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BPD and severe depersonalization, selfhelp


beetle80

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Self diagnosed, sort of. But trust me, it's true. I was wondering if there are any good self-help books out there for me to read? Workbooks and whatnot. I can't afford therapy right now, even the sliding scale fee. That's for the future. But right now, I could really use some support and guidance. This has really been messing up my life and I'm tired of it. Also, at 28, I have been dealing with depression and anxiety forEVER! lol So any suggested readings on BPD and depersonalization would be helpful. I know the basics of these problems, but a "workbook" type of book would be helpful, if there is any out there.

Thanks!

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beetle80,

Most of Mental Help Net is devoted to these topics you seek, and, of course, there is lots of information out there on the rest of the Internet as well. It's late here, but why don't you start taking a look at our online self-help book Psychological Self-Tools, which describes the general rational for self-help and basic methods for how to go about it. There isn't anything specific on the topic of BPD or depersonalization, but the framework that is presented there is very solid.

Current best psychological treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy combine cognitive techniques with what is know as mindfulness or acceptance techniques. This is to say, a big part of the task of change with regard to working with your BPD is self-acceptance and learning how to calm yourself when you are agitated. This is particularly an issue when the stakes are high becuase of self-injury and/or chronic suicidality. There is a "self-soothing" componant to it, and also a self-acceptance non-judmentalness componant (as many BPD people (and many people in general) can be very hard on themselves and others due to the way that things tend to polarize in the mind into all good and all bad. the cognitive techniques, including cognitive reframing or restructuring (same thing) are designed to help you learn to identify exaggerated thoughts that lead to exagerated moods.

If traumatic events are in the picture, that complicates things. There are several techniques in practical use, but the one that can be done on a self-help basis has to do with graduated exposure. The idea is that trauma memories get avoided for fear of flooding with emotion and so they cannot be "aired out" so to speak - there is no opportunity to learn that while they may feel terrifying, they aren't actually going to kill you. Exposure therapy essentially involves desensitizing yourself to things that remind you of trauma you may have experienced. This has to be done with a great deal of sensitivity, and it is very difficult to do on a self-help basis in general due to the magnitude of the fears and the flooding that does take place.

I'll think on this some more, but in the mean time, if you can describe some of the concrete problems you're experiencing that will help provide a focus for thinking.

Mark

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