Follow up on Substance Abuse

From a very good article describing co-existing issues with BPD:

Millon (1996, p. 200) notes that individuals with BPD are characterized by drug-seeking behavior. Individuals with BPD will be particularly vulnerable to the escape offered by drugs and alcohol. Real world interaction triggers multiple interpersonal crises and overwhelming negative affect. Drugs can, ostensibly, offer relief from BPD turmoil and emptiness.

And for me, this one struck home:

Individuals with BPD often use alcohol and other drugs in a chaotic and unpredictable pattern; they may engage in a polydrug pattern involving alcohol and other sedative-hypnotics for self-medication. Clients with BPD often abuse benzodiazepines that have been prescribed for anxiety — which can lead to a relapse to their actual primary drug of choice (Ries, TIP #9, 1994, p. 55).

UPDATE: link to article no longer works.

Related posts:

1. DBT for Substance Abuse
2. Substance Abuse
3. Follow the Yellow Click Road
4. Substance Abuse and BPD – Poll Results
5. Amy Winehouse, addiction and BPD from the NY Times
6. Ask Bon: How do I balance validating somebody’s feelings with protecting myself or my children from emotional abuse?
7. Pain, Borderline Personality Disorder, Emotional Lability and Opiate Abuse

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