Personality Disorders make it difficult to view yourself, your emotions, your actions, and the people around you objectively. Individuals who have Personality Disorders such as Borderline Personality Disorder face frequent challenges in their relationships, careers, and personal lives. However, with the right treatment modalities under the care of a skilled Licensed Psychologist, you can overcome these challenges by going to the root causes of your disorders, treating the past traumas, cultivating adaptive relationships, learning social skills training, maintaining healthy boundaries, and learning how to function as a productive member of society to enjoy healthy relationships at home and at work.
Borderline Personality Disorder creates challenges with modulating affect and regulating emotions as well as acting out behaviors, high levels of impulsivity, catastrophic thinking, sabotaging success at work or with significant others, and patterns of idealization followed by devaluation of others. There can also be an inability to avoid getting overwhelmed by negative experiences, an inability to manage behavior, and an inability to maintain a positive self-image. A Licensed Clinical Psychologist can help you identify, address, and work through these challenges through a range of evidence-based treatment approaches. Learn more about these scientific-based models for Borderline Personality Disorder and see how professional intervention and treatment from a qualified and seasoned Psychologist can help.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, focuses on equipping patients with psychological “tools” they can use to make problem-solving easier and improve overall quality of life. Four core examples of these types of tools are distress tolerance, emotional regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness.
Distress tolerance refers to the ability to experience emotional distress without letting it overwhelm you. No one can eliminate pain, stress, or discomfort from their life. Instead, the goal is to learn how to manage these negative feelings in a healthy way that allows you to process them without losing control of your thoughts or actions.
Emotional regulation works in a similar way. It teaches patients to experience emotions—even strong, negative ones—without losing control or acting recklessly.
Interpersonal effectiveness focuses on the skills necessary to build and maintain healthy relationships, including effective communication, self-respect, establishing and maintaining boundaries, and respecting the needs and boundaries of others.
Finally, mindfulness is the key to building these skills. Patients who practice mindfulness with the help of a Licensed Clinical Psychologist learn how to experience and accept their own emotions in a productive and healthy way. Learning to distinguish between emotion and fact helps you maintain control over your thoughts and behaviors, even when you are stressed, hurt, or angry.
Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder often feel their emotions more intensely than others. They also tend to fall into strict, black-and-white thought patterns that make it difficult to objectively view themselves and the world. Through the tools of Dialectical Behavior Therapy, patients can learn to manage their emotions and restructure their thought patterns, building healthier and more productive mindsets.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Like Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a form of Psychotherapy that helps patients build greater awareness of their thoughts and emotions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy emphasizes the role of thought patterns in our actions and behaviors.
Distorted patterns of thinking lead to negative beliefs and assumptions, poorer self-image, and destructive behaviors. By identifying and analyzing these distorted thought patterns, patients can address their negative thoughts and behaviors at the root. Finding the source of these thoughts allows them to build healthier thought patterns and restructure their thinking to create a healthier, more balanced mindset.
Through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist helps you become aware of your own inner voice and thought patterns so that you can notice and correct negative patterns of thinking in your life. This—in addition to other Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques such as mindfulness practice and problem-solving skills—helps patients with Borderline Personality Disorder to accurately identify the distorted thoughts at the root of their distress.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Your past experiences go on to shape the things you believe, the emotions you feel, and the way you think. This is the core belief behind Psychodynamic Therapy. This form of Psychotherapy focuses on the way emotional and behavioral patterns stem from the unique experiences and challenges every individual person faces. Only by addressing those experiences as the root of the issue can you learn how to process and overcome the challenges you face in your present life.
Psychodynamic Therapy revolves around self-exploration, helping patients work through their thoughts, emotions, and the issues they face to better understand the underlying mental, emotional, and behavioral patterns at play. This work helps Licensed Clinical Psychologists and their patients identify and correct these negative thought patterns and maladaptive coping techniques by creating productive alternatives to combat the symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder.
Psychodynamic Therapy helps patients gain freedom from their own past traumas and experiences. This freedom grants control over your thoughts and behaviors, improving your ability to regulate emotions, face challenges, and build a more positive life for yourself.
Psychoanalytic Therapy
Many mental and emotional challenges involve unconscious thoughts that you struggle with or even refuse to face. You might even deal with repressed feelings you do not even recognize. No matter how aware you are of these feelings, they can have a significant impact on the challenges you face and what you experience each day.
Psychoanalytic Therapy emphasizes the importance of unearthing and facing these buried emotions. By confronting these feelings with the help of a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, you can work through the pain and come out of it with a better understanding of your own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This process revolves around a steady, gradual, and maturational process that involves consistent reflection and examination of your thoughts and patterns. In doing so, you gain the knowledge and understanding you need to process life’s current challenges and build a healthier mindset for yourself.
The Importance of Personalized Treatment
The most successful Mental Health treatment plans combine different types of evidence-based therapy to address the unique challenges of each individual patient. A tailored treatment plan meets your needs as an individual, allowing you to process and heal at your own pace.
Moreover, the different aspects of each individual treatment type work with and support each other. For example, Psychodynamic Therapy builds the self-awareness necessary to act on the techniques you learn in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Similarly, Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy have many overlapping focuses, such as mindfulness and interpersonal skills. Simultaneously pursuing these treatments improves your cognitive skills and creates a solid foundation for improving your Mental Health.
Find Help With Blair Wellness Group
At Blair Wellness Group, we work with you to create a treatment plan that addresses your needs as an individual. If you are looking for a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who offers Borderline Personality Disorder treatment approaches such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy, contact Blair Wellness Group to see how our evidence-based treatment plans can help you.
