What have your experiences with treatment for BPD been like? Which have you found most effective for you?

Upon being first diagnosed with borderline personality disorder [BPD], I had very little understanding. I thought I had two personalities and lived on the border of the two!

I was diagnosed with BPD while in hospital after engaging in acts of self-harm.

I came out of hospital not knowing where to go or who to turn to. I can’t say it was entirely the fault of the hospital because they perhaps told me, but I was too ‘out-of-it’ to take anything in.

Anyway, after years of being controlled by my BPD, it came to the point where I was sick of always being in hospital. I was living on the edge and at any moment, I knew I’d fall off the edge.

I engaged in various therapy sessions which had elements of DBT, ACT, CBT. However, it wasn’t until I was admitted into an MBT clinic that the real work started.

For 18 months, I attended weekly individual and group sessions. In these sessions, we…talked. I often questioned myself to determine what the purpose of all this talking was. I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to see other people. I didn’t want to be engaged in group therapy.

Yet, I stuck to it.

Pretty much towards the end of MBT therapy, was I then able to see subtle shifts in my ways of thinking. To be honest, I believe the real work was done AFTER the months of intensive therapy.