Creating a Stable Environment for BPD Patients
Clinical psychologists have found through years of studies that patients diagnosed with BPD must find these five things in order to keep a stable environment:
BPD must have a treatment environment that they feel to be safe and stable. It may take many different psychologists and many types of treatment before this environment is created, but having this environment is essential for successful treatment .
BPD patients need and want a psychologist who can provide active intervention and responses to problems that arise. The psychologist must act quickly and always have an explanation in order to maintain the BPD patient's trust and idealization. This is hard for many psychologists to do because many times problems arise that they could not predict or did not anticipate so their answers are not always thought out.
The psychologist has to be able to feel out the BPD patient’s feelings and moods in order to understand their motives behind present behavior. In doing so the psychologist will be able to offer explanations and guidance as well as lend support to the patient, which will strengthen the patient-psychologist relationship.
The psychologist has to be able to walk a very thin line with the BPD patient to take the gratification out of self-destructive behaviors. The psychologist cannot come off as condescending or make the patient feel as though they are being lectured to because it will destroy the stable treatment environment.
The psychologist must be careful in boosting the patient's self worth for no particular reason. BPD patients often times try to elicit comments that would boost their self worth. Although these comments are important and must be given when these comments justified, they must be avoided otherwise. BPD patients already suffer from a distorted self image and boosting their self worth for no reason other than they elicited these comments from the doctor can be ultimately be destructive.