BPDFamily.com

My daughter was diagnosed in June w/ BPD. After being baker acted 2 times in 3 weeks. Upon being diagnosed, it was both relief to finally understand ‘why’ & ‘how’ she acts & thinks, as well as start a plan to get her help. We started group DBT group therapy 1x/week, as well as DBT individual therapy. She has had 7 weeks of therapy. We have learned some skills to help deal with how to interrupt the cycle between the ‘event ‘ and ‘action’, thus leading to hopefully lessening events or at the least lessening the intensity of the action. Although she knows when she gets extremely upset she is to call her counselor, she refuses & stays in her moment of rage. Does anyone know approximately how long therapy takes to start seeing some change? ( understanding that everyone is different)
Also, has anyone had any success with either residential treatment or military type schooling?
Thank you!
Captain

Does your D15 accept her dx? I'm so sorry to hear that she had to be Baker acted. That had to be quite a ride for the whole family, although like you say, now there is a dx and DBT therapy, as well as a community of people who understand what you're going through. Glad you're here.

If you feel comfortable sharing, what took place for her to be Baker acted? Did the dx come during the first one?

Her version of extremely upset is probably a hundred times more intense that what we experience. I come from a very reserved family and had a major revelation when one day I experienced intense emotions -- made me realize how hard these kids work to manage emotions. It's no walk in the park. A lot of cognitive functions go offline.

Is she applying any of the DBT skills she's learning successfully? We focus on tiny little changes here  |iiii Small counts.

Also, in my area, DBT for teens involves 4 modules, so it takes roughly a year to get through the whole program.

I do think it's helpful when family members learn DBT skills and read how to create a validating environment and use skills that improve interpersonal communication and relationships.

Have you found books that help? BPD in Adolescence by Blaise Aguirre is excellent and so is Loving Someone with BPD by Shari Manning. I also found When Your Daughter Has BPD by Lobel to be useful in a different way -- he focuses on the family structure which can be very useful.

Captain,
I’m sorry about the Baker Act. It’s scary to have an involuntary hold on your kid. My DS was Baker Acted in Fla and he came thru that with resulting trauma, but sometimes it’s the only way to temporarily stop the insanity and start formulating a viable plan.
Can you share more about how you can help “interrupt” between your DD’s trigger and her resulting behavior? For those of us whose BPD kids are still at home, this could be helpful since we are up close to this stuff daily.