Surviving Borderline is nothing less than challenging. It weighs you down so much that it feels like it is in control of you. Naturally some people with BPD just feel defeated, even our brains have abandoned us, leaving us feeling powerless to get off this crazy rollercoaster. The truth is, we ARE the only ones who can save ourselves, and it's totally possible.
With Dialectical Behavior Therapy or DBT. those committed to healing, do. Dialectical means integration of opposites. An example: You had an awful mom. That is true. She did the best she could. That can also be true at the same time. DBT teaches us to process information differently, and how to communicate effectively, and be fully present in the moment, and that we have an emotional mind and a logical mind. In DBI we learn skills to get out of our emotional mind and back to our ;logical brain, and that we should not make decisions while in our emotion based mind. Before DBT, most of us lived min emotion based mind.
After you have been in DBT a few months you will start seeing signs that you are starting to get better. One sign is people start telling you you're different, like my daughter noticing that i really pay attention to her when she is speaking. You will also notice that your episodes have been much less frequent, and also much less intense. Do not stop going! Those who take DBT for 1 year have a 75% chance of becoming symptom free, but if you continue to attend until the 2nd year, you chances of becoming symptom free jumps to 95%. Honestly, you get out of DBT what you put into it.
With a suicide rate of 10%. you know it must be very difficult to live with and you would think since DBT can give you a 95% chance of not feeling that way, that all borderlines would go. DBT saves lives, mends relationships and can make an unbearable life, become a life worth living. When all your symptoms all go away, it leaves you feeling so much better that it feels like you have been cured. The thing is, that this behavior you learned doesn't come naturally, it was learned. the problem with that is the longer its been since you went to DBT, the more you will begin to forget the skills. So keep in mind most of us need to return for a refresher every few years like 5-10.
The next step for a graduate of DBT is to continue your education in the DBT graduate group. The graduate group is modeled after the DBT. It begins with Mindfulness, check in and setting an agenda for the meeting. that best supports our needs. Finish with committing\ to working on something before you meet again. You can expect to support one another in the class as well as outside the class. What does the group do?
*Assist you in achieving the goal of having a life worth living.
*Keep you committed to the skills.
*Establish a community of like-minded people to help insure balance in your life and keep you on track long term.
Important things you will be expected to do in the graduate class:
*Participate, remembering that every member has something to say- staying silent through the entire meeting, is not participating. Be sure to address any members who have an issue with the group itself. If there is ever an elephant in the room, then address it and possibly talk about avoidance. This type of group will reinforce the skills you already have, while taking those skills to the next level. It is so important that we continue our education from time to time, in order to stay on top of the BPD. If you think you are beginning to feel the symptoms again, don't wait, find a local DBT graduate group near you, and get enrolled.
