How I might be able to help

Over the years that I have been affected by mental health issues (as long as I can remember) I have tried very hard to ‘fix myself’. Despite all the psychiatrists and other specialists I have seen and all the medications I've been given nothing has really helped. I'm a natural problem-solver – if something is wrong I have to find a solution, so I wrote about what I was experiencing in a journal so I could figure out the ‘why’ and I read as much as I could so I could find a ‘how’, how to solve the problem that was me.

Although I will not in anyway claim to be ‘fixed’, I am a lot closer to happiness than I have ever been. I am writing this blog so that I can share what I have learned with anyone who might be helped by my lessons and also in order to consolidate what I have learned. I want to go back over all the reading I have done (missing out the less helpful stuff this time) and piece together a strategy for dealing with BPD, a method out of the madness.

I am aware that are some really effective therapies for BPD out there, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) being the most popular (I have the handbook). From what I have heard, it sounds very effective, however, where I live it is not available and I know other people are in a similar situation. I am currently receiving one-to-one Mentalisation Based Therapy (MBT), its aim is to train patients to think about the thought processes behind their feelings and behaviour and those of others. The odd thing is that my therapist says that I already seem to have this ability – it’s partly just the way I am and partly what I have learned along the way.

My plan with this blog is to discuss the particular books that I have found helpful to me, a very personalised book review I guess. I will outline the crucial points of each book and how I incorporated them into my recovery, how they were helpful to me, and hopefully will be to others. I will also share experiences from my day to day life so I can illustrate how I use the lessons I have learned to help me cope better with BPD and live a happier, more balanced life. I hope this approach will be helpful to anyone reading this and as always, I’d be delighted to receive feedback.