Does anyone have experince with Leland Heller's (MD) treatment or approach?

[flex55]

Anyone had any experience with him, seems he is located in Florida.

http://www.biologicalunhappiness.com/

hugs david, aka flex

[JoannaK]

Abigail has posted often about him.  Her husband has been helped by him.  I know that there are many people who do not feel that medications can help with the twisted thinking/blaming stuff that is so prevalent in bpd.  But Dr. Heller feels that the base problem is biochemical, and can be mostly successfully treated with drugs.

[Abigail]

Flex,
    Yes, my husband was diagnosed and treated by Dr. Heller two years ago and was helped tremendously.  Our marriage has improved greatly because of it and friends and acquaintances have noticed the difference in Mark.  He no longer rages or suffers from the dysphoria.  He helps me, doesn't blame me for everything like he used to and is much more pleasant to be around.  He even asks my opinion and listens to me, something he never did before.
  Dr. Heller does believe in therapy--he simply believes that the biochemical problems need to be addressed first.  And that therapy is much more effective once the biochemical problems are under control.  I liken it to someone breaking their leg who needs to first have the broken leg repaired and healed before therapy can take place.  If I had a broken leg and went directly to therapy without fixing my broken leg, the therapy wouldn't do me any good.
   A few months back I had a conversation with a woman at a support group meeting for ADHD and I had mentioned my husband's disorder and the help he had received from Dr. Heller.  I saw her again a few months later and she came up to me and told me that she went to see Dr. Heller after talking to me and that she had been diagnosed a year earlier with BPD by another doctor but she was elated at how much Dr. Heller was able to help her.  She kept going on and on about what a difference he made and how wonderful she was doing.  She thanked me and told me her husband thanked me and that she owed me big time.  And all I had done was tell her about Dr. Heller.
   I can't say enough good about Dr. Heller.  My husband credits him for saving his life and says he never wants to go back to the way he used to be.  He feels better mentally than he ever has in his entire life.   
   Knowing what I know now, I would choose to see Dr. Heller over a million dollars.  He's made that much of a difference in our lives.  I do know that he has had patients come to see him from all over the country and even quite a few from other countries!  Yet he is a humble man and makes all of his patients feel important.
   The only reason I continue to come to BPDFamily is to continue to learn more about BPD (I know others who need help) and to give others any help or hope that I can.
   Abigail

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[flex55]

Thank You Abigail, you are so kind to answer my post.  I have lived in the medical archives over the last few days, after seeing Dr. Heller Page.  It seems there is hardly any difference in symptoms of borderlines and those with long term severe depression.  In two clinical trials where they did MRI's of borderline brains, they found the frontal lobe, hippocampus and amydala to not function correctly or the last two were smaller and had atrophied.  That is exactly what happens in long term severly depressed people. the hippocampus and amydala shrink about thirty percent every six years of untreated depression, according to an Austrailion Study.
I for one had no clue what depression was until I started idealizing hurting myself, after seven continous days of these same thoughts, I became frightened and sought medical help.  Yes I was severely depressed.
But back to my story, most BP's begin their journey very young where they were traumtized or harmed
in some way, perhaps 5-6-7 years and when they reach twenty, and have been depressed those years,
their brains have taken a beaten to the tune of lossing sixty percent.  The hippo is memory, and the amydala is emotions, and they communicate back and forth.  Certainly that is where a BP breaks down.
Please know I was a medic in the military, and am untrained medically in the above, but I can read and understand most medical studies. hugs david, aka flex

[RedLady]

I emailed Dr. Heller of Florida.  I have heard good things about him.  I asked if there was any hope.  Dr. Heller states he has a great success rate with BPDs.  As long as the BPD is willing to get help and there are no other personality disorders present.  Well the latter is the killer in my situation.  I think.  I'm not a psychologist.  But I suspect my BPD husband may have Narcissistic PD as well.  If not, something very similar to it. 

[hank53]

My wife has been seeing Dr Heller for about two years. It was actually my idea to bring her to his office. We live about 45 minutes away. I visited his website and thought that finally I found someone that can help her. He diagnosed her with what he called "Classic BPD". She had been previously diagnosed with BPD 25 years earlier, (before I knew her), after a suicide attempt. She met 7 or 8 of the criteria for BPD. She also has adult ADD and Depression. He started her on Prozac. Then also gave her a prescription as needed, for Tegetrol and Haldol. I believe these drugs are used to combat the anxiety, raging and impulsivity. For the first time I felt that there was hope.
However the problem is that we are separated. I live with my three children, she lives with a guy she claims is a "friend". She also drinks heavily. We can't monitor her to see if she is taking her meds. When I see her she is in denial about BPD. She claims that she has a mental disorder, but doesn't know what it is. In summary, I have seen a change in terms of her actions and behavior, but no change in her disordered thinking. If anything it seems worse. Dr Heller keeps increasing her meds, I just don't think it's working. From what I see, meds do help to control behavior, but pshycotherapy is the answer. She won't go. Say's she doesn' have the time. I'm sure the drinking probably negates the meds, anyway. As far as I can tell, Dr Heller may be worth a try, but unless the patient sticks with his instructions, nothing changes.

[hank53]

He is a shameless self promoter. TV's in his office continuously run a video of him hyping his books.  In retrospect I should not have taken my wife to see him, the drinking should have been addressed first, then the BPD. As it stands the kids and I don't expect her to get better any time soon.

[rocker99]

Hank, why do you say you shouldn't have brought to see the Dr.? Because you seemed to be saying that the meds did help at first.

DBT - how do u get em to commit to that? They wont commit to anything at all. What do you think about the Lymbic system being off? Is there no validity to that?

[hank53]

 The meds helped in the beginning, that's true, but there should be an improvement after two years. She is still late for everything (the ADD), and the rages are still evident. She tells me that she will fight her roomate, and not remember anything until he talks to her the next day. I don't know if this due to the alcohol, or the  Prozac not working, or both.  After two years of treatment I feel as though her erratic behaviour, although better than in the past. should be under better control. He also has her on double the amount of Prozac, that she started. Tells me it's not working so well.

[rocker99]

http://www.borderlinepersonalitytoday.com/main/art3.htm

As best as I can understand it.He believes that the meds can gettem to a place where the therapy can help.U know and i know witout therapy they cant recover. Mine has had therapy including DBT and everything else u can think of. Problem is she cant control her impulsiveness. Until this is gotten under control how can therapy help?

[hank53]

Meds do help with impulsivity, rages , anxiety etc, but it's not easy to find the right combination of meds and also making sure your BPD partner follows the doctors orders.  Good luck.

[Abigail]

Haven't been on here in quite a while but I had responded to this post back in 2007.  Since that time my daughter and son have seen him and my sister came out to see him in 2008.  My daughter and sister are doing great.  My son was doing well when he was taking the medication but he hasn't been taking it lately.

It's important to take the medication as instructed and to learn when you need to take the "as needed" medication.  That requires being able to recognize your moods (sounds easy, but its not so easy for someone who has been borderline most of their life--the constant anger seems normal to them even though it is obvious to everyone else) so you can take that medication before it gets worse.  Therapy can help with this and therapy is needed anyways to help change negative thinking patterns, learn better coping mechanisms, etc.  Reading some of the recommended books and listening to the Zig Ziglar tapes help a lot as well.

When it comes to those with BPD, alcohol abuse is bad for two reasons.  It negates the medication so the Prozac won't work.  The next day or so after drinking, the alcohol withdrawal brings on dysphoria.  So it is very important to avoid alcohol. 


I appreciate the DVD being on in the waiting room.  He gives a lot of information on BPD and how the medications work, etc, not to mention explaining  why alcohol is a problem.  I don't see the DVD as promoting his books but he does go into more detail in the books mentioned.  And since my teenage son wouldn't be likely to pop in the DVD to watch it, at least I know he heard some things that willlbe a reminder to him.

[hank53]

I have to say in all my interactions with Dr Heller, he was neither friendly nor forthcoming with info.He seemed aloof and when I would ask him questions about BPD, he either seemed too busy or disinterested. Like I said in my previous posts, I have not seen any improvements. Another psychiatrist that I have recently spoken with (this Dr has a degree in Psychiatry from Brown Univ in Providence), said "medication has never cured anyone with a mental disorder". I believe he's he right. Disordered thinking has to be helped with Therapy. Meds take the edge off. Therapy helps with recovery.

[tomtom]

I am hoping my pbdw might actually meet with this doctor. She will not meet with a psychiatrist and doesn't want me to talk to anyone locally. She will not see someone on her own and complains relentlessly about my efforts to get her to see someone, but I am told this is my only last option. My problems with her symptoms have been overbearing for over a dozen years and I have had her speak with 6 different counselors/therapists. All except one, have said 1) she needs help, 2) and I can't help her. The last was helping but my bpdw stopped seeing her. She says she doesn't want to see a doctor because she does not want to get locked up and put away or turned into a drug zombie. After a three hour talk, she did say she would consider seeing this doctor and I am trying to learn as much as I can about him. I have ordered his books and a DVD and begun reviewing them. As her nature is to change her mind and balk when words have to turn into action, I would appreciate any helpful information about Dr Heller - positive or negative. Thanks.

[tomtom]

Just an update to my hope that my wife would see someone. This week she announced she has never been more sure of anything - she is not BPD and she will not see anyone. Hope dashed once again. Oh well. She also says she wants to stop taking her prozac, which will turn me from a SOwBPD to a leaving, which I guess I finally need to start, thirteen years after first being told I should look into it, to seriously investigate. Depressing.