Why forgive?...Accept instead?

[Guest guest]

I have to disagree with those of you who feel that BPD is not a mental

illness. I hope you are not offended by my position as I fully respect your

opinion

and I personally understand the feelings from which they come, but I think

that understanding the physiology of the disorder can help us accept the crappy

reality of what we have endured in our lives and then move on because as we

already know...the behavior may never change.

Whether we agree that there is a possibility that BPD is a mental disorder or

not, I think acceptance is the key. If you get hung up on the " forgiveness "

thing, maybe a good alternative is acceptance. " They are what they are " and

that should shed no light on our worth as individuals. Nor should it determine

our potential for fulfillment in our lives.

I also think that justice and vengeance divert too much of our energy from

achieving that fulfillment. The only person that can make you happy is yourself.

If you are caught in a quagmire of resentment, you have no energy left to

look outward and move on. Remember, wanting vengeance and justice is very much

a BP trait. They can't let go, but we should. It's the only way to make a

better life for ourselves.

Please read the following excerpt from an article done on a study by

NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell doctors. Note the commentary at the end by

Dr.

Silberwig, one of the Dr.'s from the team of who stated, " The more that this

type

of work gets done, the more people will understand that mental illness is not

the patient's fault—that there are circuits in the brain that control these

functions in humans and that these disorders are tied to fundamental

disruptions in these circuits. "

Ultimately it is the BP's choice to get treatment or not, but if researchers

can uncover why BP's act the way they do, and science helps the general public

understand that mental disorders are physiological, perhaps there will be

less of a stigma associated with mental disorders and BP's will be more likely

to

get treatment. It is important to remember that BP's are very concerned

about what other's, (not those who are close to them) think. This makes it less

l

ikely that they will get outside help because of the stigma associated with

mental illness.

Following is a larger excerpt from the article explaining the brain research

they did.

" We confirmed that discrete parts of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex—the

subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and the medial orbitofrontal cortex areas—

were relatively less active in patients versus controls, " Dr. Silbersweig says.

" These areas are thought to be key to facilitating behavioral inhibition

under emotional circumstances, so if they are underperforming that could

contribute to the disinhibition one so often sees with borderline personality

disorder. "

At the same time, the research team observed heightened levels of activation

during the tests in other areas of the patients' brains, including the

amygdala, a locus for emotions such as anger and fear, and some of the brain's

other

limbic regions, which are linked to emotional processing.

" In the frontal region and the amygdala, the degree to which the brain

aberrations occurred was closely correlated to the degree with which patients

with

borderline personality disorder had clinical difficulty controlling their

behavior, or had difficulty with negative emotion, respectively, " Dr.

Silbersweig

notes.

The study sheds light not only on borderline personality disorder, but on the

mechanisms healthy individuals rely on to curb their tempers in the face of

strong emotion.

Still, patients struggling with borderline personality disorder stand to

benefit most from this groundbreaking research. An accompanying journal

commentary

labels the study " rigorous " and " systematic, " and one of the first to

validate with neuroimaging what scientists had only been able to guess at

before.

" The more that this type of work gets done, the more people will understand

that mental illness is not the patient's fault—that there are circuits in the

brain that control these functions in humans and that these disorders are tied

to fundamental disruptions in these circuits, " Dr. Silbersweig says. " Our hope

is that such insights will help erode the stigma surrounding psychiatric

illness. "

The research could even help lead to better treatment.

As pointed out in the commentary, the research may help explain how specific

biological or psychological therapies could ease symptoms of borderline

personality disorder for some patients, by addressing the underlying biology of

impulsivity in the context of overwhelming negative emotion. The more scientists

understand the neurological aberrations that give rise to the disorder, the

greater the hope for new, highly targeted drugs or other therapeutic

interventions.

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