Emotional Regulation Disorder is a serious condition which is believed to affect between 1-3% of the general population yet despite being so prevalent is not commonly understood.
People who live in a relationship with a person who suffers from borderline personality disorder often know that something is terribly wrong with the behavior of their family member or loved-one but often do not know what to do about it or that there is even a name for it.
Alternate Names
There are a number of different names used around the world for the same disorder:
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
Emotional Regulation Disorder (ERD)
Emotional Dysregulation Disorder
Emotional Intensity Disorder (EID)
Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD)
Emotion-Impulse Regulation Disorder (EIRD)
Impulsive Personality Disorder (IPD)
The most commonly used name today is Borderline Personality Disorder - or BPD - as defined in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM-IV-TR).
The term "Borderline" is a historic term coined to describe people who were diagnosed to be on the borderline between a neurotic and psychotic disorder. It is commonly felt that the "Borderline" label is misleading and stigmatizes the disorder. The fifth version of the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM-V) is scheduled for release in 2010. It is likely that the disorder will be renamed Emotional Regulation Disorder (ERD) or Emotional Dysregulation Disorder (EDD) in the DSM-V.
Characteristics & Traits
The following list is a collection of some of the more commonly observed behaviors and traits of those who suffer from BPD /ERD. Click on the links on each one for much more information about a particular trait or behavior and some ideas for coping with each.
Alienation - Alienation means interfering with, or cutting a person off from, relationships with others. This can be done by manipulating the attitudes and behaviors of the victim or of the people with whom they come in contact. The victim's relationships with others may be sabotaged through verbal pressure, threats, diversions, distortion campaigns and systems of rewards and punishments.
"Always" & "Never" Statements - "Always" & "Never" Statements are statements containing the words "always" or "never". They are commonly used but rarely true.
Anger (PD) - Anger is what you feel when you don't get what you think you deserve. Because they have strong emotional reactions to events, which they may regard as appropriate while others disregard them, people who suffer from personality disorders often feel a sense of unresolved anger over percieved ways they may feel they have been wronged, invalidated, neglected or abused.
Baiting & Picking Fights - Baiting is the practice of generating a provocative action or statement for the purpose of obtaining an angry, aggressive or emotional response from another person.
Blaming - Blaming is the practice of identifying a person or people responsible for creating a problem, rather than identifying ways of dealing with the problem.
Bullying - Bullying is any systematic action of hurting a person from a position of relative physical, social, economic or emotional strength.
Catastrophizing - Catastrophizing is the habit of automatically assuming a "worst case scenario" and inappropriately characterizing minor or moderate problems or issues as catastrophic events.
Chaos Manufacture - Chaos Manufacture is the practice of unnecessarily creating or maintaining an environment of risk, destruction, confusion or mess.
Cheating - Cheating is sharing a romantic or intimate relationship with somebody when you are already committed to a monogamous relationship with someone else.
Circular Conversations - Circular Conversations are arguments which go on almost endlessly, repeating the same patterns with no real resolution.
Cognitive Dissonance - Cognitive Dissonance is a psychological term for the discomfort that most people feel when they encounter information which contradicts their existing set of beliefs or values. People who suffer from personality disorders often experience cognitive dissonance when they are confronted with evidence that their actions have hurt others or have contradicted their stated morals.
"Control-Me" Syndrome - "Control-Me" Syndrome describes a tendency that some abuse victims and some people who suffer from personality disorders have to nurture relationships with people who have a controlling narcissistic, antisocial or "acting-out" nature.
Denial (PD) - Denial is believing or imagining that some factual reality, circumstance, feeling or memory does not exist or did not happen.
Dependency - Dependency is an inappropriate and chronic reliance by one adult individual on another for their health, subsistence, decision making or personal and emotional well- being.
Depression (PD) - When you feel sadder than you think you should, for longer than you think you should - but still can't seem to break out of it - that's depression.
Dissociation- Dissociation, or disassociation, is a psychological term used to describe a mental departure from reality.
Divide And Conquer - Divide and Conquer is a method of gaining and advantage over percieved rivals by manipulating them into conflicts with each other.
Domestic Theft -Domestic theft is consuming or taking control of a resource or asset belonging to (or shared with) a family member, partner or spouse without first obtaining their approval.
Emotional Blackmail - Emotional Blackmail describes the use of a system of threats and punishments on a person by someone close to them in an attempt to control their behaviors.
Engulfment - Engulfment is an unhealthy and overwhelming level of attention and dependency on a spouse, partner or family member, which comes from imagining or believing that one exists only within the context of that relationship.
Entitlement - Entitlement or a 'Sense of Entitlement' is an unrealistic, unmerited or inappropriate expectation of favorable living conditions and favorable treatment at the hands of others.
False Accusations - False accusations, distortion campaigns & smear campaigns are patterns of unwarranted or exaggerated criticisms which occur when a personality disordered individual tries to feel better about themselves by putting down someone else - usually a family member, spouse, partner, friend or colleague.
Favoritism - Favoritism is the practice of systematically giving positive, preferential treatment to one child, subordinate or associate among a group of peers.
Fear of Abandonment - Fear of abandonment and irrational jealousy is a phobia, sometimes exhibited by people with personality disorders, that they are in imminent danger of being rejected, discarded or replaced at the whim of a person who is close to them.
Frivolous Litigation and Frivolous Lawsuits - Frivolous Litigation and Frivolous Lawsuits are methods of withholding support, harassing or prolonging conflict by bringing unsubstantiated accusations, meritless appeals or diversionary process into a relationship or a former relationship using the court system as a proxy.
Gaslighting - Gaslighting is the practice of brainwashing or convincing a mentally healthy individual that they are going insane or that their understanding of reality is mistaken or false. The term "Gaslighting" is based on the 1944 MGM movie “Gaslight”.
Harassment - Harrassment is any sustained or chronic pattern of unwelcome behavior from one individual to another.
High-Functioning - A High-Functioning Personality-Disordered Individual is one who is able to conceal their dysfunctional behavior in certain public settings and maintain a positive public or professional profile while exposing their negative traits to family members behind closed doors.
Hoovers & Hoovering - A Hoover is a metaphor, taken from the popular brand of vacuum cleaners, to describe how an abuse victim, trying to assert their own rights by leaving or limiting contact in a dysfunctional relationship gets "sucked back in" when the perpetrator temporarily exhibits improved or desirable behavior.
Hysteria - Hysteria is inappropriate over-reaction to bad news or disappointments, which diverts attention away from the problem and towards the person who is having the reaction.
Identity Disturbance - Identity disturbance is a psychological term used to describe a distorted or inconsistent self-view.
Impulsiveness and Impulsivity - Impulsiveness - or Impulsivity - is the tendency to act or speak based on current feelings rather than logical reasoning.
Infantilization - Infantilization is the practice of treating a child as if they are much younger than their actual age.
Invalidation - Invalidation is the creation or promotion of an environment which encourages an individual to believe that their thoughts, beliefs, values or physical presence are inferior, flawed, problematic or worthless.
Lack of Object Constancy - Object Constancy is a psychological term used to describe the ability to think of other people or objects as "still there", even when they are out of your immediate field of vision. Object constancy is a developmental skill which most children develop at about age 2-3. A lack of object constancy is a symptom of some personality disorders.
Learned Helplessness- Learned helplessness is when a person begins to believe they have no control over a situation, even when they actually do have the power to change their circumstances, leading them into an unneccessary state of depression, where initiative, action or investment is deemed futile.
Low-Functioning - A Low-Functioning Personality-Disordered Individual is one who is unable to conceal their dysfunctional behavior from public view or maintain a positive public or professional profile.
Moments Of Clarity - Moments of Clarity are spontaneous, temporary periods when a person with a personality disorder is able to see beyond their own world view and can, for a brief period, understand, acknowledge, articulate and begin to make amends for their dysfunctional behavior.
Mood Swings - Mood swings are unpredictable rapid, dramatic cycles of mood which can not be readily explained by changes in external circumstances.
Neglect - Neglect is a passive form of abuse in which the physical or emotional needs of an individual who is incapable of providing for themselves are disregarded or ignored by the person responsible for them.
No-Win Scenarios - No-Win Scenarios and Lose-Lose Scenarios are situations commonly created by people who suffer from personality disorders where they present two bad options to someone close to them and pressure them into choosing between the two. This usually leaves the non-personality-disordered person with a "damned if you do and damned if you don't" feeling.
Panic Attacks - Panic Attacks are short intense episodes of fear or anxiety, often accompanied by physical symptoms.
Parentification - Parentification is a form of role reversal, in which a child of a personality-disordered parent is inappropriately given the role of meeting the emotional or physical needs of the parent or of the other children.
Passive-Aggressive Behavior - Passive Aggressive behavior is the expression of negative feelings, resentment, and aggression in an unassertive, passive way (such as through procrastination and stubbornness).
Pathological Lying - Pathological lying is persistent lying in order to serve one's own needs or desires with little or no regard to the needs or concers of others. A pathological liar is a person who habitually lies to serve their own interests.
Projection - Projection is the act of attributing one's own feelings or traits onto another person and imagining or believing that the other person has those same feelings or traits.
Proxy Recruitment - Proxy Recruitment is a way of controlling or abusing another person by manipulating other people into unwittingly backing you up, speaking for you or "doing your dirty work" for you.
Push-Pull - Push-Pull is a chronic pattern of sabotaging and re-establishing closeness a relationship without appropriate cause or reason.
Raging, Violence & Impulsive Aggression - Raging, Violence and Impulsive Aggression are unprovoked verbal or emotional attacks or elevations of a dispute, sometimes accompanied by violence or the destruction of property, which threaten the security or safety of another individual - or violates their personal boundaries.
Sabotage - Sabotage is the impulsive disruption of a calm or harmonious status quo in a relationship or domestic situatuion, occasionally perpetrated by those with Personality Disorders, in order to serve a personal interest, to provoke a conflict or to draw attention to themselves.
Scapegoating - Scapegoating is the practice of singling out one child, employee or member of a group of peers for unmerited negative treatment or blame.
Selective Competence - Selective Competence is demonstrating intelligence, resourcefulness, strength or competence in one setting or environment (for example, at work) and lack of the same qualities in another (such as in the home).
Selective Memory and Selective Amnesia - Selective Memory and Selective Amnesia is the use of memory, or a lack of memory, which is selective to the point of reinforcing a bias, belief or desired outcome.
Self-Harm - Self Harm, also known as self-mutilation, self-injury or self-abuse is any form of deliberate, premeditated injury inflicted on oneself, common among adolescents and among people who suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder. Most common forms are cutting and poisoning/overdosing.
Self-Loathing - Self Loathing is an extreme self-hatred of one's own self, actions or one's ethnic or demographic background.
Self-Victimization - Self-Victimization, or "playing the victim" is the act of casting oneself as a victim in order to control others by soliciting a sympathetic response from them or diverting their attention away from abusive behavior.
Shaming - The difference between blaming and shaming is that in blaming someone tells you that you did something bad, in shaming someone tells you that you are bad. Invalidation is a form of Shaming.
Situational Ethics - Situational Ethics is a philosophy which promotes the idea that, when dealing with a crisis, the end justifies the means and that a rigid interpretation of the rules, laws and moral codes should be temporarily set aside if a greater good or lesser evil is served by doing so. Understanding situational ethics in the presence of dissociative thought sometimes explains the apparently unethical behavior of people who suffer from personality disorders.
Splitting - Splitting is the behavior of treating, speaking of or thinking of people & situations as if they were completely "good" or completely "bad" and to occasionally switch between thinking of them as "all good" or "all bad".
Thought Policing - Thought Policing is any process of trying to question, control, or unduly influence another persons thoughts or feelings.
Threats - Threats are written or verbal warnings of intentional, inappropriate, destructive actions or consequences.
Triggering -Triggers are small, insignificant or minor actions, statements or events that produce an inappropriately large response.
Tunnel Vision - Tunnel Vision is the habit or tendency to only see or focus on a single priority while neglecting or ignoring other important priorities.
Statistics
BPD Prevalence Statistics
An estimated 2% of the US population is estimated to meet the clinical criteria for BPD. However, prevalence results vary widely as shown below. A number of studies have been performed to determine the prevalence of personality disorders and BPD. Prevalence results indicate that BPD affects anywhere between 0.5 and 5.9% of adults.
The following table shows statistically how likely it is that a person who is diagnosed with one personality disorder will also be diagnosed with another personality disorder, as defined by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).
The numbers displayed in the table below are a statistical measures of co-occurrence known as "tetrachoric correlations". The more positive the number, the more likely it is that a person will be diagnosed with the second personality disorder listed. The more negative the number, the less likely it is that a person will be diagnosed with the second personality disorder in the table.
Note: This data was compiled from an initial survey of 5692 people in the US. None of the people in the survey sample were identified as meeting the criteria for Histrionic Persoanlity Disorder or Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and no comorbidity information is therefore given for HPD or NPD.
UK 2006-2007 Personality Disorder Hospital Admissions
The chart below gives UK National Health Service 2006-2007 Breakdown of Personality Disorder Diagnoses per hospital admission. Diagnoses are based on the World Health Organization (WHO) system for classifying physical and mental disorders International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10).
It can be seen from the chart that 2/3 of all hospital admitted personality disorder diagnoses in the UK are for Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD) - which is known internationally as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
UK 2006-2007 Personality Disorder Hospital Admissions by Gender
The chart below gives UK National Health Service 2006-2007 Breakdown of Personality Disorder Diagnoses by gender per hospital admission. Diagnoses are based on the World Health Organization (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10).
The data shows that about 65% of in-patient personality disorder cases in the UK are diagnosed in females and 35% in males. BPD and HPD are significantly more common among females and APD, SPD and OCPD are significantly more common among males.
People who have a first-degree relative with BPD are five times more likely to develop BPD themselves. Those who suffer child abuse are also more likely to develop BPD.
Some people who suffer from BPD are prone to suicidal behaviors and self-injury, especially as adolescents. About 8%-10% of diagnosed BPD patients commit suicide.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) - The DSM-IV-TR Criteria
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM-IV-TR) as an Axis II, Cluster B (dramatic, emotional, or erratic) Disorder:
A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
1. Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment. [Not including suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5]
2. A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation.
3. Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self.
4. Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, promiscuous sex, eating disorders, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating). [Again, not including suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5]
5. Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior.
6. Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days)
7. Chronic feelings of emptiness.
8. Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights).
9. Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms.
Personality Disorders - Top 10 Myths
Myth #1
Myth: People with a Mental Illness all have a low IQ - this myth perpetuates the prejudice and associated stigma that people with a mental illness are "stupid". This stigma can discourage a person from admitting that they have a problem, getting the help they need or taking medication.
Fact: Personality Disorders affect the Entire Intelligence Spectrum -Here at Out of the FOG, we speak about low-functioning and high-functioning people in an attempt to differentiate between those who demonstrate high IQ and low IQ. We have seen examples of people with severe cases of personality disorders who are extremely intelligent, hold down jobs with high levels of responsibility or authority in government and in business and social groups.
Myth #2
Myth: Only Females have HPD and BPD - Only Males have NPD and APD.
Fact: BPD and HPD are more commonly diagnosed in women, and NPD and APD are more commonly diagnosed in men - but there are millions of people from both genders in all of the disorder categories.
Myth #3
Myth: All People with Personality Disorders were abused as children -
Fact: About 75% of people with Personality Disorders were physically, emotionally or sexually abused as children. That leaves a huge number - about 1 in 4 - that were not.
Myth #4
Myth: People everywhere are basically the same.
Fact: Each person is as unique as the DNA inside them. - You can't always interpret the feelings, behaviors and attitudes of other people - especially people with personality disorders - based on your own logic or reasoning. If another person's behavior, reasoning or beliefs makes no sense to you that is a cue to investigate further - not to jump to conclusions.
Myth #5
Myth: People with personality disorders can get better if they just try harder.
Fact: Personality Disorders are Real Mental Illnesses - although recovery involves a determined effort, willpower alone can't make the disorder disappear. There is a real mental illness at work which affects the sufferer's sense of reality, of self and of others. It usually takes a combination of intense therapy, medications, hard work and determination to recover from a PD.
Please note that we are not suggesting here that people with personality disorders shouldn't be held accountable for their own behaviors - they absolutely should. But it would also be a mistake to regard people who suffer from personality disorders simply as mentally healthy people who are being selfish.
Myth #6
Myth: Personality Disorders aren't Real Mental Illnesses
Fact: Personality Disorders are Real Mental Illnesses - and we ignore them at our own peril. The American Psychiatric Association doesn't think so - neither do millions of people affected by them.
Myth #7
Myth: People With Personality Disorders Never Get Better
Fact: Some Do and some Don't. See our section on Recovery
Myth #8
Myth: People With Personality Disorders get better as they get older.
Fact: As they get older, some get better, some stay the same and some get worse. See our section on Recovery.
Myth #9
Myth: You can bring about recovery in a person with a personality disorder through your own actions.
Fact: Personality Disorders are Real Mental Illnesses - and they don't depend on what we do, or don't do, or say, or don't say. You can't cure a personality disorder with love, anger, submission or ultimatums any more than you can cure a food allergy with a feather duster.
Myth #10
Myth: All People with Borderline Personality Disorder are Suicidal or commit acts of self injury -
Fact: Self Injury is only one of 9 possible criteria. 5 of the 9 are required for a diagnosis of BPD. - See BPD DSM Criteria
BPD / ERD Treatment
There is no known cure for BPD / ERD. As a result, families of people who suffer from BPD / ERD are often left to fend for themselves and rely on their own resources.
However, some treatments do exist which have proven effective in managing symptoms. The most common approach is the combination of SSRI medication and DBT Therapy.
DBT - Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Definition:
DBT, or Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, is a psychosocial treatment developed for patients with borderline personality disorder which combines intensive individual and group therapy.
Description:
Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) was developed for treating Borderline Personality Disorder by Marsha M. Linehan. BPD is notorious among therapists, many of whom refuse to treat BPD patients because of the demands it puts on the therapist.
DBT incorporates an intense program of weekly individual therapy sessions and weekly group therapy sessions.
Individual therapy focuses on addressing a prioritized set of issues starting with self injury, then behaviors which disrupt therapy, then behaviors which disrupt healthy living. Patients are trained in a regime of four skills known as mindfulness, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness and distress tolerance.
SSRI's - Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors
Definition:
SSRI's, or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor's, are the most commonly prescribed antidepressants for people who suffer from personality disorders. Popular SSRI's include Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, Paxil, & Zoloft.
Description:
SSRI's relieve symptoms of depression by blocking the re-absorption (re-uptake) of a neurotransmitter in the brain called serotonin. More serotonin in the brain has been shown to improve mood.
Some popular SSRI's include Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, Paxil, & Zoloft.
SSRI's are generally considered milder than other types of antidepressants and thus are usually the first line of approach for most practitioners.
Side-effects include: Nausea, Sexual dysfunction, Headache, Diarrhea, Nervousness, Rash, Agitation, Restlessness, Increased sweating, Weight gain, Drowsiness & Sleeplessness.
ERD Possible Causes
The causes for ERD are not precisely known. However, recent research has turned up some clues. Further study is necessary to definitively establish a cause. However, theories do exist.
There is some evidence relating the prevalence of ERD to the kind of environment a child grew up in. A significant percentage of people who suffer from ERD were also abused as children. However, this kind of correlation does not always prove that the environment they grew up in contributed to their own disorder - read our section on the Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc Fallacy for a possible explanation why.)
There is a higher incidence of personality disorders in those who have parents who suffer from a personality disorder. The reason's for this could possibly be genetic. It is possible that certain people are born with a genetic tendency to develop a personality disorder.
There is also a higher incidence of ERD in females. Read our section on the Amygdala for some information on gender differences in neural activity which may some day lead to a greater understanding of why certain disorders may afflict one gender more than another.
The Amygdala and it's Link to BPD / ERD
Definition:
Amygdala - The Amygdala is a small region of the brain which plays a key role in emotional regulation, emotional memory and responses to emotional stimuli.
Description:
Recent technological advances have given neurologists two new ways to create 3-D images of the brain, which show how much activity is going on in the different regions of the brain while a person is thinking in different ways. These techniques are known as Positron Emission Tomography (PET Scanning) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). By scanning a person's brain using these methods while asking a them to think in a certain way, scientists are unlocking clues as to which regions of the brain are responsible for different kinds of thinking.
Much of this work has focused on the amygdala - a small region deep in the brain shown below. There is one amygdala the right side of the brain and one on the left as shown below.
It is believed that the amygdala has an important rule in producing lightning-fast emotional responses to events, whenever a person recognizes an event with a strong emotional element (good or bad) such as events that results in fear, anger or rage or events that result in delight, joy or excitement.
The amygdala is believed to be part of our fast, instinctive and reactive brains. Not much conscious thought is involved if an object is hurled towards us and we instinctively duck. This ability to react instinctively to danger is thought to have historically played a critical function in survival of most species. Similarly, witness the reaction of a crowd whenever a sports team scores a goal. There is a universal instant response of throwing hands in the air, widening the eyes, leaping into the air etc, without much thought given. When you see these instinctive reactions occur, the amygdala is at work.
The Amygdala and Memory
The amygdala has also been shown to have an important function in enhancing memory functions by releasing stress hormones, such as adrenaline. It has been shown experimentally that rats, who have had their amygdala disabled lose their fear of cats. It has also been shown that increasing stress hormones improves memory of an event. This helps explain why people can remember stressful moments in great detail - such as times of disasters or crises, when adrenaline is released and yet can easily forget long periods when nothing significant seems to have happened.
Gender Differences in the way the Amygdala is Connected
Another interesting finding resulted from a study comparing amygdala activity in males and females. When shown images containing strong emotionally arousing content, It was found that the amygdala on the right side of the brain was the most active in men, while the amygdala on the left side of the brain was most active in women.
Other experiments with people who are relaxing have shown that in men, the right amygdala is more closely connected to the rest of the brain than the left, while women show a stronger connectivity between the left amygdala and the rest of the brain. Additionally, in men the right amygdala seems to be strongly connected to regions of the brain normally associated with interactions with the external environment while in women, the left amygdala seems to be strongly connected to regions of the brain normally associated with more internal thought. This suggests that in an emotional context, men are biased toward thoughts about the external environment and women toward thoughts about the internal environment.
The Link between the Amygdala and Emotional Regulation Disorder / Borderline Personality Disorder
In a famous experiment at Yale University, 15 people diagnosed with BPD and 15 people with no BPD diagnosis were shown photographs of faces with neutral, happy, sad, and fearful facial expressions while mapping the activity in the brain using fMRI. It was found that there is a lot more activity in the left amygdala of people who had been diagnosed with Emotional Regulation Disorder /Borderline Personality Disorder when exposed to an emotional stimulus than there is for most other people.
BPD Recovery - http://www.bpdrecovery.com/ BPDRecovery is a site that focuses on recovering from Borderline Personality Disorder. The Site is run by a recovered Borderline. It is a non-discriminatory website which means that all individuals are welcome - whether you've been formally diagnosed or simply recognize yourself or someone you know in the diagnostic criteria, you are welcome here!
Anything to Stop The Pain - information site, blog and support board for Non-Borderlines, with a particular emphasis on supporting people who have children with BPD and people in a committed relationship with a person who suffers from BPD.
http://www.BPDCentral.com - An information and support site about BPD run by Randi Kreger, co-author of "Stop Walking on Eggshells"
http://www.BPDFamily.com - Support Site for the family and relationship partners of individuals with BPD.
For More Information & Support...
If you suspect you may have a family member or partner who suffers from a personality disorder, we encourage you to learn all you can and surround yourself with support as you learn how to cope.
Sep 1, 2010 - We have just completed the first of what will be an annual leadership nomination and election cycle. In addition to Gary being reconfirmed as site owner and MoGlow, Haggis & Aames being reconfirmed as Admins, Klarity Belle and 2bad were appointed as new moderators. Please join us in welcoming Klarity Belle and 2bad to the OOTF leadership team.
Jul 21, 2010 - We will shortly be bidding farewell to an old friend - our original "nook2.com" url. She has served us well! Please update all bookmarks and links to point to the new Out of the FOG domain at http://www.outofthefog.net
New Leadership Guidelines Posted
Jun 23, 2010 - New Out of the FOG Leadership Guidelines have been developed. These explain the process we intend to use at Out of the FOG to appoint new moderators, admins and site owners going forward. Our goal is to implement a consistent, transparent and sustainable process for leadership changes and to introduce a component of accountability.
