What FrummyDBT is all about

Hey there people. About a year ago, a mentor of mine encouraged me to write a book about borderline personality disorder (BPD). It seems that in this age of blogging, it made sense to publish my thoughts and writings on this “gigantic” topic as they are come to mind. While it is my plan to ultimately publish my ideas as book, frummydbt will serve as a first draft.

BPD has been a professional and personal interest of mine for many years. As a young therapist in the early nineties, I worked at a facility that was one of the first on the east coast of the United States to have fully integrated dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) into the services offered there. DBT is a treatment system designed by Marsha Linehan based on her fascinating understanding of borderline. The DBT system worked for many of our patients and I’ve been hooked on it ever since.

As a personal interest, borderline has fascinated me ever since I learned about it in my university days. Borderline has certainly shaped the lives of many people who I know and love. What’s more is that I’ve made peace with the very real possibility that I’ve exhibited some borderline traits over the years. Good therapy, loving relationships, and mazal have for the most part helped me stay in the land of the living even when my self destructive personality traits have wanted to undo me.

On a deeper level in fact, I’ve come to believe in fact that it is my borderline traits that are my most prized possessions. As a trained hypnotherapist and as a committed Jew, I’ve learned that “symptoms” and “problems” are often invitations to creativity and deeper spiritual connection. When I saw how DBT and other disciplines could transform the liabilities of personality disorders, I realized that my unstable moods, my seeming endless identity confusion, suicidal fantasies, and other painful aspects of who I am were in fact potential assets! My life is filled, thank God, with great joy and power now, which I believe is connected to my own BPD.