Hi

[Missie2001]

Hi I have a daughter with BPD. She has been unwell for 4 years and it has been such a struggle.

I'd like to have contact with other loved ones who understand the daily struggle of keeping their BPD person alive and managing.

I look forward to hearing from you.

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 Missie2001,

Welcome to bpdfamily and the Parents Board.  We are happy to have you here.  I'm sorry that your daughter has been struggling for the past 4 years.

Has she been diagnosed with BPD?  How old is she?

How is your relationship with her now?

Parenting a child with mental illness is unlike any other kind of parenting.  It's so hard to know what the right thing to do is sometimes and even harder to do that right thing at other times.  We are here to bounce ideas off of and answer questions based on our own personal experiences.

We learn how to use the tools and apply the Lessons to our lives in order to help us better cope and have some peace of mind.  When we do better our children benefit alongside us. There is a wealth of info on the sidebar so take your time to read and absorb as you go along. 

What behaviors does your daughter exhibit that are the most troubling for you to cope with?  You mention keeping her alive... .is she suicidal frequently?  Any therapy going on right now?

I look forward to hearing back from you and learning more so I can best support you.

lbj

[livednlearned]

Hi Missie2001,

I wanted to join lbjnltx in welcoming you to bpdfamily, and let you know you aren't alone. How are you doing? Do you have support to help you parent your daughter? Any other family members like siblings or others you can count on to help you with this? Sometimes it can be a mixed bag with family.

It does lighten the load to share your experiences and hear from others who have almost surely been through the same. And the resources to the right really do help. I keep discovering new things every time I poke around in there, and am learning some new things about old tools that have really helped recently.

[Lynnsie]

Hi - I'm new also.  My daughter has been exhibiting signs, symptoms, traits for four years also.  I have just grasped what the root of the problem is.  I haven't even discussed it with her.  I believe it would be a horrible thing for her to hear at this point.  I don't think she has the ability to look at herself at this point.  Does your child have self awareness?  How do you cope?  At this point I am really sinking.  Joining this board is part of my process of trying not to sink and to try to stop reacting in the same manner over and over.  That is really difficult as a parent.  I thought I was parenting.  Anyways welcome I hope we both are able to gain the support needed to effectively help our children and ourselves!

[Shell Shocked]

Welcome!  I am pretty new as well.  My 16 year old daughter has been "off" since she was about 12 or 13.  It is just over the past year that we have really understood that things are very bad and it is not just normal teen behavior.  She is not diagnosed, per se but the psychiatrist we just started seeing agrees with me that she has strong BPD traits.  We are just beginning this journey as well.  Lynnsie - my daughter doesn't know that we think she has this.  She knows that there is something wrong (although she doesn't admit it to us but I have seen texts where she told a friend that she knows she is not alright) but not what it is.  She has been resistant to counseling and the way I got her to go is to deal with the fact that she doesn't sleep.  She will go for days without sleeping. 

This group is really encouraging and helpful and there is so much great information on the site.  At the very least I feel like there is hope and I have a direction.  I don't post often but enjoy reading.  I have been doing a lot of reading and research on the condition and ways to be more validating and less reactive.