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Notes from
Professionals
Families Cannot Go It Alone
Joel Paris, MD
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| Families have long been the
mainstay for their relatives with
mental illness. Families impacted by
borderline personality disorder
(BPD) are no exception. However,
their plight is three decades behind
families whose lives have been
altered by other psychiatric
illnesses. What was once the horror
of being vilified as a
schizophrenogenic mother was
replaced then by being a victim, a
parent with a brain disordered
child. |
| BPD parents are not so fortunate
in that respect. Often portrayed as
individuals high in affectivity,
high in borderline traits, high in
substance use disorders with their
own suspected levels of pathology,
parents of BPD sufferers are often
described as perpetrators of verbal,
emotional, sexual abuse, and or of
neglect. |
| Certainly we cannot summarily
dismiss all allegations and surely
in some families, great injustices,
to say the least, were done, in many
others there is relatively little
evidence of malevolence. Just as the
illness of BPD is heterogeneous from
many aspects, so are the families of
BPD sufferers. Rather than
continually pointing a finger of
blame, we need to find a balance as
we invite families to engage in the
recovery of their relatives. Family
matters! |
| Conversely, due to the severity,
symptomatology, and high rates of
co-occurring disorders, BPD not only
affects the diagnosed but also
affects family members and others in
their social environment. Families
cannot go it alone. Unfortunately,
relatively few professionals have
included family members in the
treatment process. |
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Index of Notes |
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