Teen Boarding School Help

While medical journals have already made significant reports regarding the existence of borderline personality disorder ever since the development of its standardized criteria in 1980, it was the mainstream, critically acclaimed films like Fatal Attraction (1987), Primal Fear (1996), Girl, Interrupted (1999), Black Swan (2010) and several more, that opened the public’s eye on the disorder.

Girl, Interrupted was, in particular, a real eye-opener. Based on the memoir of Susanna Kaysen, it details the life of a young woman (portrayed by Winona Ryder) who spent eighteen months in a psychiatric hospital following a suicide attempt, and during which was diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. During the course of the movie, Kaysen displays a remarkable tendency to act unpredictably and without concern of the consequences, with a propensity to raise conflict when these acts are stopped or criticized. She easily gets into intense and unstable, sexually promiscuous relationships which at times, alternate between extreme idealization and devaluation. The movie, although criticized by some experts for its oversimplification of the disorder, was in many ways successful in educating the masses on the disorder.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental disorder, characterized by excessive mood swings, black and white thinking, chaotic interpersonal relationships, identity disturbance resulting to unstable self-image, self-damaging impulsivity (overspending, substance abuse, promiscuous sex, reckless driving, etc.) and suicidal or self-injuring behavior (such as self-scarring). Dr. Marsha Linehan of the University of Washington, describes borderline personality disorder sufferers as the psychological equivalent of third-degree burn patients, such that they have no emotional skin and the slightest touch can trigger an emotional storm they cannot control. And when they calm down, they revert to being sweet and meek.

It Starts in Childhood

Like most mental disorders, borderline personality disorder is regarded as a chronic disease of the young, such that it typically manifests in childhood or adolescence. The causes of the disorder are complex and at times not fully understood, but most experts agree that genetics play the largest role. What exactly is hereditary it is not clear, most likely a result of various predisposing temperaments. Factors such as abuse and trauma also play a role. Families who are divorced or widowed also have higher incidence rates of borderline personality disorder.

According to the National institute of Mental Health, of the 9,282 cases they reviewed in 2005, half of the mental illness began at age 14, and three quarters by age 24. And while majority of the sufferers eventually seek treatment, there are very long delays before some seek and receive treatment; the median delay is nearly a decade and the longest at 23 years, which could explain why many borderline personality disorder are being diagnosed today.

NIH stressed that if left untreated, borderline personality can lead to more severe problems in later life, and in extreme cases, to suicide attempts. In fact, among mental disorders, borderline personality sufferers are the patients most doctors and psychologist fear most; as many as 75% of the sufferers will have the tendency to hurt themselves and approximately 10% will attempt suicide.

So, how do you spot a borderline personality disorder on a child?

According to Mental Health America, if you see your child having any of the following symptoms, he can be suffering from borderline personality disorder:

• Mood swings, particularly periods of intense depression or anxiety, or intense anger without real cause
• Demand for constant attention
• Acting out an emergency or embellishing a problem due to unwillingness to being left alone, extreme efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment
• Displays of provocative behavior
• Impulsivity, going on an spending or eating binges to the extent of self-damage
• Suicide threats, suicide attempts
• Tendency to self-injure by cutting, burning, or scratching themselves
• Engaging in a suicidal behavior such as reckless driving, climbing on rooftops or abuse of alcohol and other drugs
• Delusions or severe dissociative symptoms

If your child is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, he or she will need an intervention right away. The more you wait, the more the problem will grow and escalate and it will greatly hinder his or her future life.

Therapeutic boarding schools for Treatment

In the movie Girl, Interrupted, the patient benefited from an extended hospitalization. But this, experts say, is not applicable to just any borderline personality sufferer. There should be follow ups by an extensive aftercare program directed at helping the teen learn how to adapt with the mainstream public to live effectively with their emotional volatility and cognitive handicap.

Of all the known treatments, cognitive behavior therapy has been shown as one of the most promising treatment for borderline personality disorder. It is a subset of psychotherapy, and works by identifying the destructive negative emotions and behaviors and then focusing on changing these patterns through goal-oriented, systematic approach in the present for the purpose of improving emotional reaction and interactions with others.

Therapeutic boarding schools are primary examples of cognitive behavior therapy institutions and are now established as one of the best treatment models for borderline personality disorder. Many therapeutic boarding schools have begun to employ various approaches in junction with cognitive behavior therapy in junction in order to produce consistently good results. These institutions vary greatly in style but they generally offer the same feature: fostering discipline, distancing teens from distractions, providing treatment and providing a substantial aftercare program.

A kid suffering from borderline personality disorder will be matriculated into an institution where he will receive therapy, and various life coaches will instruct him on lessons regarding how to act and adapt in public. Regular therapy sessions will develop his mental resilience and teach him ways to counteract and manage stress. Most of all, he will be growing with peers similar to him in disposition, allowing genuine friendship and solidarity to take place between the students.