Good Morning. I have been reading more about Borderline Personality Disorder this week. I have focused on the statistics of suicide and self-harm. These are very hard to accept, but there is something that can be done to insure that I do not become a statistic.
1) I identify when things are not "quite right" with me.
2) I try not to make any important decisions at this time.
3) I use a skill or skills to try to combat the mood.
4) I try to figure out what I can do to avoid a similar situation, or a repeat of what sent me into a spiral.
I can avoid hurting someone's feelings if I just try to figure out why I am in a funk. And this can be done. It is skillful to NOT just have a "knee-jerk" reaction to something that comes into my awareness, and to handle it unlike a 3-year old having a small tantrum. And that is my nature. That is what I have done all my life, if my brain mis-fires and my emotions get out of control.
It is of paramount importance to stay quieted, or to calm myself. Distress Tolerance, I believe it is called. It is a DBT skill. More later. We are having a storm. (Pause) The storm (outside) is over, but the storm inside a Borderline only rests before the next raging torrent of emotions. This is what treatment hopes to accomplish. To reduce the severity and intensity of the storms, and to show how to bring on and prolong the "calms".
A Borderline's brain never stops ruminating. It takes strong, determination and A LOT OF MINDFULNESS EXERCISES to quiet "Emotional Mind" into a "Wise Mind" Mode. Peace.
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