BPDFamily.com

Hello, I am struggling with my adult son who has come to terms with his BPD diagnosis. He has spent the last almost 11 years with frequent outbursts and drug use. Now as he's approaching 30, we found that it is only only getting worse. We go from being the best parents in the entire world and then the next day we are the worst people in the whole world. It seems like the more stressed there is in life like job and romantic relationships, the more he takes it out on us. He realized at one point that we were done with his emotional abuse and then he got a therapist and got a diagnosis. Then he got family counseling to try to make amends to us. Then all of a sudden We became a reason for all the troubles in his life. His therapist met with us and told us about BPD and to follow a script so we won't get entangled and still be able to be compassionate to him. But I'm still struggling with feeling disgusted with his behavior towards us. I'm trying to understand The mental health aspect. I have been dealing with his issues his whole life. Recently he blew up Mother's Day. And then the next day he said he has been using drugs and that's why he was acting the way he was. It was explained to us that this was a classic BPD move. All along he was telling us that he wasn't using. To make matters worse, I deal with chronic health issues and stress is not good for my heart condition.
Can somebody please give me some hope. I do love my son but right now I feel angry and I feel like he's dangerous to my health

Hi Superdog,

You've come to the right place.  Many parents here are feeling the same thing--emotional whiplash, exhaustion, desperation, despair, anger, grief, loneliness.  You've probably tried everything, yet nothing seems to work.  Your kid simultaneously loves you and hates you, and, frankly, you probably feel much the same about him, but for different reasons.

If you read through the parent section on this site, my guess is you will see some familiar themes.  At least you'll know that you're not alone in this.  And even though you might feel hopeless right now, I see some reasons for hope in your post.

First off, your son has a diagnosis, and you know about it too.  That's significant.  At least you both know what you're dealing with.

Secondly, BPD is treatable, provided that your son wants to make some changes to feel better.  Since he's still pretty young, my bet is that he could turn his life around, and probably pretty quickly, if he stayed committed to therapy.

A complicating factor is drug use.  Self-medicating with drugs seems to be fairly common with BPD.  My opinion is that drug use only complicates the situation.  It may be that your son might need to focus on getting clean before he can do the hard work of learning some better coping skills. 

Having said that, I see a couple of other huge positives in your post.  Your son is getting some regular therapy.  In addition, it seems he has authorized his therapist to talk to you, so that you can learn how to strategize and support your son throughout his treatment.  In my opinion, a loving, stable parent like yourself is a huge ally in a young adult's treatment journey.  Granted, your son has to do the work of therapy himself.  But knowing that you're there and that you're his ally is important in my opinion.  It's part of the "scaffolding" in his life that supports him as he learns to be more stable and independent.

I'm not going to lie to you, the journey in treating BPD can be a rough one.  So I like to think in terms of baby steps.  I think many pwBPD feel overwhelmed by life, especially when it comes to making changes.  My advice would be to take things one step at a time, and slowly at first.  Now I'm not sure what your son's life looks like right now--is he living with you, or is he living independently?  Is he working, at least a little bit, or is he sleeping most of the day away?  I'd just caution you not to make any big "investments"--like setting him up in a new apartment that you paid for--unless and until his life is looking more ordered.  Otherwise, you'd basically be setting him up to fail.  Moreover, at age 30, my opinion is that if your son wants something--for example, to move away, to start a new job, to further his studies, to buy a new car--he should be the one to make it happen, not you.

Anyway, based on my experience with the pwBPD in my life, the first "baby step" in the recovery journey was an improvement in basic living habits, such as going to bed at night, getting up in the morning, showering, getting dressed, eating semi-regular meals and keeping her environment tidy.  Please note that she also stopped using marijuana daily, on the advice of her doctors.  The next step was probably getting some regular exercise, such as going to the gym a few times a week.  At the same time, she kept her therapy appointments.  Once the daily routine looked more normal, the next baby step was making a friend or two, starting with a peers in her treatment program.  The next baby step was taking an online class.  Another one was an easy part-time job, like dog walking.  The next baby step was moving into an apartment with a roommate.  With each baby step, I felt that she built some forward momentum, and she was gaining a little confidence, a better sense of her "identity" which wasn't 100% victim.

I'm not going to lie, there were some setbacks.  But my sense is that she didn't go off the rails for as long or as far as she used to do.  In other words, the frequency, intensity and duration of her outbursts diminished, and she generally got back "on track" faster.  In my humble opinion, the direction of movement is more important than speed.

Sadly, she hasn't repaired her family relationships yet.  But her life is looking much, much more healthy and functional now.  I'm proud of her for that.  My hope is that someday she'll be able to overcome her negative view of the past and repair some family relationships.  We'll see.

In the meantime, my advice to you would be to take care of yourself first.  I often advise parents here to think in terms of modeling for your kid what a healthy adult's life looks like.  That includes taking exquisite care of yourself.  It also means you find time for your spouse, friends, hobbies and vacations.  It means you take care of your health and finances.  This is so that you're in a good place for when you interact with your son, so that you can be the calm, reasonable, upbeat one.  How does that sound?