BPDRecovery.com: Forums

I am an advisor from Face the Facts the online support group for Nons.
My story: I am currently separated from my husband who has been diagnosed with BPD. Although our romantic relationship has ended I have chosen to remain friends with him. We coparent an 8 year old daughter who is one of the main reasons I decided to forge a friendship with him. The other reason is because he has just completed a DBT program and has
opted to remain in intense therapy to continue his road to recovery. I support his healing 100 percent and have seen him blossom as he has recovered. If we had known about borderline years ago I think we would have been able to salvage our marriage. I would known how to support him and he would have been able to stop suffering. So I take this knowledge with me hoping to encourage others and hoping to become a better advisor on the other board. I think knowledge is a huge part of this equation and the more I know the more support I can offer.

He is an only child of a mother with perosnality disorders and a father who is NPD. I am also the child of a father with NPD.
I went to DBT myself to deal with PTSD from childhood trauma and I found the therapy to be amazing. It has honestly changed my life for the better. I just wish it were available to everyone.

When I first heard about BPD I heard about it from very traditonal sources that were still archaic in their views about borderline which I believed. But as I have learned more I have come to the conclusion that this needs to change. This site is a testament that the mental health community, insurance companies and all of the negative statistics are dead wrong. Recovery is possible given the right tools, compassion and support.
This is what makes this community so amazing and so valuable.

I have recovered from PTSD although I was told this was impossible. I have used many of the DBT tools and quite honestly I think they are great guide for everyone to follow regardless of diagnosis. I wish that more nons would consider doing it because it can help address codependency and enlighten them to what their loved one is also learning.

Anyway, I look forward to meeting you, participating and continuing in my own recovery and healing.

Hi HGG - how did DBT help you with PTSD from childhood? How did you recover from the PTSD? Thanks!

Hi HGG and welcome!

Congratulations to both you and your husband for the hard work you have been doing. Lord knows it's hard, on both sides of the BPD coin. Hopefully the insights you have gained and the healing that you've done will help your daughter grow up happy and healthy and not repeat the cycle.

I look forward to seeing you around, and getting to know you better.

Welcome. It is so good to hear from the other side in an honest and respectful way. thank you.

HGG

hi there... how long did the DBT for your childhood trauma last?

am curious for my own purposes...

thanks
bumpy

Thanks for the warm welcome.

The DBT center I went to also had a group that dealt with trauma only. Their philosophy was that often a missing component is trauma recovery. So each week we would learn techniques to ground ourselves when we were experiencing symptoms. After awhile it becomes an automatic response.
Plus validating our very real feelings.
For me I tend to disassociate during stress and I learned to keep myself present by using simple techniques to remind myself what is real.
We also used breathing techniques.

Medication helped too. I had to get my mood stabilized. I was depressed and I had anxiety so I take a low dose antidepressant with antianxiety properties.

I hope that answers the question. If not feel free to ask for more details.