Topic Tuesday // BPD Awareness Week 2021 – Discover Creative Wellbeing // Tues 5th October, 7pm-8:30pm AEDT

Question 4.

In my many years in the mental health system, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no ‘treatment resistant’ condition. Rather, the treatment (or method of treatment) that is being provided is not suitable for the individual.

So what can you do?

Keep Looking! Don’t give up! If one thing doesn’t work, try the next!

I’d also like to mention that for someone to be diagnosed with BPD, they simple need to meet ANY of the 5 criteria. Hence, there are hundreds of variations of BPD. No two people with BPD are exactly the same!

Even within the therapy space, no to clinicians offer the same DBT treatment. If one experience hasn’t gone to well, don’t let yourself say “DBT doesn’t work”.

There needs to be a shift in healthcare spaces so that they consider the language they use. They need to look beyond the superficial layers of hurt, pain, and rage to find the real person underneath. This takes time. And unfortunately, many are not willing to make the time.

yes it can be so emotionally hard @BPDSurvivor @Shaz51 you hate to see your loved one hurting and so distressed showing lots of love and unserstanding can never be over rated,

that is an awesome saying strike while the iron is cold. maybe a good saying to put with the label

Hi @Scarlet72, glad you coukld join us! It sounds like getting that BPD diagnosis was a validating experience for you, is that right?

Thank you for sharing @Scarlet72 ! As much as having a BPD diagnosis may not be pleasant, it is also a comfort to know that you have behaved in ways due to a MH condition - it is actually validating.

Also, you can then look for therapies that target BPD.

Do you have any supports?

Hello @Scarlet72 ❤

Question 4. @cloudcore

Before my current role as DBT Coordinator, I was in a Social Work role in a Mental Health Short Stay Unit, where most of the people admitted were in crisis, most often with BPD. I worked within a very medical model, I worked with a lot of nurses who had been in mental health nursing for 30 years plus, and with the more recent change of working with people with BPD in the mental health system, had not been provided with the training and skills to work most effectively working with BPD. I had one nurse who said ‘back in the good old days it was just people with Schizophrenia and Bipolar, and you could just give them a pill’. Reading (and seeing) between the lines, she was unequipped. By being unskilled around what helps someone with BPD, I often felt like while they were doing the best that they could, but that the system and individuals could definitely do better.

Saying that, there are shifts in the healthcare spaces. In SA, since July 2019, we now have a State-wide BPD Specialist Service called BPD Collaborative and amongst other great initiatives, they provide a lot of training and psychoeducation to clinicians. There is so much power in education, and being more skilled, I know that if myths can be dispelled, genuine understanding and compassion can be regained for those who have BPD and how it presents, then further trauma and invalidation won’t need to be continued in a space which is meant to be healing and restorative.