Borderline Personality Disorder

When is it time to get help?

If you have the symptoms of borderline personality disorder, it’s important that you seek help right away. Left untreated, they can severely affect your life and particularly your relationships and can manifest into anxiety, severe depression, or even suicide.

If you, or someone you know is considering suicide, and is in a dangerous or life-threatening situation, please call 911 or proceed to your nearest emergency room.

For immediate help outside of our office hours, throughout Alberta, please call 211 or one of the following distress lines:

• Edmonton: The Crisis Centre call 780 482 HELP (4357)
• Greater Edmonton region: Rural Distress Line at 1-800-232-7288.
• Calgary: 403 266 HELP (4357)

Borderline personality disorder treatment methods

Treatment methods that may be effective in treating borderline personality disorder include:

• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based approach to treatment that focuses on how people’s thoughts, emotions, and beliefs influence their behaviour and how they perceive themselves.
• Person centered therapy differs from more traditional therapeutic approaches in the belief that, while the therapist has expertise in many areas, the client is the expert on themselves and their lived experiences. People are essentially trustworthy and have a vast potential for understanding themselves while also being able to ultimately resolve their own problems when guided properly.
• Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is a treatment method that is similar to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) but emphasizes building skills to manage stress, mental health issues, and the psycho-social aspects of relationship building.
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is an approach that works to help the brain process information, memories, sounds, and feelings in a way that makes them be seen in a new and less distressing way.
• Mindfulness therapy is an approach to treatment that focuses on how people’s thoughts, emotions, and beliefs influence their behaviour and how they perceive themselves, others, and the world. The ability to be in the moment, to acknowledge and regulate your emotions helps you to break free from negative thought patterns.
• Psychotherapy is a broad term that encompasses numerous styles of therapy and uses verbal or nonverbal communication with a client to help treat psychiatric problems, behavioral issues, personality disorders, and various other types of emotional distress. This form of personal counselling is based on an interpersonal relationship, as opposed to the alternative chemical or physical forms of therapy.

To choose the right combination of treatments, an assessment will first be done. Together with your therapist, you’ll find the treatment method that best suits your unique personality and circumstances.