As a clinical hypnotherapist (AHA), psychotherapist and PACFA-registered mental health professional I help people who are diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD).
Also, as a naturopath (ANPA) I will review any possible physical problems that may be contributing towards what you are experiencing. This may include ordering tests.
You may even get some health fund rebates depending on your particular health fund and policy.
Prior to accepting patients, I would like to talk to you on the telephone first to see if you are suitable for treatment. You also get an opportunity to ask questions.
What is BPD?
This is a controversial question because many people are misdiagnosed. In fact, this can happen to up to 40% of people. A simple clinical question and answer test can’t diagnose BPD, because long-term observation and third-party reporting is required for a much better clinical picture.
If there are no physical causes, then it can’t be classified as a mental illness but in reality, is a pattern of disordered thinking and emotional dysregulation.
Whilst BPD may have some features of a mental illness it is not exclusive to mental illnesses. So, if you are being treated for a mental illness, therapy can still help you have more control over your symptoms.
Whilst it is often classified as a mood disorder and associated with bipolar disorder, with manic and depressive episodes, all of its extra features do not appear in the classic bipolar I or II diagnosis (1).
BPD symptoms:
- Problems relating to other people
- Being unable to sustain relationships
- A lack of trust in yourself and others
- Being suddenly overwhelmed by emotions
- Turning on and attacking other people
- Positioning people as very good then, without warning, very bad
- High anxiety and depression
- A sense of not being secure in the world around you
- Self-isolation and having difficulty socialising
- At times possible suicidal thoughts or threatening suicide
What causes BPD?
Since this is a stress-related condition, it can be caused by instability in childhood. Your parents may not have been reliable or appear untrustworthy, so you grew up with a lack of trust.
You may have gone through a traumatic experience when you were younger and what you are now also experiencing is a form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (2).
You may have very low social skills and be unable to read other people, so you live with a constant sense of fear. Added to that you never learnt to communicate well with others.
You may also have a genetic component where you are having difficulties monitoring your emotions and don’t have the skills or knowledge to manage that situation.
Photo shows models only.
People with BPD tolerating therapy
Often people with BPD have difficulties tolerating therapy. You may run away from help due to lack of trust, not turn up for appointments or be angry at the clinical staff.
Dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) is often seen as the standard treatment (3). Unfortunately, it can fail because the patient does not stay the course of treatment.
Since we are a private clinic, you also have to make sure you have the budget to stay in therapy. The results are often higher in private care because we have more time and resources.
Some people who experience BPD are very successful and have lots of funds. Others who may be on welfare budget their money very carefully to afford private help and often value it more.
How long does therapy last?
Certainly, hypnotherapy and psychotherapy can help faster but you have to stay in therapy and do the work I ask you to do. Some of it may be easy and some harder but you need to do it anyway.
It’s not a quick fix and you have to show commitment because we need to change your automatic thinking patterns by laying down new neural pathways in your brain (4). The brain is plastic and can be moulded by therapy.
I also need to teach you to control your emotions because if you experience BPD, you have not learnt to do this. It’s not as hard as you think when you are shown how to do that.
With hypnosis we help you eliminate each symptom at a time, so therapy becomes manageable for you (5). So, in reality this will mean a change of personality for you to help you function well on a day-to-day basis.
What about medications for BPD?
What happens in general medicine or psychology is that often clinicians persuade patients to use medication for BPD. If it’s true BPD then that can be harmful because it dulls your brain and clarity.
What you need is to change your thoughts, behaviour and emotions in an active brain that is working so it has the maximum ability to repattern itself as we do the work (5).
You can become dependent on these medications that keep you from doing the work you need to do to change what you experience.
Whatever medication you are taking I will work with other professionals to help you go forward. We will review the medications.
Hypnosis helps in BPD
BPD is a stress-related disorder and during and after treatment hypnotherapy helps you become more tolerant of stress and resilient as a person.
Because hypnosis works with the unconscious mind it’s less confrontational for you, so you are able to tolerate therapy far better.
Larger changes are able to be made much faster and more comfortably. Those changes you will be continually practising at home or wherever you are.
You will also be able to change many aspects of your lifestyle to support the way you learn to live differently, and hypnotherapy helps those things change too.
I will help you overcome BPD to improve the quality of your life. Telephone 0403 398 808 for an appointment in my clinic or by Zoom from anywhere in the world
References
(1) Ruggero, C. J., Zimmerman, M., Chelminski, I., & Young, D. (n.d.). Borderline personality disorder and the misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder. National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2849890/
(2) Bozzatello, P., Rocca, P., Baldassarri, L., Bosia, M., & Bellino, S. (n.d.). The role of trauma in early onset borderline personality disorder: A biopsychosocial perspective.
(3) Choi-Kain, L. W., Finch, E. F., Masland, S. R., Jenkins, J. A., & Unruh, B. T. (n.d.). What works in the treatment of borderline personality disorder. National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5340835/
(4) Puderbaugh, M., & Emmady, P. D. (n.d.). Neuroplasticity. National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557811/
(5) Copeland, D. R. (1986). The application of object relations theory to the hypnotherapy of developmental arrests: The borderline patient. The International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 34(3), 157-168. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207148608406982
