Considering both of you are convinced that stress is a part of the equation - would she be willing to consider some form of therapy? CBT or DBT may well be useful and motivated by her somatic problems and need to deal with distress and maintain proper self care behavior.
Yes Id agree and I have tried using the stress as a reason to encourage her to see a clinical psychologist in the hope that she will be diagnosed with BPD if that is what she has which I am 99.9% sure of. In turn it will help her with family as Im sure her older sister and father has it also.
Yes the urticaria and angeodema are also self perpetuating in effect. The itching in particular effects her stress levels as does the appearance effect her self image when she has an occurrence. She did not always have this thought she has had short occurrences of it in the past.
Strangely enough she keeps taking on higher and higher responsibility with work and further study which contributes also but I believe is a coping mechanism for the BPD. She still strugles with interpersonal relationships in the workplace though she manages her feelings to the most part and is aware of her emotions being highly elevated and avoids confrontation.
Its a tough deal for her and I feel helpless to help her even though I have some answers which could help as I have been advised by everyone including a psychologist not to tell her what I know but just to encourage her to see a psychologist. It sucks having answers that could make her life easier but not being able to tell her for fear she will reject them. Im working on it though!
Cheers for your replay. I was just curious if others had experienced this medical condition with BPD.