please help

[FaithinU]

Hi, my child has recently been diagnosed with BPD. I am here to find tools to help me support her in her struggles.  she started medication a few months ago and they seem to help with depression and anxiety. What other effective treatments should we seek?. Will she need to be on meds for the the rest of her life?  Your advice and comments are much appreciated.

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

[lbjnltx]

Hi FaithinU,

Love your username!

Welcome to the Parenting Board, we are so glad to have you join us and look forward to learning more about you and your daughter and how we can support you.

It's good to hear that your d has a diagnoses and is on medications that seem to be helping her depression and anxiety.  My d was on 2 meds for the same thing and now she is down to one and a lessor dose.  The meds do help level out some of the underlying problems and they may learn skills more easily.

How old is your daughter?  Does she live with you? What is your relationship with her like?

One of the most researched therapy models for BPD is Dialectical Behavior Therapy, a form of CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy).  Has her doctor mentioned any treatment modalities for her to look into?  Is DBT one of them?

I look forward to hearing back from you.

lbjnltx

[michmom]

Welcome FaithinU,

You have come to the right place. You are a courageous mom. Congratulations to you for finding this site. It has really made a difference for me.  I too would like to see my daughter make sufficient progress enough to one day be able to live drug free but my goals have shifted very much as I gained understanding of her condition. For now, learning to validate my BPD daughter and helping her build new skills is the primary goal so she can function daily in a healthy way for herself. DBT therapy has been very encouraging.  Talk therapy, though helpful for my D could only take her so far. After 2 plus years her therapist recommended more intense skill building. I have witnessed great progress with this program. It required a parent commitment in that I also learn the skills in group training with her and she sees her private DBT therapist also once a week. Please read the section about success stories it will validate for you that things can definitely get bette.