We Don’t Just Treat Borderline Personality Disorder, We Treat People

Leading the Way in BPD Treatment

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a complex condition marked by unstable moods, behaviors, and relationships. Those with BPD often face challenges like self-image issues, intense self-doubt, fear of abandonment, and low self-worth.

At McLean, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, we’re leaders in pioneering therapies and research for BPD. We provide top-tier specialty care for adolescents and adults, blending high-quality treatment, cutting-edge research, and advanced clinical training.

Our mission is to guide you toward a full, healthy life with compassionate, constructive self-pay and insurance-based programs. McLean’s expertise in BPD treatment began with groundbreaking research that helped recognize BPD as a treatable diagnosis.

Since then, we’ve transformed the perception of BPD from one of stigma to one of hope, offering a range of evidence-based treatments and services. We stand at the forefront of BPD treatment, professional training, and scientific discovery, making us one of the few hospitals globally to provide such comprehensive care.

Proven Care, Outstanding Results

McLean Hospital is at the forefront of BPD research and care. Our investigators have provided critical insight into the causes and treatment of the disease. Today, they continue to look for more knowledge on the disorder to find improved treatment methods.

McLean’s expert treatment focuses on these proven care models. Our BPD care utilizes dialectical behavior therapy, mentalization-based treatment, transference-focused psychotherapy, and other therapies.

• Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is the gold standard treatment for BPD. DBT emphasizes the development of four skill sets. These are mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance.
• Mentalization-based treatment (MBT) helps patients stabilize their sense of self, with the goal of improving interpersonal and relationship skills and reducing self-destructive behaviors.
• Transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) focuses on a patient’s contradictory sense of identity. This is associated with problems with interpersonal relationships, self-esteem, and mood regulation.

In addition to therapies that address BPD, group and individual therapy cover a broad range of topics. These can include mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and family issues.

Is It BPD? Or Just Normal Teenage Emotions?

The idea that teens’ personalities are still developing has made diagnosing personality disorders in younger people controversial. But diagnosing adolescents allows them to receive the help they need before they are faced with a crisis. It also allows families to learn how to be supportive of their loved ones.

There are some major characteristics that indicate BPD in adolescents.

“Behavioral dysregulation” is shown when a teen engages in self-injury, such as cutting, burning their skin, or punching walls. Dangerous sexual behavior, substance misuse, and impulsivity are other forms of this risky behavior. For teens with BPD, these actions rarely represent a desire to get attention. Rather, they often provide a kind of relief from emotional pain.

Other signs of BPD include trouble with interpersonal relations and difficulty regulating emotions. These can be seen when a teen has trouble controlling their anger or swings quickly from angry or sad to calm. Those with BPD may also hold irrational or paranoid beliefs. Or they may feel empty or lack a sense of self.

For the adolescent, feeling things more intensely than others or feeling wronged or misunderstood could be signs of BPD. A teenager who feels strong emotions for longer periods than others or takes longer to get back to their emotional baseline may have the condition. When minor issues feel like the “end of the world” and reactions like self-harm, drug taking, or death seem to be the only way to make them stop—this can be a sign of a serious problem.

Teens with these actions and reactions should seek help for their symptoms. McLean offers specialty treatment for teens that focuses on emerging personality disorders and emotional difficulties. Contact us today to learn more about treatment options for adolescents and young adults.

The Significance of Family Involvement

Family is an important component of BPD care. Often, parents and siblings need to learn and practice the same skills as their family member with the diagnosis. With the patient’s permission, family members are involved in assessment, care, and aftercare planning.

When a person struggles with BPD, family members and loved ones often struggle as well. It’s common for family members to feel overwhelmed by their loved one’s symptoms.

Family therapy empowers individuals and their families to work together in more effective ways. In turn, this enables better management of BPD symptoms and improves overall family relationships.

Boys Can Have BPD Too

For years, the general public and many in the psychiatric community have viewed mental health struggles in boys and mental health struggles in girls in very different ways.

Societal conditioning, long-standing beliefs about “normal” gender behavior, and other biases may explain why we view boys and girls through different lenses.

This gap between boys and girls is particularly pronounced in the diagnosis and treatment of BPD. The percentage of the population with BPD is about the same for men and women. However, the condition is slightly over-diagnosed in women and significantly under-diagnosed in men.

In general, boys tend to have fewer social and emotional skills than girls. This is often misunderstood and incorrectly attributed to a lack of motivation or to them having bad character. Established stereotypes about the nature of masculinity can lead to BPD being misdiagnosed or missed altogether.

In recent years, this myth that men can’t have BPD has been dispelled. Boys and young men who display signs of BPD should reach out for proper care.

McLean offers coed residential and outpatient treatment options for teens as well as adults. Contact us today and let us help you find the program that’s right for you or your child.