Borderline Personality Disorder Survival Guide - Alex Chapman PhD

[BPDFamily]

Borderline Personality Disorder Survival Guide Author: Alex Chapman, PhD, Kim Gratz PhD, and Perry D. Hoffman, PhD Publisher: New Harbinger, 1st edition (November 15, 2007) Paperback: 200 pages ISBN-10: 1572245077 ISBN-13: 978-1572245075

Book Description
The book is organized as a series of answers to questions common to BPD sufferers:
 
What is BPD? How long does it last? What other problems co-occur with BPD? Overviews what we currently know about BPD make up the first section of the book. Later chapters cover several common treatment approaches to BPD: dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), mentalization-based therapy (MBT), and medical treatment using psychoactive drugs. In the last sections of the book, readers learn a range of day-to-day coping skills that can help moderate the symptoms of BPD.
 
About the Authors
Alex Chapman, Ph.D., is assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Simon Fraser University. In July 2005, he completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship with Marsha Linehan at the University of Washington, where he received training and supervision in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and in clinical research on DBT. Chapman received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Idaho State University. He completed his internship training focused on DBT and other evidence-based cognitive-behavioral treatments at Duke University Medical Center. Chapman has published several journal articles and book chapters and has given numerous professional presentations on borderline personality disorder (BPD), suicidal and self-harm behavior, DBT, and impulsive behavior, among other topics. Currently, his research focuses on understanding impulsive behavior and emotion dysregulation in BPD, with the ultimate aim of refining, developing, and understanding the mechanisms underlying efficacious treatments. He has had six years of experience and extensive training in DBT. As a DBT Trainer for Behavioral Tech, LLC, Chapman routinely gives workshops on DBT in both Canada and the United States. He teaches courses on DBT, supervises students in their treatment of BPD clients, and is a trained expert in coding adherence to DBT. In addition, Chapman has a small private practice in the Vancouver, BC, area, where he primarily sees clients with BPD.
 
Kim L. Gratz, Ph.D., is research assistant professor and director of the Personality Disorders Division of the Center for Addictions, Personality, and Emotion Research (CAPER) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, in 2003, after completing a clinical internship at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Gratz has written numerous journal articles and book chapters on BPD, deliberate self-harm, and emotion regulation (among other topics). In 2003, she was awarded the Psychosocial Fellowship from McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School to conduct a study examining the efficacy of a new emotion regulation group treatment for self-harm among women with BPD, and in 2005, she was awarded the Young Investigator's Award of the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder (NEA-BPD).
 

[real lady]

@2007

I am surprised to NOT see a review for this book; I just got it at the library. I have just briefly looked over it and started reading it yesterday. I ran across it unexpectedly since I had not heard of it before.

The books appears to "speak to" both the pwBPD and the loved one of a pwBPD in a more conversational rather than "this is how you do it" tone as in LSWBPD or WOE. 

I think that this book might be more easily shared WITH a pwBPD than other books. Emotional dysregulation is clearly stated and seen by both parties; not seemingly excused as the BPD's "problem" but more of an unnatural but curable emotional pain that can be treated. The book and authors speak to the mind of the pwBPD and in that, I would agree that this seems to be a helpful book for me. It validates the intelligence and pain of the pwBPD. I think this aspect very much.

As with all BPD help books; my only concern is the repeated use of the term "borderline personality disorder" as many other books also state. I believe that if this term were to be "softened" and the stigma of BPD in general was not "so pronounced" that I could entice my beloved BPDh to read them.

I would love to hear your reviews.

[wrangler1217]

I voted good, because it does give a solid amount of information about BPD, but doesn't really act like a "guide" like the title states.

Its been a few months ago since I finished it, but as I recall, it was primarily geared for the cutting behaviors specifically.  It briefly touched on the impulsive or manipulative traits characterized with BPD, but did not go into as much depth as Stop Walking on Eggshells.  Whatever it did say about it, the book seemed to excuse the behavior, almost giving the pwBPD a ticket to continue the behavior.

It also seemed to mislead the reader by announcing the success rates of the patients who were in treatment.  The success rates were primarily for the self-harmers who didn't self-harm again after treatment.  It's definitely the most important act to correct, but it didn't really give an honest truth about the higher-functioning (non-self harmer) success rates while undergoing treatment - which is what most of us nons are really hoping for.