Respond to this post using 400 words. In-text citations in response from references and including references used are required. DO NOT COPY AND PASTE FROM POST OR YOUR RESPONSE!!!

During practicum in graduate school, I got the opportunity to work with a client who suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder. At first, I was a bit nervous because I had never worked with anyone who suffered from this illness. The clients that I dealt with had PTSD, bipolar disorder, substance abuse related disorders, anxiety, and depression. By working with someone who has BPD it was different which made me uncomfortable in a sense which is one of the challenges that I faced. When I say uncomfortable, I mean it in a positive way. Change is often uncomfortable especially when an individual steps out the box to try something new. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy was one of the main therapies that were utilized at the site.

Someone who has Borderline Personality Disorder may experience the following which includes depression, self-harm, guilt, self-image distortion, isolation, hostility, guilt, and destructive behaviors. The client that I dealt with was very challenging at first because she did not see any wrong in her actions and thoughts. By her going through these issues it caused major issues in her current relationship with her boyfriend. She would say something in the context of "She believes that her boyfriend hates her". When going more in depth of the conversation wasn't that he hated her, it was the fact that she would flip out over minor things. Although, he knew that she has borderline personality disorder in which she was honest and told him about in their early stage of their relationship. However, he did not know much about the illness and thought that she was just delusional and bipolar. My supervisor at the time pointed out something to me and stated that BPD can often be mistaken for bipolar disorder. This cause a bit of a challenge because I was thinking that she did in fact have bipolar disorder.

She had been hospitalized before due to an suicidal attempt because she had a fear of losing her boyfriend but would display behaviors that prove otherwise. Tusiani-Eng and Yeomans (2018) noted that without treatment, Borderline Personality Disorder contributes to an increase in suicide and other problems such as homelessness, children being taken away from their families, incarceration, and employment. Honestly, I am glad that my supervisor told me how BPD can be misdiagnosed because it could have led to my client receiving ineffective treatment. By receiving ineffective treatment it could lead to the client suffering from more than what they are currently experiencing.

I believe that the Mentalization video with Dr.Bateman was a great presentation of how it is to work with someone who suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder. Barnicot, K., Redknap, C., Hommel, J., Couldrey, L., & Crawford, M., (2021) noted that it shows the importance of listening actively to patients about what difficulties they have during therapy and work to address the challenges so that they can progress and make use of treatment". By utilizing mentalization and transference focused therapy, it helped the client when it came to identifying her thoughts and feelings by learning how to think before they speak and/or react to certain situations. In this case, it reminded me so much of the client that I worked with in graduate school because my supervisor would have to tell her to calm down because her thoughts were all over the place. Dr.Bateman walked her through her thoughts and feelings which is great because it allowed her to process those feelings. At one point in the Mentalization Based Therapy video, Dr.Bateman had told her that slowing things down can be difficult.

One comment that I would like to make about the Life Passage in Face of Death video is that the therapist was compassionate and empathetic. By their third session, the client seemed a bit more relaxed compared to the initial session. Viederman (2003) asked a great question as followed "What was your reaction to our meeting last time?". That was a great question to ask because it gave the client the opportunity to think about everything that was discussed in the first session before moving along. Although, the client stated that she has friends that she can talk to she realized the importance of her mental health and began counseling.

Finally, the client started to feel better and the things that have been discussed in therapy has been extremely beneficial in her life thus far. When the daughter publicly spoke about how she admired her mother it seems like it was hard for her to accept because of the things she had been through along with her relationship with her mother. Come to find out she stated that she must have been jealous of her daughter because she was not the center of attention anymore. Pat stated that she feels a sign of release and she is able to do a lot of things that she wasn't able to do before in which she is excited about. She has had time to process everything which has made her feel better and at peace. A Bible verse that fits this case is "but seek ye first the kingdom of God and righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33, KJV). The lingering question that I have is for those who have worked with individuals with BPD, does it seem like they can be manipulative at times?

References

Barnicot, K., Redknap, C., Coath, F., Hommel, J., Couldrey, L., & Crawford, M. (2021). Patient experiences of therapy for borderline personality disorder: Commonalities and differences between dialectical behaviour therapy and mentalization-based therapy and relation to outcomes. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 95(1). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12362Links to an external site.

Posner, S. & Viederman, M. (2003). A brief psychotherapy. [Video/DVD]. American Psychiatric Publishing. Retrieved from https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work%7C1779040Links to an external site.

Tusiani-Eng, P., & Yeomans, F. (2018). Borderline personality disorder. Psychiatric clinics of North America, 41(4), 695-709. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psc.2018.07.006