Fwd: [bpd_support] New Breakthrough in War Against Life-Threatening Mental Illness

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Cognitive therapy for Borderline Personality DisorderNote: forwarded message attached.

 

 

 

 

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/11/prweb477173.htm

 

News from PRWeb

All Press Releases for November 12, 2006

 

New Breakthrough in War Against Life-Threatening Mental Illness

 

Borderline Personality Disorder is one of the most serious and fast-

growing psychiatric disorders. Until recently, many mental health

professionals considered BPD to be almost untreatable. Federal

agencies, private organizations and scientists have begun to

recognize the seriousness of this disorder and have intensified

efforts to develop effective treatments. This has led to a

significant increase in research studies on BPD in respected

journals, large increases in research funding and a declaration of

war on the disorder by Dr. John Oldham, former director of the New

York State Psychiatric Institute and an expert on personality

disorders. Schema Therapy, a new treatment for BPD developed by Dr.

Jeffrey Young at Columbia University in the Department of

Psychiatry, has led to a major breakthrough in the battle to find an

effective treatment. According to a recent study in a leading

psychiatric journal, a treatment for BPD has, for the first time,

led to full recovery across the full range of symptoms in a high

percentage of patients. In addition to major reductions in self-

harming and suicidal behaviors, BPD patients receiving Schema

Therapy are now being freed from depression, hopelessness, angry

outbursts and fears of abandonment and rejection. Patients are also

developing stable relationships, and making basic and far-reaching

changes in personality.

 

New York (PRWEB) November 12, 2006 -- Borderline Personality

Disorder is one of the most serious and fast-growing psychiatric

disorders. More patients are now diagnosed with BPD than with

Alzheimer's disease, manic depression or schizophrenia. The costs of

Borderline Personality Disorder to the patients who suffer from it,

their families and to society at large are enormous. About 10

percent of patients with BPD succeed in committing suicide, while 80

percent mutilate themselves and make repeated suicide attempts. BPD

patients now account for more than one in every five inpatient

psychiatric admissions. Until recently, many mental health

professionals considered BPD to be almost untreatable.

 

Federal agencies, private organizations and scientists have begun to

recognize the seriousness of this disorder and have intensified

efforts to develop effective treatments. This has led to a

significant increase in research studies on BPD in respected

journals, large increases in research funding and a declaration of

war on the disorder by Dr. John Oldham, former director of the New

York State Psychiatric Institute and an expert on personality

disorders.

 

Schema Therapy, a new treatment for BPD developed by Dr. Jeffrey

Young at Columbia University in the Department of Psychiatry, has

led to a major breakthrough in the battle to find an effective

treatment. According to a recent study in a leading psychiatric

journal, a treatment for BPD has, for the first time, led to full

recovery across the full range of symptoms in a high percentage of

patients.

 

In addition to major reductions in self-harming and suicidal

behaviors, BPD patients receiving Schema Therapy are now being freed

from depression, hopelessness, angry outbursts, and fears of

abandonment and rejection. Patients are also developing stable

relationships, and making basic and far-reaching changes in

personality.

 

The large-scale outcome study appeared in a recent issue of the

Archives of General Psychiatry, published by the American Medical

Association. According to the study, Schema Therapy was more than

twice as effective in bringing about full recovery as a widely-

practiced psychodynamic therapy. Schema Therapy was also found to

have a much lower dropout rate.

 

Borderline patients are typically impulsive, unstable, exquisitely

sensitive to rejection, have regular outbursts of anger and live

daily with extreme emotional pain. Identity problems, low stress

tolerance, volatile relationships and fears of abandonment make the

disorder difficult for patients and for those who live with them.

Many either cannot work or do not function at levels that would be

expected in light of their intellectual capacities.

 

Over their lifetimes, 97 percent of BPD patients will seek

psychotherapy from an average of six different therapists, and the

rates of treatment failure are very high. Until now, psychotherapy

has offered help for only some of the symptoms of BPD. The best

available alternatives, such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy,

succeed in relieving many of the self-harming behavioral symptoms of

the disorder, but do not reduce many of the other core symptoms,

especially those related to deeper personality change.

 

For further information about Schema Therapy, contact Jeffrey Young,

Ph.D., at the Cognitive Therapy Center of New York: 212-221-0700 or

e-mail; or George Lockwood, Ph.D., at the Schema Therapy Institute

Midwest: 269-345-8100, or e-mail.