QUESTION:

Dear Doctor:

I reviewed the commonly asked questions on your site. I think I have a new one for you. I have been suffering from borderline personality disorder for 15 years now. I am unable to keep a job for very long which means I can not get health insurance. Most of my health care is from the state. Let me tell you they do not want to deal with a borderline. Yet they keep spending thousands of dollars on me to keep me alive. What a joke..... I will never get better because I have no access to quality healthcare.

Isn't this the case as most of the severely mentally ill I know are living on the streets.... Oh yeah this society really wants to help us. It is sad too because I recently graduated from nursing school. I thought that maybe I could help others...I can't even help myself...I am severely depressed now......I have always done what the therapists have asked of me.....too bad they didn't know what they were doing... So what is my question? Where am I supposed to go now?

ANSWER:

While I acknowledge your enormous pain and frustration, there are some answers. You are obviously bright or you wouldn't have made it through nursing school. Additionally, with a severe nursing shortage in this country, there's always an opportunity for employment - although it may be bumpy for a while and you may experience some additionally setbacks. In many states hospitals are literally desperate for nurses. I have many, many nurses in my practice who have the BPD.

No matter how low you feel now, it can be completely overcome. You will need to do some different things. First of all you need to get some hope. The testimonials section may help you in this regard.

This Website and my books have lots of helpful information for you. The BPD section has lots of literature information, including material you can show a health care provider.

You need to do the screening test at the top of this Website and see what diagnoses may fit you. You will need to be in charge of your own health, and I highly encourage you to find out as much as you can. There is material on this Website, especially the BPD section, that you can print and show to a primary care physician or mental health provider and get some help. The use of Prozac is well established for the BPD, as well as depression. There are some great studies available regarding Tegretol as well.

Don't give up. You need to develop a different approach to this dreadful problem. I agree with Zig Ziglar: "If you keep on doing what you've been doing, you're gonna keep on gettin' what you've been gettin." Unfortunately you are at a time when most health care providers don't know how to make things better. This is changing, however.

You also have the opportunity to inform people on how to do something about others like yourself. There are opportunities in every difficulty and you don't know where this opportunity may take you.