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Be mindful of transitions with BPD
Transitions, especially as they relate to identity, can wreck havoc in a relationship with someone with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The last few months have been very difficult in my household with my wife with BPD. Over the weekend, she engaged in self-injury for the first time in eight years. Why? Because my household is going through a very significant transition. My girls have applied to and gone to college, leaving only my wife, my last child (a middle schooler) and myself in the house. My wife identifies herself as primarily a mother. She is greatly attached to our girls and now that they have “left the nest,” my wife’s…
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The Surprising Key Element in Happy Couples – Emotional Intelligence
Bon: I like to call this emotional agility… The Surprising Key Element in Happy Couples Have you ever wondered if you and the guy you just started dating will make it long term? Or are you about to get married, and wish you could really predict if it will last? Do you ever wonder if you and your wife’s relationship is as happy as it can be? What do you think accounts for those who seem madly in love, versus couples who don’t make it or seem miserable together? Most of us can think of all sorts of elements that might make a happy couple. But there’s one key factor…
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People With Borderline Personality Disorder May Misinterpret Facial Emotions
In studies, patients sometimes saw anger in a ‘neutral’ face and reacted to that threat THURSDAY, May 23 (HealthDay News) — Symptoms of borderline personality disorder often mimic traits of other psychiatric disorders, complicating diagnosis and treatment. But researchers in Canada say they have identified a characteristic that may be unique to borderline personality disorder: a tendency to misinterpret emotions expressed by the face. “They have difficulty processing facial emotions and will see a negative emotion on a neutral face,” said Anthony Ruocco, a clinical neuropsychologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto. “This is not seen in bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.” Inaccuracies in recognizing anger, sadness, fear and…
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With Borderline Personality Disorder always look for the trigger
In When Hope is Not Enough, I suggest that when asking a validating question, the question that is most effective is: “What happened?” I recommend this because it is open ended and, more importantly, with BPD something usually DID happen to trigger emotional dysregulation. There is almost always a local trigger. This is why I don’t recommend attributing emotional dysregulation to childhood trauma or abuse. With emotional dysregulation, something typically just happened to trigger it. While the conditioned responses – rage or running away – can sometimes be attributed to childhood and the interpretation of the precipitating event can be conditioned from childhood, the actual event is a trigger that sets…
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Why Borderlines are NOT Psychopaths
I have often heard Non-BPDs (or family and friends of those with borderline personality disorder – BPD) refer to their borderlines as “psychopaths”. There was the semi-famous story of the divorced husband who was running a blog called “the psycho ex-wife” (read more about that saga here) which had an “arm chair” diagnosis of this man’s ex-wife as having BPD. While she may or may not have BPD, the reference to the word “psycho” is a misnomer. There are several BIG differences between borderline personality disorder and psychopathy. One of the most important is the function of the amygdala – an almond shaped structure in the mid-brain that activates when…
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Unpleasant Words Trigger Strong Startle Response in People with Borderline Personality Disorder
Potential physiological marker for a severe mental disorder August 22, 2007 • Science Update Adults with borderline personality disorder (BPD) showed excessive emotional reactions when looking at words with unpleasant meanings compared to healthy people during an emotionally stimulating task, according to NIMH-funded researchers. They also found that people with more severe BPD showed a greater difference in emotional responding compared to people with less severe BPD. The study was published in the August 1, 2007, issue of Biological Psychiatry. Borderline Personality Disorder is a serious mental illness characterized by intense fear of abandonment and/or rejection, problems controlling emotions, troubled relationships, impulsive or reckless behaviors, and other symptoms. The disorder affects roughly 1.4 percent…