Healing childhood trauma is a life-long process - one that involves a myriad of treatments that attempt to heal the mind, body, nervous system, and of course, the emotional and physical symptoms related to trauma.
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Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a condition featuring persistent and ongoing patterns of varying behaviours, moods and a distorted self-image.
BPD can lead to a series of relationship problems as the symptoms of the condition often result in impulsive actions and drastic mood changes.
It is not uncommon for those with a borderline personality disorder to have intense episodes of anxiety, anger and depression that may last from a few hours to days.
Those with a borderline personality disorder often experience intense shifts in mood and have an overall sense of uncertainty about how they see themselves and the role they play in the world.
Since having the ability to deal with uncertainty is an element of psychological well being, those with borderline personality disorder tend to suffer in extremes.
For BPD sufferers, everything (and everyone) is either good or bad. There is no middle ground.
Those with BPD often experience drastic and sudden mood changes, which can shape their relationships in negative ways.
BPD sufferers often change their perceptions of friends, lovers and family members quite frequently, leading them to either over love (idealize) or discard people according to their fluctuating moods and perceptions.
Some of the symptoms associated with borderline personality disorder include:
Other symptoms may include:
It is also important to mention that not every person will display each of the symptoms of borderline personality disorder. Some people may only experience a few.
Those suffering from BPD are easily triggered, events such as a temporary separation from a loved one or an event that might leave them with feelings of uncertainty can cause a trigger response.
The duration of an episode in BPD varies from person to person as does the frequency.
Numerous studies have shown that childhood trauma leads to brain damage and can create altered brain wave patterns affecting the way a person sleeps.
One particular study conducted in 2012 found a correlation between altered brainwave patterns during sleep and adults with a borderline personality disorder.
The study illustrated that those with altered brain waves tended to suffer from insomnia more than a person without BPD.
It also showed that patients suffering from BPD took less time to enter into REM (a state of deep sleep where people dream).
BPD patients also had long periods of REM sleep at the beginning of the night, compared to normal sleep function where people enter REM at the end of the night.
The study hypothesized that BPD is likely caused by functional changes in the brain, through the balance of neurotransmitters or structural alteration of synaptic pathways.
When it comes to a person’s Childhood, there are several risk factors for those with BPD:
According to the University of Manchester, research shows that those with borderline personality disorder are 13 times more likely to report child abuse compared to those without mental health problems.
The report shows that 71.1% out of the 5,000 people that were studied, were diagnosed with BPD and reported at least one traumatic childhood experience with the most common form of adverse experience being physical neglect (found in 48.9% of cases).
Genetic factors also play a big part in the development of BPD as studies of families (particularly in twins) have proven that there is a strong link between genetics and borderline personality disorder.
A borderline personality disorder is a common condition with over 20,000 cases a year in the UK alone. The condition can be lifelong or last for several years depending on whether a person has received treatment.
There are a wide range of treatment options available for people suffering from borderline personality disorder. These include:
There are many different forms of psychotherapy, but most involve the patient coming to an understanding about themselves, their behaviour, and any patterns they might want to address.
Psychotherapy aims to seek a deeper understanding of the self and, ultimately, seek long-term resolution.
Essentially, the therapy enables those with BPD to develop a sense of control over their thoughts and behaviours.
Psychotherapy is usually delivered by a psychiatrist, psychologist or other mental health professional.
The duration of psychotherapy can last a year or longer, depending on a person’s requirements.
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is a form of therapy designed to treat BPD.
DBT operates on the principle that the following two factors may have contributed to the development of BPD:
These factors can create a vicious cycle as an individual may experience intense and upsetting emotions and subsequently feel guilty and worthless for having them.
The cycle then comes full circle since the person was brought up to believe that having emotions is bad or shameful.
Self-fulfilling beliefs can become destructive as someone develops the sense that they must be a bad person for feeling the way they do.
DBT aims to challenge any unhelpful thoughts and beliefs that were created during the developmental phase in two ways:
1. Through validation: Accepting that emotions are acceptable, valid and real.
2. With dialectics: By banishing ‘black and white’ thinking styles, a person will eventually learn that not everything is as cut and dry as they were taught to believe.
This method teaches people to be more receptive and open to new ideas, thoughts and ways of behaving.
Dialectical behaviour therapy is proven to be very effective in treating those with BPD and those with a history of suicidal behaviour and self-harm.
Group therapy and counselling might also be alternative options for those seeking treatment for BPD.
Certain types of prescribed medications can help treat BPD, such as:
If you think you might be experiencing any of the symptoms associated with a borderline personality disorder, then perhaps it’s time to reach out and speak to a professional.
The team at Tikvah Lake Recovery are trained specialists who are always on hand to support you and discuss your treatment options. Contact the team today to find out how we can help.
Trauma is caused by a distressing, frightening or disturbing experience. Something like this can damage a person's thinking, emotions and their ability to live a normal life.
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Almost all adults are products of their childhood experiences. Whether you had a sheltered childhood, or you were witness or victim to a traumatic event, adulthood is about understanding how these past experiences affect us, as well as learning how to carry them forward in a positive way.
Unfortunately, many problems that begin to occur during adulthood – like depression, anxiety, cardiovascular disease and obesity – are often the direct result of childhood trauma that has gone untreated.
While it is vital to treat these ailments that arise, it’s also important to address the root experiences that have caused these things to grow in the first place. For many, that means revisiting traumatic events that were experienced at an impressionable age – it means uncovering childhood trauma.
Here’s how childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime.
Childhood is a crucial time for brain development, and this development during the early years of life is key to how we learn, respond and behave later on. Often, a child’s brain is compared to that of a dry sponge – it is ready and quickly able to retain a lot of water (or in this case, information).
But brain development is not dependent on the biological process. Rather, it depends on environmental factors including prenatal care, nutrition, and parenting. Through these experiences, information is collected and interpreted, and it is here that a child learns fundamental life lessons like the boundaries of right and wrong, their ethical compass, how to critically think, and how to safeguard against possible dangers.
Negative past experiences that cause trauma, however (or traumatic experiences like the absence of a parental caregiver) have a profound effect on how a child’s brain will develop, and this will change how they respond to society in later life. For example, a traumatic experience in childhood may prime the brain to be expecting fear around all corners. In adulthood, this will lead to a heightened sense of stress in everyday life, and chronic stress is determined as ‘one of the six leading causes of death’.
Understanding and accepting our past experiences, then, is crucial to overcoming the maladies that arise in adulthood.
The challenge associated with overcoming something like childhood trauma in adulthood is our ability to ‘think differently’. Adult brains are often less porous than childhood brains, and it can be challenging to shift perspective and reach a level of acceptance that helps us reduce the consequences associated with trauma.
This is especially true in someone who experienced severe trauma at a young age. Past traumatic events will impede one’s physical, emotional and spiritual sense of sense, and their brain development will likely have been halted or negatively impacted as a result. To learn a new way of looking at the world, then, can be tough.
The Adverse Childhood Experience Study was conducted by Dr Vince Felitti and Dr Bob Anda at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention between 1995 to 1997.
Felitti and Anda asked 17,500 adults about their ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) and asked them to range from physical experiences, to emotional ones, sexual abuse, parental neglect and the impact of parental mental illness or substance abuse, or even imprisonment.
An ACE scoring procedure was then devised, and for each answer that a participant answered ‘yes’, they gained a point. These scores were then correlated against health outcomes of each individual.
Felitti and Anda discovered something startling in their study: ACEs are common, and 67 percent of the participants experienced at least one ACE, while 12.6 percent had four or more. More importantly, there was a positive correlation between ACE scores and negative health outcomes in adulthood.
For example, a participant that scored four or more ACEs, their risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was two and a half times more than someone with an ACE score of zero.
Ultimately, what this study proves is that most negative past experiences are ingrained in our brains for the rest of our lives and they negatively impact our health.
The recovery journey isn’t necessarily about eradicating childhood trauma – ultimately, things like sexual abuse and parental neglect can’t ever be ignored or forgotten. Rather, viable treatment options are about understanding the effect that these experiences have had on a person as an adult and learning the tools and tricks to help manage, accept and retake control over negative childhood traumas. That way, the all-too-common side effects can diminish, and a person can live a happier and healthier life.
To find out more about how childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime, you can watch Nadine Burke Harris, Founder and CEO of Center for Youth Wellness, an initiative seeking to create a clinical model that recognizes and effectively treats toxic stress in children, speak in the TED Talk below. You can also explore this interview with her by The New York Times.
For how Tikvah Lake Recovery can help guide you through the process of overcoming negative childhood experiences, as well as how we treat the side effects that arise as a consequence, contact our admissions team today.
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