Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder

[ladyinthelibrary]

Does anyone have any experience of this? My DD1 (21) has just finally been diagnosed with this; currently she is in a psych unit after attempted overdose but will be coming out in the next couple of weeks. So relieved to finally have a name for what she (and we as a family) has been suffering, but we have been told that it will never be 'cured' as such, but also we haven't been given any pointers in dealing with her behaviour once she's back at home (except that it will be 'difficult and challenging'!)

Can anyone tell me from experience what kind of aftercare to expect for her?

Dialectal Behaviour Therapy is supposed to help people with BD. Here in Durham people have to travel to Newcastle for it, so though not geographically widely available, there may well be a place your local MH trust can refer your DD even if it's a way away.

Although it helps to get a label: As a su I am fighting against labels except as guides to symptom clusters. They can lead to normal behaviour being labelled as part of the syndrome.

I would hope she would be discharged with a care plan, she should be involved in formulating this, and should get a copy. I would imagine she would be put under the care of a Community MH Team, with regular visits from a CPN.

Warm wishes to all of you.

Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder-diagnosis one of those "rubbish bin"-diagnosis ie. the doctors don't know what the real diagnosis is.
But generally unstable behaviour gets better the older one gets anyway.

bansku I hesitated to say that - it was, only a few years ago, true (well, anedotally) that a PD diagnosis meant 'we don't know what's wrong.'

Having said that, there has been work on PD since then. But also having said that, it adds to my point about symptom clusters, not psychiatric illnesses.

Many, though not all, people with a PD have some traumatic incident in their childhood AIUI. Could even be something parents not aware of.

I have had that diagnosis (among others) and I have been going to a group therapy for borderlines. The people there were so different. Some seemed to have somekind of retardiation and some looked pretty normal (and depressed), and the rest were anything in between. That made me think that we were just scum, they did not know what to do with us.

Interestingly, I worked with someone who had BPD, she came over as v young and naive, you would guess her age as 8-10 years younger than she was. The same was true of 2 people I met while I was in hospital.

(I am naive in an Asperger's way, which is different )

Thanks for your replies. I found references to DBT today and have been trying to find somewhere that may offer it. I hear what you're saying about it being a catch-all diagnosis, but the symptoms do match hers, and after many years of knowing that something just wasn't 'right' it's a relief to have any sort of name to put to it. Thanks again.

It very much depends on the area you live in as to what services are available. I have a BPD diagnosis, and there are no specialist services in my county at all, whereas others have full DBT programmes/therapeutic communites etc etc. It is truly a postcode lottery.

I am happy to answer any questions you have if you think that would be helpful. I am 26 and was diagnosed a few years ago. I attend a group that is run by MIND, which is the only PD service in my county. I have actually been on a PD training course today, so have spent most of the day discussing PDs and the issues surrounding it.

I don't think it is necessarily a 'rubbish bin' diagnosis, although I do appreciate where that opinion comes from. I do think it is a fairly broad diagnosis, which can cause confusion, and I think it is inappropriately diagnosed not infrequently, but I also think there are people it fits perfectly, and who on receiving the diagnosis suddenly realise that other people think like them, and that they aren't the only person to feel that way, which can be comforting. I think we have an awful long way to go until appropriate treatment is available in all areas, and the stigma surrounding PDs are lost, but I don't think it is an irrelevant diagnosis.

We had someone new start in our BPD group a few weeks ago, and in that session I was talking about the way I think at times, and the new person (who is newly diagnosed) just kept saying 'Oh my god, I do that. Is that a BPD 'thing' - I'm not just weird??' She has said she has found it really helpful to discover that some of the things she experiences aren't just her - they are related to the illness, and other people understand what she is going through. I think that is immensely powerful, and therefore I'm reluctant to just toss the diagnosis aside as being a rubbish/last resort diagnosis, or not real, as I think people who have been accurately diagnosed with BPD do tend to have quite a lot in common, and be able to understand the way one another think. There is a lot of misdiagnosing, but that's a whole other matter.

I really hope your daughter can get the help she needs. It can feel incredibly isolating at times, particularly if you don't know anyone else with the diagnosis, so I hope she is able to find some support soon. Feel free to send me a private message if you want to ask anything, or if you think she may find it helpful to talk to someone else with the diagnosis etc. Good luck!