only one that actually works.

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Here are the new Google Checkout buttons for these two eBooks:

When Hope is Not Enough: a how-to guide for living with and loving someone with Borderline Personality Disorder ($7.00 USD)

But I Love You: a primer for understanding a loved one with Borderline Personality Disorder ($5.00 USD)

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What is your goal?

Those that are chiefly concerned with stopping the emotional abuse doled out by the person with BPD. This category is the largest of the three. Most books written about being a loved one of someone with BPD fall into this category. These books include: “Tears and Healing”, “Stop Walking on Eggshells”, “The Essential Family Guide”, “The Siren’s Song”, “Loving and Loathing”, “One Way Ticket to Kansas” and others. Typically these are written by ex-spouses as guides to getting out of emotionally abusive situations and protecting oneself from emotional abuse. Most of these have an emphasis on boundaries or limits, tough love and abusive dynamics (such as the victim-rescuer-perpetrator triangle or Stockholm Syndrome). If your goal is to stop the abuse directed at you from your loved one with BPD, I believe reading these books can help you do that; however, I don’t think you should expect to keep the relationship and, if you do keep the relationship, I wouldn’t expect that it would grow to be a close, loving relationship. The tools and techniques in these books will not help you build such a relationship with someone with BPD.

Those that are written by people who have recovered from BPD and wish to promote a better understanding of the disorder. These books include those by Rachel Reiland, A.J. Mahari, Tami Green and others. I find these books to be helpful for the intended purpose. It certainly helps a loved one understand what it feels like to have the disorder. However, I also find that many of these books are short on what a loved one can do to build a loving relationship with a person with BPD. These books are inspirational for people who want to recover from BPD, but I don’t feel they provide the complete picture when it comes to the loved ones.

Those that promote an effective, skillful path to building a loving relationship with someone with BPD. As far as I can tell, I am the only “lay person” in this category. There are some professional books, such as “New Hope for BPD,” which attempt to achieve this goal, but no other first-hand experience books that I have found other than my two books, “When Hope is Not Enough” and “But I Love You”. If your goal is staying with your loved one with BPD and building a loving, compassionate relationship, I think I am your only choice.

I implore you to consider your goals and choose your path accordingly.

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Here is a quote from the end of her message to me:

Another thing that I really appreciated about your book is that it’s both empathetic for the person with BPD and for those around him (sorry, not buying your “her” pronoun ). I found it incredibly non-judgemental for a book about BPD. Generally, books on the subject either gloss over the distress that relatives of BPs may feel (because it’s not the subject) or are incredibly insensitive in their descriptions of BPs. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciated that your book was not describing me as some cold-blooded monster revealing in torturing others. I was, however, intrigued by the part in which you talk about poor self-esteem in BPs as a pathological trait (I don’t have your book with me right now, so I can’t quote you precisely on this one). There’s one thing about BPs that can’t be denied, they’re poor partner choices. So when I tell my bf something along the lines that he could have done better than me, I think it’s pretty much a realistic perception. I mean – if only a small part of what is written about BPs is true (and in this regard, your book is the cream of the crop of non-judgementalness) it would still be realistic from BPs to think of themselves as poor partners, if not as poor human beings.

So, that was about it. Congratulations for the good job.

As you can see by her kind words, here is someone with BPD feeling that “When Hope is Not Enough” is empathetic and non-judgmental which was exactly my intention when writing the book. If you have BPD and want a book to help explain to your loved ones… “When Hope is Not Enough” is an excellent choice. Although it is short, it is dense and packed with information. I’d have to say “But I Love You” which is my shorter guide for loved ones of people with BPD is probably not quite as empathetic and non-judgmental as “When Hope is Not Enough”.

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Path to Effectiveness

Over the past two days on the ATSTP Google Group, I have been happy to see some success exhibited. Many people on the Internet and on Internet email supports lists for Non-BPs will tell you that there is no hope of having a relationship with someone with BPD. Often I have seen that the only “advice” given to Nons is: RUN AWAY! Even on the “staying” sites and sub-sites, many people think that it will never get better EVER – which to me is a form of black-and-white thinking that Nons engage in.

While hope may not be enough, the BP/Non-BP partner relationship is not without hope at all. This week I received two messages from the ATSTP Google Group that gave me some hope. One was from a long-time member of the group (he’s been a member for about 2 years) and it goes like this:

I truly consider myself still part of the ATSTP community even tho I’m less deeply immersed in it now. And the reason I’m less deeply immersed now… is because I’ve learned the lessons I needed to and moved on. If this is my alma mater… consider it mission accomplished in preparing me for “college” or even the “job field” of succeeding with a BP. I arrived at grade-school level. I’m now at high-school-grad level… I recognize you, Bon, at the college-masters-instructor level. And I’m so grateful, that you have been here for me! So, thank you… keep up the spectacular work! You benefit not only your family, but so many of us out here in the world! You have made THE DIFFERENCE, in my life! I thank you profusely, and ask that you keep me ‘in the loop’ in areas which I might be able to help in or find interest in. Thanks SO MUCH, Bon! Thank you ATSTP! You’ve helped me learn and grow SO much!

It’s wonderful to hear that someone has truly benefited from the sharing, caring and skills teaching that go on at ATSTP. One success story (out of so many failures on other boards) really warms my heart.

Now as for the other message that I received – this one is from a “newbie” to the list. She joined on May 8th and has read my book “When Hope is Not Enough”. She just started applying the skills with her husband. Here’s her message:

This s#$t really works. (sorry to use that word but I wanted to express my excitement!) I used some validating words (the ones I could remember at the moment) and helped my husband calm down twice this weekend. I liked the results and am looking forward to finishing “When Hope is Not Enough”

So, here we have on person that is near the end of the path toward effectiveness and one that is at the very beginning. I’m just gratified that the methods that are provided in “When Hope is Not Enough,” on this blog and, most importantly, in the ATSTP Group are actually helping people get a handle on their relationship with their loved one with BPD.

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“When Hope is Not Enough” is 185 pages and packed with examples, conversations and frequently asked questions about BPD. “But I Love You” is only 50 pages and represents a distilling and reorganization of the material presented in “When Hope is Not Enough”. Basically, what happened was that one of my list members (of the ATSTP Google list) found that my first book was frustrating her. She has an adult daughter with BPD and found that she and her husband found the way in which I present a model of BPD in “When Hope…” was frustrating. The reason is that they wanted to know immediately about the behavior associated with BPD (such as lying, manipulation, running away, burning bridges, etc.) FIRST, rather than how I present it in “When Hope…” – where I present those symptoms LAST. I do that because I try and re-frame the Non’s understanding of BPD in “When Hope…” This approach just wasn’t working for the member of my list.

She decided to reorganize and summarize my work in “When Hope…” and did so without my prompting. She did so to help herself and her husband understand their adult daughter’s behaviors. So, she sent me a copy of her work and I edited it for accuracy, reformatted it and added some additional material that I didn’t put into “When Hope…”

The book is such a slim one (like I said 50 pages), that I don’t plan on selling it through Amazon or any other such retailer. Instead you can get either an electronic copy (for $4.00) or a printed copy ($9.95) from Lulu, which is who I use to self-publish my material. Soon, I will set up a google checkout for an electronic copy of this book, like I have with “When Hope is Not Enough” but first things first.

If you haven’t read “When Hope is Not Enough” and want a primer/orientation to how you can make your life calmer and easier with someone with BPD. You can try “But I Love You: a Primer for understanding a loved one with Borderline Personality Disorder” – and yes, it probably has a few typos, sorry. And yes, I’m sharing profits with the member.

But I Love You

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Now I have some time to answer these questions and the ones you ask in a later post. Let me start with these.

I disagree with that. I think that if your show appreciation for a commitment to change behavior that makes a BP think that they are being thoughtful and appreciative/appreciated. A person with BPD LIKES (desperately sometimes) to be liked, apprecaited and wanted. If you can navigate that tool without judgment, I suspect your wife will feel relieved that it wasn’t a dreadful statement of “thou shalt” from you to her. Also, I think “negative consequences” is not reinforcement – it is the threat of punishment. There is an implied positive consquence that you will feel better and thus treat her better – when someone is angry and frustrated they are unlikely to treat another person very well. The problem with real reinforcement at that moment is that reinforcement must occur when the desired behavior is performed (as I say in the reinforcement section) and your wife is not performing the behavior, just committing to perform it in the future.

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At the same time, I have a problem with this book. While it is MUCH better than “Stop Walking on Eggshells” (SWOE), her previous book about NON-BPs, I agree with her prescription about 40%. Her sections on “Communicating to be heard” and “Reinforcing right behavior” are agreeable, the rest is NOT agreeable to me. I will soon offer a true book review of this new book; however, I believe (humbly) that my book WHINE is a MUCH better book for understanding and dealing with a person with BPD than either SWOE or “The Essential Guide…” by Randi. While I know where she is coming from, she misses an essential thing about BPD – that thing is IAAHF (“it’s all about his/her feelings”), a concept in WHINE. She still seems to think that you can make it (at first) about YOUR feelings, which, with BPD, is impossible at first. This is both my opinion and the opinions of the members of my group. I am a bit miffed that  SWOE sold something like 300,00 copies and WHINE 300, because I think (as do my almost 400) group members that WHINE is a MUCH better book to understand the BPD/NON-BPD dynamic than either SWOE or “The Essential Family Guide…”

I know that Randi will see this via her Google alerts and I welcome her comments. I have no argument or disagreement with Randi. I respect her and feel she is contributing to the community the best she can. At that same time, I feel her publishing efforts fall short of what is effective in the NON-BP area.

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Tough Love

Not too long ago I wrote an article on why tough love is not the answer for BPD. I still believe that ONLY tough love is not the answer; however, I have come to reconsider tough love and BPD.One of the reasons was that the TIME article said that DBT is a combination of emotional validation and tough love.

One of my list members has moved from the techniques that I provide in “When Hope is Not Enough” – which is basically a non-judgmental attitude plus validation and normalization – to a combination of those techniques plus “tough love.” What is tough love? In my opinion, tough love is the application of PERSONAL boundaries on a relationship. These personal boundaries need to be understood. Often, people don’t understand personal boundaries. Even popular books about BPD for Non-BPs (such as SWOE) get this concept wrong. In fact, even books that are ABOUT boundaries get this concept wrong. The other day I posted a link to a video of a part of the film “The Basketball Diaries” in which Jim Carroll’s mother (Jim Carroll is played by Leonardo DiCaprio BTW and the film is based on the book by Jim Carroll and is true) denies her son money for drugs (he is a heroin addict). She enforces her own boundary (I will not give my son money to buy drugs). She does not enforce a “rule” which is the way that someone tries to control the behavior of another person. Rules and boundaries differ significantly. With a rule, you try and control another person’s behavior – such as telling a child “you have to go to bed at 8:30 PM.” That is a rule, not a boundary, because it has to be enforced. Rules have to be enforced, boundaries do not (except on yourself).

Back to tough love… how does one use tough love with BPD? Well, first of all I have to say you can’t START with tough love, because first emotional trust has to be established. If you start with tough love and use ONLY tough love, that is a recipe for disaster with someone with BPD. The problem is that tough love hurts too much for them. They feel “different” and “broken” and tough love reinforces these feelings. However, tough love can be used once the trust is established. Tough love is something you can use FOR YOU to establish your own boundaries with someone with BPD. But you have to make sure that it’s your boundaries that are being applied and not rules for another person’s behavior.

When Hope is Not Enough
Get the Non-BPD book that is designed for
staying and working on the relationship

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Learned Helplessness and PTSD

Another concept that is new to this edition is the idea of learned helplessness and PTSD as Non-BP’s. Personally, I think this concept applies to both people with BPD and those who loved them. Not so long ago I was reading a “Non-BPD Staying” book (one that, as this book does, encourages the acquisition of certain skills to live with a BP). This book mentioned the idea of “Stockholm Syndrome” sometimes occurs within the Non-BP’s mind. Stockholm Syndrome is a condition in which a person who is abducted begins to feel sympathy for and identify with his or her abductor(s). It was coined following a six-day hostage crisis in 1973 in Stockholm, Sweden in which the captors began to feel emotionally attached to their abductors. This other “Non-BP” book likens the state of the mind of a Non-BP to those captors; that is, the abused person (the Non-BP) begins to develop an emotional attachment to the BP because of this dynamic. Stockholm Syndrome has also been used in the context of a weaker abused person (such as a child) bonding to a more powerful abuser. While it is not a professionally recognized diagnosis, several high-profile abduction and abuse cases have mentioned the syndrome in the popular press, including the high-profile case of Patty Hearst. I believe that application of Stockholm Syndrome to a BPD/Non-BP relationship is inaccurate in almost every case. While there may be certain cases in which this dynamic exists, of all of the individuals that I have met in person and online, I have yet to see any that could be properly described as Stockholm Syndrome.

One problem in my mind with the application of this label is that it creates a defined abuser/abused polar relationship and discounts the real affection one may have for the (supposed) love one in your life. Mistreatment certainly goes both way in any relationship and in the case of a BP/Non-BP relationship, that mistreatment can arise to the level of abuse. I don’t, however, think it can arise to the level of abductor, captor or terrorist on either part. It may feel that way at times, but relationships go through many changes during the course of months and years and to say that the overriding factor contributing to the relationship is only and solely one of abuse and mistreatment, that would indicate (to me at least) that the relationship is not based on love and one which might likely be better off terminated. However, if you are this person’s parent or child, it may not be possible to terminate such as relationship. Instead, you have to find ways to break the cycle of abuse. It is difficult, no doubt. Stockholm Syndrome is, in my mind, an extreme form of co-dependency.

When Hope is Not Enough
Get the Non-BPD book that is designed for
staying and working on the relationship

A more useful concept is that of learned helplessness. One of the major differences between Stockholm Syndrome and learned helplessness is that the former is psychodynamic or psychoanalytic (through attachment and/or object relationship explanations) and the later is behavioral. Before I began to research BPD and the “plight” of the Non-BP, I was never much of a behaviorist. Once I started to understand what actually worked with BPD, I have warmed up to the idea of behavioral therapies in general and to DBT specifically (because it is something of a hybrid approach to acceptance and change, whereas CBT is typical places more emphasis on change). There are several differences between the idea of learned helplessness and Stockholm Syndrome. First, I need to define learned helplessness such that you understand the concept and why it may apply to you (or your BP loved one).

Learned helplessness is a state in which a person (or an animal, which is a major difference because it operates at a lower brain level than does the psychoanalytic-derived object relations model that explains Stockholm Syndrome) discovers that no behavior can counteract the pain and suffering that that person is feeling. Here is a quote from the Wikipedia entry on learned helplessness:

Learned helplessness is a psychological condition in which a human being or an animal has learned to act or behave helpless in a particular situation, even when it has the power to change its unpleasant or even harmful circumstance. Learned helplessness theory is the view that clinical depression and related mental illnesses result from a perceived absence of control over the outcome of a situation (Seligman, 1975).

The idea of learned helplessness is derived from a behavioral experiment in by Seligman and Maier in 1967. These researchers took dogs and placed them in experimental conditions in which one group of dogs could stop shocks coming from a grid beneath their feet by pressing a lever. In other words, pressing the lever was the behavior that allowed them to escape pain. These dogs learned to press the level repeatedly to escape the suffering induced by the electric shocks. Another group of dogs also had the grid and the lever, but in their case pressing the lever did nothing to alleviate the painful shocks. The shocks did not increase or decrease by behaving in any particular fashion. The lever did nothing to stop the pain they were feeling. These dogs learned that they were completely helpless to lessen their pain. Eventually, these dogs merely “laid down on the gird” and accepted the shocks without attempting a behavior which might remove the shocks. This reaction is the essence of learned helplessness. If a person learns that no matter what they try nothing works to alleviate their pain, they eventually give up on trying and “lay down on the grid.”

I believe this idea better describes the dynamic between any other person (including the BP/Non-BP relationship) than does Stockholm Syndrome. I say this because unlike Stockholm Syndrome in which one party is deemed the abuser and the other the abused, learned helplessness is about pain avoidance – either on the BP or Non-BP side. If what you try, over and over, doesn’t work to alleviate pain, then you eventually learn that the pain is unavoidable and you “lie down on the grid” and accept the pain as unavoidable – or you go nuclear and terminate the relationship or commit suicide. If everything you do, even if you try the diametrically opposed action to the previous action and that doesn’t work, results in suffering and equal pain, eventually you are going to learn that you are helpless to the pain – this is what learned helplessness is all about. I don’t think this concept is only about the Non-BP (which the idea of Stockholm Syndrome assumes – that is, there is one abuser and one abused, which in a loving relationship seem ridiculous to me. I mean, after all, we are talking about “loved ones” and families are we not?), No, the idea of learned helplessness cuts both ways because both parties are using ineffective methods to remove pain and both parties end up banging their head up against to wall of ineffectiveness. If nothing works, despair rules and the only solution is to accept your fate and “lay down on the grid.”

The way out of learned helplessness is a reconditioning of one’s behavior in which the pain can be removed. That is another difference in the idea of Stockholm Syndrome and learned helplessness. The mechanics of Stockholm Syndrome are impossible to counteract (I suppose it’s years of psychoanalytic therapy or other ideas that this “Non-BP” book purports), while the mechanics of learned helplessness are difficult, yet possible, to counteract. What one has to do to counteract the condition of learned helplessness is find a behavior or technique that is not helpless. One has to find a technique or behavior that one can practice and be effective to alleviate the suffering of the condition in which one is currently helpless.

The reason that I included this section on learned helplessness in this section of the book is two-fold. While I have yet to talk about the tools to counteract this and other relationship issues that can arise from an ineffective BP/Non-BP relationship (I do that later in the book), I just wrote about conditioned behavior and I am about to write about emotional memory. Conditioned behavior and learned helplessness can happen in both humans and in animals. These two concepts are interrelated. I’m not sure about emotional memory and if it applies to animals. However, if whatever you try to reduce your pain doesn’t work, you eventually learn that nothing works – that is the state of learned helplessness. Within the framework of the BPD dynamic, if you find that your reactions and behaviors are ineffectual, these reactions and behaviors are ineffective at reducing your suffering and at fostering a calmer relationship. So, learned helplessness is related to conditioned behavior and learned helplessness can grow out of the BPD dynamic if you continue to perpetuate ineffective behavior.

Unlike Stockholm Syndrome, learned helplessness is born out of trust. Stockholm Syndrome is born out of abuse and/or hostage-taking. Your loved one is not (however it may feel at times) a kidnapper, terrorist or, intentionally, an abuser. They (and you) are trying to get needs met. The relationship generally is born out of trust and presumed love, whether romantic, familiar or friendly (or a combination of each). The basic premise of the nature of the relationship is a significant difference between Stockholm Syndrome and learned helplessness. It is not just the nature of the concepts academically (one is psychodynamic, the other behavioral), it is the foundation for the relationship that is divergent. The dogs in the learned helplessness experiments essentially trusted and relied upon their “owners” – they needed food and shelter provide by the experimenters (which in a way makes their case more tragic). In the case of Stockholm Syndrome, the initial state between subject and object is adversarial. The abusers or abductors are part of the initial part in the equation, as are the abused and the abducted. There is a clear perpetuator and a clear victim, but in my mind, no such clear lines between these categories exist in a BPD/Non-BP relationship. Certainly, Non-BP’s do feel embattled and, at times, overwhelmed, but, upon reflection, so do BP’s. Both groups are behaving in ways that are ineffective and ineffectual for reducing pain, for increasing understanding and for maintaining calm in the relationship.

One of the keys to understanding learned helplessness is to understand that no effective behavior can be found to escape pain. While BP’s might resort to “extreme” behavior to reduce their pain (such as cutting, risk-taking behavior, drug taking and others) Non-BP’s may be less likely to do so. I say “may be” less likely because I suspect that alcoholism and other such behavioral adaptations might be more prevalent in Non-BP’s than in the general population because these are behavioral adaptations that act on the pain directly, yet these adaptations are ineffective and may create other interpersonal and personal consequences. It is possible that (as in the dogs) there is no behavioral adaptation that has any effective impact on the suffering. You feel stuck and there’s no way out. That, in effect, requires that you “lie down on the grid” and accept your punishment. The trust and presumed love you felt in the beginning of the relationship is exposed as ineffective, and you feel trapped in pain. I think this is a mild form of PTSD. The point is, if you can’t do anything to get you out of pain, you’re stuck, helpless and hopeless. I called this book When Hope is Not Enough for a reason, and here’s where my intentions become clear: you can’t hope for a better and more effective solution when everything you have tried thus far doesn’t relieve the suffering and pain you feel. You stop pressing or depressing any lever because neither state relieves the pain; thus, you’re stuck in pain and suffering. However, unlike Stockholm Syndrome, I can offer you a way out of learned helplessness. The way out is through the application of tools that you can apply to the BPD dynamic that can break you out of hopelessness. And unlike psychodynamic explanations, which can take years, this escape window can take much less time. All one has to do is dedicate oneself and practice.

This form of PTSD or learned helplessness hurts and feels as if you are trapped in a cage of conditioned behavior. Yet, if you learn and apply the tools in this book, you can change the BPD dynamic and take your life back. My point is to try and introduce a new dynamic in which you can open the escape window. I have seen in this work in my life and, possibly more importantly, in the lives of the people on my list. There’s hope, but real hope only comes through the application of skills that can escape learned helplessness and PTSD forever.

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2. What is your goal for your relationship?
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Not all interactions are appropriate for cheerleading; in fact, many interactions are not. If you tell someone “you can do it” when they deeply believe that they can’t, this could lead to a mistrust of your opinion of them. In the case of dealing with an emotional person, typically, “positive mental attitude” statements are unhelpful and invalidating. Saying there’s “no need to be sad/scared/angry” for example just serves to invalidate the emotion that the other person is already feeling.

Many people think that effective cheerleading statements involve saying that one person is “proud of” the other, “believes in” the other or “loves” the other. The problem with each of these is that 1) those statements are about how YOU feel and 2) Those statements don’t necessarily foster effective behavior.

At www.dbtselfhelp.com (which is a wonderful resource that I highly recommend) the worksheet on cheerleading states that there are three types of effective cheerleading statements. Mainly, that site is for self-cheerleading, so I will try to adapt these to relationship cheerleading. The types are:

Three types of cheerleading statements:
1. Statements that provide the courage to act effectively
2. Statements that help in preparing for the situation, getting ready to be effective, to focus on what works
3. Statements that counteract myths about interpersonal behavior.

In WHINE, I suggest a tool that can help with #1, which is the tool to “Be Brave.” While a person’s inclination may be to avoid an uncomfortable situation or to behave in a conditioned or ineffective manner (because of lack of courage or self-assurance about the situation), being brave in the face of uncomfortable situations reinforces itself and serves to support type #1.

Some examples of #1 might be:
“You can do hard things.” (which is my favorite and can apply to both #1 and #2)
“Remember the time you did [whatever]. That was so brave of you in that situation.”
“I’m impressed with your courage in the face of that.”
“Yeah, that is really hard. At the same time you have faced something like that before…”

If you combine “Be Brave” with “You can do hard things,” you go a long way to being more effective, because these two concepts help counteract the idea that you are “walking on eggshells” around someone else and that your feeling that avoidance of an emotional situation is the best route to take. I believe taking on an emotional situation head-on is more effective than letting it fester – both for you and for the person with BPD.

In type #2, the focus should be on effective behavior for a future task. #2 is quite important and, in some ways, is the most difficult type to effectively navigate. Because of conditioned ineffective behavior and the sway of negative emotions, a person might be tempted to repeat ineffective behavior, based on the emotions that they are feeling. A work (or school) situation is a good example of this dynamic. If someone is having a problem with their boss, they might, in anger, have the urge to quit the job or lash out at the boss (or the customers). Work situations can be especially frustrating for a highly emotional person. Work that they consider menial or “beneath them,” overbearing bosses, long periods of downtime in which a person can ruminate or become paranoid that others don’t like them, all contribute to frustration at work.

Some examples of #2 might be:
“You have every right to be angry. Still, the last time he said that sort of thing, you reacted positively. I think that worked out pretty well.”
“Bosses can be a real pain. I know when my boss gets on me; I try to do [something effective]. I’ve seen you do that in the past, so you know you’re capable.”
“You had a similar situation when [whatever] happened and you handled that well.”

In type #3, you are debunking deeply-held beliefs about interpersonal behavior. This technique can be tricky, because a person who is overcome with emotion might not be able to see the other side of the coin. In this type, you are basically reiterating that a person has the rights to their feelings and emotions and helps counteract the idea that other people might not like them just because of an emotional situation.

Some examples of #3 are:
“It’s hard when your co-workers are angry at you. I know I don’t like that either. Yet sometimes it’s about their anger more than your behavior.”
“I think you have the right to state your feelings about the situation.”
“You have every right to ask for what you want, even if you think that will annoy them.”
“I think there’s a lot of validity in how you feel, certainly as much as how they feel.”
“Sometimes I think you have to stand up for your rights. I’m impressed when you have done that in the past.”
“Sometimes people get annoyed when you don’t do exactly what they want. However, you have rights and feelings too.”

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2. PUVAS and DBT Skills
3. Boundaries and their effective use

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Your book in all honesty, out of close to $400 worth of BPD materials I bought, gave me something really concrete to work with. Whether or not it works is up to many factors but, I feel confident that I have the tools I need to work off of, and that is something not even my therapist has given me no matter how much I asked.

Now, I’m no therapist. No, I’m just a regular non-BP husband and father. However, I have gotten a very strong, positive reaction to the tool and strategies that I present in WHINE. If you’re at the end of your rope or want to learn to be more effective with your loved one with BPD, please try WHINE. It has helped many in my ATSTP Google Group get a handle on their relationship. As far as I know, it is the only “lay person staying” book out there. Most of the other non-BP books are written by ex-husbands (e.g. Tears and Healing, Siren’s Son, One Way Ticket to Kansas) and deal with the non’s emotional recovery from the BPD relationship. WHINE deals with how you can effectively interact and communicate with someone with this difficult and, at times, chaotic disorder. If you are a spouse that wants to stay or a parent that has to stay, I would recommend WHINE.

You can purchase WHINE at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.com. You can also buy an electronic copy for only $7.50 from the publisher.

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1. Why Hope is Not Enough
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When stress and anxiety are high, the R (reptilian) system is exaggerated.  In other words, people become more thoughtless, more instinctive, and more automatic.  The same is true concerning the feeling brain.  Once fueled by limbic-derived feelings, we have less access to the thinking brain.  Both brains have ensured the survival of the individual and the species.  Necessary to survival, feelings have an insistent quality and are hardwired into the nervous system.  With strong arousal, the limbic brain can be driven to continue.  The reactive force can go on for hours.  Highly excited emotional states are like poison ivy – we become all itch.

The point of this quote is to illustrate that emotions operate at a lower level in the brain than do values and even thoughts. The author goes on to say:

One of the functions of the thinking brain is to exercise veto power over the instinctive forces of the two lower brains [Reptilian and Feeling brain].  It sets limits on behavior; it provides self-control.  This is one reason moral codes are stated in the negative – “Thou shalt not . . .”  Nonetheless the lower brains, more automatic and defensive than the thinking brain, have a quicker triggering effect and do not easily defer to the thinking brain.

The phrase “do not easily defer to the thinking brain” is an understatement in my opinion. If someone is overcome with emotions, especially strong, negative emotions which is the likely situation with BPD, the “lower brains” at which the emotions are operating will rarely defer to the thinking brain. Therefore, if a person with BPD acts in a way that goes against his/her values, that is probably the cause.

A detailed explanation is available in When Hope is Not Enough:

See larger image When Hope is Not Enough (Paperback) By (author) Bon Dobbs List Price: $19.95 USD New From: $18.21 In Stock Used from: $17.30 In Stock

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I have read the book and it amazes me how so much valuable information can be condensed into such a quick and easy read. It is written in a style that most anyone can understand and it is filled with useful examples on how to use this approach in everyday situations we all face with highly emotional people. Used correctly, the information provided in this book can help you improve your relationship right now… not next year, not next month, TODAY.

On my free email support list for Non-BPs (the ATSTP Google Groups List), a member said this about the downloadable version of WHINE:

It didn’t take me long to figure out that for me, faster progress will be made from
reading Bon’s book WHINE.  I bought the electronic version for $7.50, printed
it out and put it in a little 3-ring binder.  I have now read it once and have
started the second time through after a couple of days letting it sink in.  I had
the pleasure of experiencing one of my BPDW’s “storms” during this sink-in time.
She was the same – I was different.  Kinda surreal experience.

The printed version has a retail price of $19.95, although it is being sold by Amazon and Barnes and Noble for $17.95. If you buy the eBook version you can get the same content for only $7.50.

Buy the eBook version of WHINE here.

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1. Book Review of WHINE from “Tides of Crazy Love”
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3. Reader Reviews

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http://www.amazon.ca/When-Hope-Not-Enough-Dobbs/dp/1435719190/

BTW, it has been available in the UK for a while now:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Hope-Not-Enough-Dobbs/dp/1435719190/

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2. New Review of When Hope is Not Enough
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Rainbow for Hope

In Oct 2007, I was at my wits end and ready to walk away from my raging husband after 4 months of marriage. He had been in therapy for over a year, yet still raging almost daily, beating himself half to death, lying to me about the most ridiculous stuff and destroying our home. All this chaos was causing my 2 teenagers to alienate me out of fear of him. As a Project Manager, I had participated in many classes and seminars on effective communication in the workplace through my job, but it seemed that nothing I tried worked with my husband… most of the time, it only seemed to make things worse. I truly felt helpless. I knew I loved him and I fully understood the complexity of this disorder and how my own (natural) reactions to his behavior contributed to the dynamics of our relationship, but I also realized I didn’t have what it took to provide the healthy and supportive home environment I knew he needed in order to heal from his past.

At the urging of my own therapist (whom I had retained for my own sanity), I decided to join an online support group for loved ones of people who suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder. I found a group called Anything To Stop The Pain (ATSTP). As time went by (with me lurking in the group), I realized that the founder of the group (Ben Dobbs, the author of this book) was promoting a very similar approach with group members that my husband’s therapist was using with him during their sessions. I got more involved with the group and learned how to use this approach, at home, with my husband (and, consequently, with other family members also.)

Ten months later, I’m happy to say that my husband’s raging has reduced to, maybe, once every few months and the intensity is nothing like before — despite the fact that he hasn’t been attending therapy on as regular a basis as I had understood was necessary for improving his emotional health. We are finally enjoying the closeness we both wanted in our marriage. My house feels and looks like a home again (rather than a battlefield) and my kids are back to spending more time with us again. He is slowly changing his maladaptive coping methods to more healthy ones… and working out his past by using this same approach with his own family. It feels good to get genuine apologies (versus “FINE! IT’S ALL MY FAULT!!”) and ‘thank you’s’ (versus daily blaming and projecting) for my patience and understanding.

I have read many books on this disorder. I found ‘Stop Walking on Eggshells’ to be quite validating to my feelings as a loved one (a NON) to a borderline. In that sense, it was very healing for me, personally, but it didn’t help me improve my relationship. ‘I Hate You, Don’t Leave Me’, ‘Sometimes I Act Crazy’ and ‘Get Me Out of Here’ were beneficial to me in that they helped remind me that my husband’s erratic behaviors really were not about me at all. From my personal experience, this book is the next progressive step for those who recognize that they cannot FIX their borderline loved one, yet still have a smidgen of hope that there is a way to find peace and harmony with this person IN their life.

I have read the book and it amazes me how so much valuable information can be condensed into such a quick and easy read. It is written in a style that most anyone can understand and it is filled with useful examples on how to use this approach in everyday situations we all face with highly emotional people. Used correctly, the information provided in this book can help you improve your relationship right now… not next year, not next month, TODAY.

I highly recommend it for anyone who truly wants to learn how to effectively communicate with someone (spouse, parent, child, friend, co-worker or boss) who is struggling with an emotional regulation disorder. You don’t have to give up your rights or go without getting your needs met anymore to stay in this relationship! And the nice thing is, it doesn’t require therapy or counseling to be successful. All you need is an open mind and a desire to try something different… something that works!

WHINE (When Hope is Not Enough) is available at Amazon and other Internet retailers.

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I decided to write this post because I have seen many non-BPs frustrated over the fact that when they try to use the tools in certain books with their BP, the tools seem to cause more rage and emotional dysregulation. The two “tools” that I have found that cause the most problems are boundaries and detachment. I’ve already written a LOT about boundaries and where my view of boundaries diverges with some of the other “Non-BP authors.” Today, I’d like to turn to detachment.

“Stop Walking on Eggshells” recommends on page 98, that a Non-BP “detach with love” from a BP and BPD-like behavior. This concept was “borrowed” from Al-Anon as it is made clear in SWOE. I think that “detaching” (whether with or without love) works in some situations and blows up in the Non’s face in others.

What are the differences? In WHINE, I explain that the “engine” of BPD is emotional dysregulation (which is the opposite of regulation). A person with BPD will heat up more quickly and cool down more slowly than someone without the characteristic of emotional dysregulation. One study that I cite in WHINE deals with “neutral” reactions to someone who is dysregulated. The basic evolution of an (as “Tides” calls it on her blog) Emotionally Dysregulated Moment (or EDM) is trigger -> cognition -> emotion -> expression -> behavior. Emotions can spur on other emotions. Anger is IMO the most powerful of the basic emotions and it is easily triggered, especially when a person with BPD is feeling judged. Ok, now back to detachment. On page 39 of WHINE, I explain that:

One of the most interesting findings of a study in which scientists used functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI) to measure the emotional reaction (limbic system activation) of patients with BPD is that these people react to neutral faces in the same manner they react to angry faces. In essence, when shown a picture of a person with a neutral expression, people with BPD showed amygdala activation as if the picture was one of a person with an angry expression. These people expect judgment and anger in others towards them and react physically and mentally to neutral situations as if they are threatening. They are likely to find “meaning” that is judgmental or threatening in an event that others would see as meaningless. A member of my list compared this reactivity to neutral faces to neutral feedback on eBay. As a buyer on eBay, you don’t give neutral feedback to a seller when everything about the sale is perfect. You give [neutral] feedback when something is wrong. A person with BPD will interpret a neutral face as “something wrong.”

Emotional detachment from an EDM will trigger more emotional dysregulation within a person with BPD. Instead, an EDM is a time to engage someone with BPD and engage them on an emotional level. Otherwise, if you detach emotionally from the situation, the BP will interpret your “calmness” and detachment as judgment or criticism. Additionally, they will likely consider you untrustworthy to validate their emotional states. What I mean by this is that if they are feeling so much emotional pain that they are dysregulated what they are really trying to do (regardless of the content what they say) is to communicate that pain to you. If they’re “dying in pain” and you’re detaching and calm, they feel they can’t come to you with the problem. On page 95-96 of WHINE, I describe this situation as follows:

The purpose of someone coming to you in an emotionally dysregulated (or close to one) state is to communicate the emotions that she feels. She may have difficulty expressing these emotions and may use other means for expressing them such as blame, sobbing, cutting, raging or other behaviors that are difficult for you to deal with. The underlying point however is one of communication – she is trying to tell you something, but she doesn’t have the language for it. Therefore, if you respond to an emotional communication in either an invalidating fashion (using one of the many, many invalidating phrases above) or in a way that doesn’t match the emotional distress, the BP will feel unable to communicate. She will think “I’m going off the deep end here and you are so calm! You don’t understand anything! You’ll never understand me!”, and not trust you. The tenor of your voice is more effective if you express your emotional identification with emotion in your voice as well, but with slightly less emotion than the BP is feeling. In other words, express distress in the identification, but less emotion than if you are actually in distress yourself.

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helping someone with bpd
bpd crazymaking
levels of validation
“self-destructive behavior” friend
how to get bpd to go to psychiatrist
bpd communication
bpd and lying
high-functioning borderline
borderline how to convince ex i have changed
are emotions painful for bpd
invalidating environment, boundaries
advice for dealing with someone with a bpd
bpd dealing with love
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when she clearly has a personality disorder
bpd google groups
how to deal with a bpd
rejection-sensitivity
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telling someone they have bpd
mental illness that exhibits rage, blaming
borderlines and lying to hurt their partner
did i give my child bpd

If you found my blog while searching on one of the above or on a similar search term, I would suggest you read my book When Hope is Not Enough (aka WHINE), because it contains answers to all of the above search terms and provides a how-to guide for solving those issues. WHINE is available for sale on Amazon and other Internet retailers. You can also buy an eBook version from Lulu.

I’d also like to respond to  two reviews of WHINE from Amazon – one negative and one positive.

First, the negative review…

Sorry, I didn’t care for this book as much as the others on BPD. The techniques were pretty much the same as recommended in “Stop Walking on Eggshells” but the technical background and reasoning behind the techniques was not as clearly discussed. Perhaps this book could be useful to someone who prefers the “lay” or non-professional approach and needs a book written in simpler terms.

OK, the techniques that I discuss are different than “Stop Walking on Eggshells” (although some of the techniques DO overlap). The main reason that my tools are different than in SWOE has to do with the fact that I present a different view of BPD focusing on three main aspects: emotional dysregulation, impulsiveness and shame. Unlike SWOE, I do not take you on a step-by-step review of the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria and, in this way, I feel that WHINE is more practical as a how-to guide than SWOE. Additionally,  I explain the techniques in DETAIL, that is, HOW to do each one, what to say and what NOT to say, etc. As an example of this surrounds validation techniques. I have flipped through SWOE and found very little on emotional validation of the BP’s emotions. There is 1/2 a page on the “triggers” of invalidation and a how a “I know how you feel” response could trigger rage (that’s on pages 113-114 of my copy of SWOE). There is some additional information that MAY be considered validation on pages 142-145 of SWOE about “Acknowledge Before Disputing;” however, this information is not detailed. In WHINE I spent over 30 pages (of a 185 page book) on emotional validation – why to do it, how to do it, how not to do it, when to do it, etc. Why? Because emotional validation is central to learning how to communicate effectively with someone with BPD.

Where SWOE spends many, many pages on boundaries and limits, the message is inconsistent. In the beginning of the introduction of boundaries SWOE says this:

Personal limits are not about controlling or changing other people’s behavior. In fact, they’re not about other people at all. There about you and what you need to do to take care of yourself. (pages 118-119)

THAT I agree with wholeheartily! However, later in SWOE we get this:

If you want the BP to change, you have to be willing to make some changes yourself if the person does not observe your limits. (page 157)

Alright, I would believe in the first part; however, the second part is what I have a problem with. My understanding of boundaries and limits are that they are for YOU and not about other people’s behavior. A person can’t “violate your boundaries” because only YOU can violate your own boundaries. If they do, your “boundaries” are not about your behavior anymore, they are about ANOTHER person’s behavior and those type of “boundaries” are really rules for the other person’s behavior. On this point (and on the importance of emotional validation) is where my book and SWOE completely diverge. (Another note creating such “boundaries” – that are really rules – is a trigger for BPD rage too).

Finally, the two books were written for two separate reasons. If you look at the subtitles of each you can see where each book has a separate purpose. The subtitle of SWOE is “taking your life back when someone you care about has borderline personality disorder.” The subtitle of WHINE is “a how-to guide for living with and loving someone with borderline personality disorder.” SWOE is written to focus on validation of the non-BP (which has its place, no doubt, I got a LOT of validation out of SWOE when I first read it 3 years ago). WHINE is written as a “how-to” guide for (peacefully) living with a person with BPD. The difference is subtle, but important. A member of my Internet list summed it up rather well this way:

I want to add another thought about this…

I think when Randi [Kreger, the co-author of SWOE] wrote her book, she likely recognized the importance of
validation, but her frame of mind was on healing herself.  So, I would
venture to say that is why there was a strong bent towards validating nons.
In addition, Randi got out of her BP relationship, so she didn’t really know
what to advise those who wanted to stay.  If I was her, I don’t think I’d
even care about any of that “staying stuff”… I’d probably just want to
help the nons move on with their lives (something she was familiar with.)

Bon, on the other hand, it seems had already gotten through the stage of
being able to self-validate, and had decided to stay.  So, his focus was, of
course, on problem solving.  And the only way to be effective at that is
through validation of BPs.

Each of their situations are different, as are their target audiences
(Randi’s being X-Nons and Bon’s being Staying-Nons.)  I think they both did
an excellent job speaking to the feelings of those they could sincerely hope
to reach out to.  The audiences that are getting caught up are the
Undecided-Nons.  Those are the ones who would benefit most by reading both
books in the exact order you advise.

So, as you can see both books have their place in the life-cycle of being a non-BP. I think what you have to do it decide where you are in the life-cycle. My book is aimed at making BP/Non-BP relationships more calm without “walking on eggshells.” SWOE is not really a “staying” book – although Randi Kreger does have a new book due out in the Fall with staying in mind.

Ok, so back to the key words… if you are searching on those types of things and WANT to maintain a relationship with someone with BPD, WHINE is an excellent resource for that. If you’re searching on “i hear demon moaning in husband” or “cutting ties borderline personality disorder” I suspect you should look for a book other than WHINE.

I’ll have to review my “good review” in the next post.

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1. A Note about BPD and Boundaries And SWOE
2. Why did I bother to write a book?
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When Hope is Not Enough Preview

I “hope” you enjoy it!

I will be posting more information about the book shortly. As of this writing, there is only 1 more copy in stock at Amazon.

Related posts:

1. The Nature of Hope
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Validation is Walking Along With Someone

This is an excerpt from pages 103-104 from my book When Hope is Not Enough: a how-to guide for living with and loving someone with Borderline Personality Disorder. This excerpt comes from my (long) discussion of validation and how and why to do it. In the book, I outline a six step process to validation. This is a part of “Step 3: Making a Validating Statement”:

Examples of validating statements:
- That must have made you feel really angry.
- What a frustrating situation to be in!
- It must make you feel angry to have someone do that.
- That’s so difficult for you.
- Wow, how hard that must be.
- That’s stinks!
- That’s messed up! (or stronger language if you are so inclined)
- How frustrating!
- Yeah, I can see how that might make you feel really sad.
- Boy, you must be angry.
- What a horrible feeling.
- What a tough spot.
- That must be really discouraging.
- I bet you feel disappointed.
- Rats, I know how much that meant to you.
- That’s so painful for you.
- Tell me more. (shows interest)
- Wow, she must have made you really angry.

And, of course, many, many more. If you want a validating statement to feel “true” make it about the truth of the situation for the other person. That truth is the way they feel about the event.
When you make a validating statement you should not:

- Make it about you. “I hated it when that happened to me.”
- Try to one-up the person. “Oh, you think you have it bad…”
- Tell them how they should feel. “You should feel blessed…”
- Try to give them advice. “What you really should do is…”
- Try to solve their problem. “I’m going to call that girl’s parents and…”
- Cheerlead (there is a time for this, but not now). “I know you can do it…”
- Make “life” statements. “Well, life’s not fair…”
- Make judgmental statements. “What you did was wrong…”
- Make “revisionist” statements. “If you had only…”
- Make it about your feelings. “How do you think that makes me feel?”
- Make “character” statements. “You’re too sensitive…”
- Rationalize another person’s behavior. “I bet they were just…”
- Call names. “You’re such a baby.”
- Use reason or the “facts.” “That’s not what happened…”
- Use “always” or “never” statements. “You always get yourself into these situations…”
- Compare the person to someone else. “Why can’t you be like your sister?”
- Label the person. “You’re nuts.”
- Advising to cut ties or ignore the situation. “Just ignore him.”

Remember, the current problem is not what happened; it is what the BP feels about it. So, the problem that must be addressed is her feelings, not the situation. To address her feelings, you must do so using emotional language, not rational or judgmental language.

When Hope is Not Enough
Get the Non-BPD book that is designed for
staying and working on the relationship

Related posts:

1. Why Hope is Not Enough
2. WHINE and DBT Skills Compared
3. Ask Bon: How do I balance validating somebody’s feelings with protecting myself or my children from emotional abuse?

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Another quick review from my group…

Disclaimer: I just downloaded WHINE. I have not read the entire book.

However, the section on validation is excellent, excellent, excellent!
For some reason, I’m always deeply impressed when someone actually
understands this concept. Not only is validation explained in a
complete way but sample conversations are also given with suggested
validating language.

This section alone needs to be required reading for any loved ones of
persons diagnosed with BPD.

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Hope is important, because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear.

But the funny thing is, this quote is taken out of context. This quote is from a longer one called “Hope as an Obstacle.” A more complete quote is this one (emphasis is mine):

Hope is important, because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today. But that is the most that hope can do for us – to make some hardship lighter. When I think deeply about the nature of hope, I see something tragic. Since we cling to our hope in the future, we do not focus our energies and capabilities on the present moment. We use hope to believe something better will happen in the future, that we will arrive at peace, or the Kingdom of God. Hope becomes a kind of obstacle. If you can refrain from hoping, you can bring yourself entirely into the present moment and discover the joy that is already here.

Enlightenment, peace, and joy will not be granted by someone else. The well is within us, and if we dig deeply in the present moment, the water will spring forth. We must go back to the present moment in order to be really alive. When we practice conscious breathing, we practice going back to the present moment where everything is happening.

Western civilization places so much emphasis on the idea of hope that we sacrifice the present moment. Hope is for the future. It cannot help us discover joy, peace, or enlightenment in the present moment. Many religions are based on the notion of hope, and this teaching about refraining from hope may create a strong reaction. But the shock can bring about something important. I do not mean that you should not have hope, but that hope is not enough. Hope can create an obstacle for you, and if you dwell in the energy of hope, you will not bring yourself back entirely into the present moment. If you re-channel those energies into being aware of what is going on in the present moment, you will be able to make a breakthrough and discover joy and peace right in the present moment, inside of yourself and all around you.

- Peace Is Every Step (1991)

In the context of BPD, I take this as hoping for something to happen which will not happen without recognizing the current situation. In other words, you are hoping for something you wish to happen while ignore what actually IS. I would suggest that in this context hope is a form of “magic thinking” or “wishful thinking” and, without work and practice of effective skills, that hope is empty. Acceptance of the current situation is the first step toward change.

Related posts:

1. A Preview to “When Hope is Not Enough”
2. Holy Cow! An Amazon Review for When Hope is Not Enough
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Holding on to Hope

The author of this book, Bon Dobbs, is the founding leader of my online google support group – ATSPGroup. His wife has been diagnosed with BPD and his daughter struggles with emotional dysregulation similar to that of BPD.

When I found this group, I had just come away from the Welcome To Oz group known as WTO-Staying. I was tremendously discouraged (support-wise), because the folks there just didn’t seem to “get” this disorder… from my perspective as a suffer and as a non to my BPDH. There were a few informed folks who were seriously trying to explain the underlying fears and irrational thoughts behind BPD, but most of the nons couldn’t seem to get past their own hurts, fears and thoughts to learn the type of communication that is most effective with a BP. I knew immediately from reading Bon’s supportive responses to group members that he and I shared many of the same thoughts and opinions about the disorder… and about how non’s tend to become affected negatively by it over time, which inevitably contributes to the further erosion of the relationship.

“When Hope Is Note Enough” (WHINE) explains all this, and goes on to offer excellent and insightful tips on how to support the BP in your life without condoning the inapproprate behavior (projecting, blaming, intense anger, impulsiveness, etc.) or agreeing with the irrational thoughts you oftentimes find yourself subjected to by the BP in your life. It’s a very validating resource, especially for nons, that teaches you how to provide a validating environment in which your BP can finally heal without sacrificing your own values, beliefs and feelings.

I’ve been using the approach in this book (naturally… thanks to my own previous therapy) since the day I found out about hubby’s MH issues. It was challenging at first, as I had to view what I knew from a different perspective, but over the past 8 months, we have really begun to see an improvement in our relationship and in my hubby’s healing process. (I think my life updates in this blog will be a testament to that… once I get them all posted anyway, lol!) I was glad to see Bon write this book. Many times, I had considered doing the same, but unfortunately, I’m not organized enough in my mind to take on such a project… at least not at this point in my life. He did an superb job bringing it all together in a way readers can easily follow and implement! I highly recommend this book, not just to nons of BPs, but to anyone who is caught up in a high conflict relationship with someone they love.

Here is a nice book review I found of my book When Hope is Not Enough. I “know” this reviewer through my email list ATSTP. She is incredibly wise and knowledgeable about BPD and being a Non-BP. She should write her own book IMO.

Thanks! Hope you enjoy and can use the book (of course, sometimes “hope” is not enough – haha).

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1. Why did I bother to write a book?
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1. I am planning on posting the book for sale on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other Internet sites within the next few weeks. I discovered that there is another book with the old title: When Love is Not Enough. It is a book by Nancy L. Thomas about parenting children with RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder). I suspect that some of the content is similar to my content with respect to children with BPD, since BPD and RAD are in some ways similar disorders. I don’t know that much about RAD, so I will have to research it more. As of Friday, when I was first looking into that title, I saw the it was ranked better than 5,000 on Amazon’s ranking (I hope that mine will be ranked so high). Now it is ranked around 12,000. I really wanted to prevent any confusion in that respect.
2. I started feeling that the word “hope” better typifies the idea behind the book than “love” did. I think many Non-BPs cling to hope and expect things to get better – which IMO they will not unless you (the Non-BP) learns certain emotional skills. Simple hope for things to improve will not make anything improve. You need more than hope – you need skill.
3. While I originally didn’t use Borderline Personality Disorder in the subtitle, because I feel the skills will work with many emotional disorders, I have realized that my book is basically about being an effective Non-BP and works really well with people with the disorder. Therefore, to attract the appropriate audience, I inserted BPD into the subtitle. I honestly believe that if you (the Non-BP) follow the guidelines in my book, you can learn to “live with” and love someone with BPD. Is it all about “walking on eggshells” around them? No! Definitely not! It is about learning about the disorder and, more importantly, learning how to be effective with someone with the disorder.

Anyway, for all of you who have purchased previous copies with the previous title, I guess you got a rarity. Consider it a “classic” version of the book. The content hasn’t really changed BTW, just the title and subtitle.

To purchase a printed or electronic copy from Lulu, click here.  Soon, I will post the link to purchase from Amazon or other online retailers.

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BPD can be frustrating

UPDATE 10/2008:  This post is quite old… but it still applies. However, if you want to know HOW to do some of the things I mention here, I have recently published the I-AM-MAD communication skill, which distills one of the main skills that I present in my book, When Hope is Not Enough.

Hi all. I have been monitoring the “non” email lists and have found a common idea that I believe is a misconception about borderlines.

A taste of this idea can be seen in this paraphrased comment: ”When will my BP be willing to take responsibility for his/her actions? When will he/she try and fix the harm he/she has done to me and the kids? When will they finally admit they are WRONG?”

This attitude is common among “nons.” What it represents is anger and sadness on the part of the non and a desire for the borderline to behave in a “normal” way.

Unfortunately, the borderline will not behave in a “normal” way until the source of the behaviors are either accepted or changed. This site (and many others about Borderline Personality Disorder) posits that borderlines behave in the way that they do because they are in pain. This pain is deep and emotional and is characterized by shame. They do not feel guilty for what they do. No, they feel shameful about who they are. They believe that they are bad/wrong people. Why do so many kill themselves? To stop the pain.

The anger that the “non” expresses comes off to the borderline as judgment of their feelings. One of the key “causes” of BPD is an invalidating environment. If they are acting in a way the “non” feels is “wrong” the expression of that feeling on the part of the non is a judgment of the BPD’s feelings. In other words, they have internalized that it is wrong to feel that way. The problem is: they feel that way anyway, whether the non believes it is wrong or not. They behave in such as way to stop the painful emotions (mainly shame) and the judgments that come from the invalidating environment.

People in the “non” support groups don’t want to hear this. Why? Because they too are in pain. They are angry and want to be told that none of this is their fault. The disorder is not their fault, but the continuation of the “invalidating environment” is. A quote from an article of DBT Family Skills Training:

Facilitated by DBT’s nonjudgmental framework, DBT-FST offers the possibility of significant emotional and behavioral improvements in the whole family system as well as for the individuals in that system. This is accomplished through:1) presenting the biosocial model to patients and family members in a non-blaming manner similar to the approach employed in psychoeducation models;2) offering support and education to family members in the form of teaching DBT skills; and3) reinforcing skillful behaviors (in particular using rehearsal and feedback) through increasing the levels of empathy and validation in the family.

(emphasis mine)

Note the “non-blaming” manner. This illustrates a new environment that the family members can help create that supports the BPD and eliminates blaming (or judging). The second two points are the ways in which things will change -teaching skills that can be used instead of the old maladaptive behaviors like cutting or starving or raging.

While many nons might be angry at me for pointing out that they need to change also, I feel that these skills provide a sense of control over the situation. The non-judgmental approach applies to the nons too – meaning, we can’t “judge” the actions of the non are “wrong”. Instead, we can see the actions of the non can be painful to the borderline.

That said – many nons don’t want to hear that they have being acting toward their borderlines in painful ways. They too don’t want the blame. But I am not saying these things to “assign blame.” No, I am saying these things to try and help empower the non with skills that help the borderline with his or her feelings. In that way, life can get better for all involved.

Learn about this and how to do it in “When Hope is Not Enough”:

When Hope is Not Enough
Get the Non-BPD book that is designed for
staying and working on the relationship

Related posts:

1. A Note about BPD and Boundaries And SWOE
2. DBT for the Family?
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