Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment in Knoxville, TN
Thriveworks Knoxville offers therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder. We have seen the harm that it can cause when undiagnosed and untreated, but our mental health professionals have helped many people with BPD find the help they needed. Reach out today to schedule your first borderline personality disorder counseling appointment.
What Is Borderline Personality Disorder?
When people have BPD, the illness causes them to exhibit maladaptive behaviors across different life situations. It is characteristics by instability in relationships, sense of self, and feelings. If often begins in early adulthood, and people affected with the disorder are at increased risk for other mental health problems like depression, eating disorders, self-harm, and substance abuse.
Symptom of BPD may include…
- An extreme dread of being abandoned—going to extremes to avoid perceived or real separation.
- A history of intense, unstable relationships—often wavering between idealizing an individual and believing they are cruel.
- Quickly changing between identities—shifting one’s values, goals, and perceptions easily.
- Experiencing periods of paranoia wherein people lose touch with reality—these can last for minutes or hours.
- Feeling tender about criticism and rejection.
- Engaging in risky and impulsive behaviors that put themselves in danger—gambling, daredevil driving, drug use, unsafe sex, self-sabotage, spending sprees, binge eating, and more.
- Threatening or attempting self-injury or suicide—particularly when afraid of rejection, or criticism.
- Swinging between emotional extremes: irritability and happiness, anxiety and euphoria, et cetera.
- A continuing feeling of emptiness.
- Outbursts of anger or being belligerent—lost temper, sarcasm, bitterness, and more.
How Does BPD Develop?
Borderline Personality Disorder affects almost 2 percent of the US population, and women are three times more likely to be diagnosed as men. Many mental health professionals believe that men are affected at the same rate as women, but they are underdiagnosed. There are several things that can raise an individual’s risk of developing Borderline Personality Disorder, including environmental, social, genetic, and physical risk factors such as,
- A history of childhood trauma (particularly emotional, sexual, or physical abuse by a caregiver).
- A genetic history of BPD
- A reduced hippocampus size (region of the brain that regulates stress responses and emotion).
- Death of a caregiver as a child.
Treatment for BPD
There are a number of treatments available to those with Borderline Personality Disorder. There is no cure, but there are ways to manage the mental illness, and often, people who seek treatment experience improvement in their daily life. It may be important to work with a mental health professional who can personalize a treatment plan, but often, that treatment plan involves a form of therapy called Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).
Dialectical Behavior Therapy focuses upon healing skills such as…
- Emotional regulation is an individual’s ability to identify, process, and respond to difficult feelings.
- Distress tolerance allows people to build up their resiliency to difficulties in life. It equips them with skills that empower them to face life’s ups and downs in a healthy way.
- Mindfulness means that people begin to pay attention to their mind and the emotions in a non-judgmental way. People begin to observe themselves. This skills is a foundational skill for emotional health.
- Interpersonal effectiveness equips people with the skills and expectations they need to build healthy relationships of all kinds—as friends, as family members, as romantic partners, and more.
Scheduling an Appointment at Thriveworks Knoxville for Borderline Personality Disorder
As you read through the symptoms and risk factors for BPD, did you recognize anything in your own life? If so, it may be time to reach out. The therapists at Thriveworks Knoxville offer treatment for BPD, and we have appointments available.
When you contact our office, your first appointment may be the same week. Weekend and evening sessions are offered, but we do not keep a waitlist, so you will never be put on one. We also accept many different insurance plans. Let’s work on healing together. Call today.
