Approaching the path with BPD

x xx, modified 2 Years ago at 2/24/22 2:20 AM
Created 2 Years ago at 2/24/22 2:20 AM

Approaching the path with BPD

Posts: 3 Join Date: 2/24/22 Recent Posts
Does anyone have any advice or resources regarding meditation and seeking enlightenment with borderline personality disorder?

Anything like techniques to use or avoid, or if it's a good idea at all.
Robin Woods, modified 2 Years ago at 2/24/22 3:24 AM
Created 2 Years ago at 2/24/22 3:24 AM

RE: Approaching the path with BPD

Posts: 189 Join Date: 5/28/12 Recent Posts
I was once misdiagnosed with BPD and after reading up about it, I just don't know how people with it cope. How does it play out for you? 

I don't want to be negative but I'm currently struggling with Depersonalization and 'insight' stages myself. 

is this something you experience? I know how awful it can be and i can't find a way out of it myself. 

​​​​​​​do meds work for you? Have you tried DBT? 
x xx, modified 2 Years ago at 2/24/22 3:36 AM
Created 2 Years ago at 2/24/22 3:36 AM

RE: Approaching the path with BPD

Posts: 3 Join Date: 2/24/22 Recent Posts
For me it plays out with angry mood swings I regret, anxiety and isolation, loneliness, and obsessive thoughts of regret and limerence. 

I have not tried DPT and just started new meds and haven't worked up to the full dose yet.

I don't recall having depersonalization. Sorry to hear you are dealing with it, perhaps you can get some advice from cheetah house.
Zarbook !, modified 2 Years ago at 2/25/22 2:00 PM
Created 2 Years ago at 2/25/22 2:00 PM

RE: Approaching the path with BPD

Posts: 49 Join Date: 3/17/21 Recent Posts
Props for being so candid and straightforward. Sounds like you respect your psychology and are aware that you might benefit from bumpers on your meditative bowling lane. 

I feel like I am ADD incarnate but identify with lots of Bipolar and Borderline traits. These categories are mushy! What's been most helpful for me has been learning about my wiring through a variety of different lenses (including lenses that are skeptical of the whole conceptual framework of mental health and illness) so I have vocabulary, context, and lots of different tools for when things get interesting.  Remembering that "the map is not the territory" has helped with psychological stuff as well as meditation stuff.

Metta or other brahmaviharas and movement stuff (qi gong, yoga) feel good to me when I'm too bonkers to latch on to insight or concentration practice in a productive or safe way... what I can put up with depends on context and internal oomph. 

I haven't come across anything for BPD specifically, but maybe check out Jeff Warren if you haven't already. He's very open about his ADD and Bipolar diagnoses. I've found the way he approaches mediation+psychology to be helpful and inspiring. 
https://jeffwarren.org/podcasts/wakingbipolar/


 
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Ben V, modified 2 Years ago at 2/25/22 4:13 PM
Created 2 Years ago at 2/25/22 4:13 PM

RE: Approaching the path with BPD

Posts: 417 Join Date: 3/3/15 Recent Posts
My advice would be to be careful about plunging into intensive, multiple days retreats. It could bring overwelmingly hard to manage feelings and images, and re-traumatize or even worsen trauma. 

In BPD, the inner world is experienced as intolerable. Retreats put you A LOT into your inner world, constantly. So you need to start gently and gradually. Small doses at first, and maybe for quite a while.

IMO, psychiatry tends to understand too little of BPD. 

Also IMO (as a therapist), therapists that understand well BPD and can work well with it are Object relations therapists, Transference focused therapists (both of these are in the psychoanalytic tradition), and some schema therapists that specialize in BPD. DBT can really help with impulse control and managing symptoms. 

All the best with your practice.
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Sigma Tropic, modified 2 Years ago at 3/9/22 7:49 PM
Created 2 Years ago at 3/9/22 7:13 PM

RE: Approaching the path with BPD

Posts: 368 Join Date: 6/27/17 Recent Posts
x xx
For me it plays out with angry mood swings I regret, anxiety and isolation, loneliness, and obsessive thoughts of regret and limerence. 
Are you in contact with the LO?

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