What type of therapist is best?

[changingme]

My D13 is in therapy now with a social worker who has not picked up on anything close to BPD and all its complications, which I believe she has.  I haven't mentioned it to the therapist because I wanted to see what would unfold. Since nothing has, I am thinking of tell her my thoughts.  My gut feeling is this therapist will not completely understand what I may tell her.  My feelings are we may need someone more skillful in diagnosing and treating BPD. 

What type of therapist usually works best for BPD for those who have been down this road? 

Our objective is to better understand the struggles our child faces and to learn the skills to improve our relationship and provide a supportive environment and also improve on our own emotional responses, attitudes and effectiveness as a family leaders

[js friend]

changingtimes, The best kind of therapist would be one that specailises BPD or emotional problems.

When we had family t dd had a t who knew absolutley 0 about BPD. She looked at all dd's behaviours as dd just wanting her independance and me being too strict on her.  Even though I pointed out that I thought dd had BPD t totally rejected it.

I really believe she ended up doing more harm than good. For me I found it to be a totally frustrating and invalidating experience, and towards the end dd thought it was a waste of time.

While your dd is so young I think it is really important to find the right t now to build a good r/s with your dd and someone who she will trust and work with. If this t is not the right one find another,and maybe another until you have the right one. It is really important that you do this becuse the window of opportunity of our pwBPD participating in t is so small. I wish I had looked for another t earlier, but now my dd is at the  stage where she  wouldnt now wont even consider going to t   

[catsprt]

The best therapist is the one that your child agrees to see and who has demonstrated some level of success with similar cases/patients. If you have doubts, approach the therapist and talk about it. Communication is key.

[changingme]

I will look a therapist that is familiar with BPD. I am finding that social workers and psychologists can so this also, that it doesn't necessarily have to be a psychiatrist?

My daughter has wanted to go to therapy for the awhile... . she has always known something was wrong, actually she has always said she was mentally ill.  I made a mistake and put the blame on her just being an angry kid.  Therapy now is helping with little things, but I know she needs more.

Thank you for the info.

[mamachelle]

changingtimes,

I have just found a new T (psychologist) for my SS10. I looked for gender identity issues, PTSD, BPD as keywords in my search online for local therapists.

I absolutely think it was the right choice to change therapists as my SS had been with the same T (a psychologist ) since he was 4 and though highly qualified-- she was unable to deal with his serious issues. The transition has started and he is doing well.

My SS has a neuropsych, Psychiatrist, and had Behavior therapists in the home as well.

My SS10 is too young to get a BPD diagnosis but his psychiatrist has even mentioned to me the possiblility of DID which seems like BPD squared and that is really worrisome to me.

I always send emails to the T's describing behaviors and being open to their suggestions. I also talk about the other parent as it relates to my SS. His mom has BPD and Bipoar... . I always get a lot of push back when I mention BPD because there is so much bias... . however the new T and I were discussing DBT because I "offhandedly"   brought it up and she said, "yea I used to work in RTC (residential treatment) with kids like your SS10 and so i like that, I don't practice it but I incorporate techniques of it" I was overjoyed to hear that she didn't think I was crazy when I brought up DBT (dialectical behavior therapy).

Your DD is still a minor and so you can have more communication with the T and try to let the T know your perceptions of what is going on.

mamachelle

[changingme]

Thank you mamachelle

I think I know what to do now.   

[lbjnltx]

A therapist that specializes in treating adolescents, practices DBT (they will most likely be very familiar with BPD if they practice dbt), and conducts teen group dbt.  The group therapy component is highly affective with teens.

If a teen dbt group is not available you can search for other cbt groups for teens.