Thanksgiving is upon us. The time of year when millions of families gather to reconnect, rejoice and reflect. But for some families, especially ones that have a member with borderline personality disorder, it can also be a time of stress…
Thanksgiving season is here again, a holiday that officially dates back to October of 1863, in the midst of the American Civil War when President Abraham Lincoln declared:
“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
You know that moment when you are just falling asleep and an unpleasant thought pops into your head? It might be about a conversation you had with someone during the day that felt a bit awkward. You start to mull it over. “Why did I say that?” Or worse, “Why did they say that?” Suddenly your state of mind races from All Quiet on the Western Front to Armageddon.
It was an emotional week for many people. The death by suicide of Kate Spade, the highly regarded international fashion designer, was followed only days later by the similar death of acclaimed writer, TV documentarian and beloved food guru Anthony Bourdain.
For many years after borderline personality disorder was first defined in 1938, the conventional wisdom among mental health providers was that BPD was a permanent condition. The poor response by patients to existing psychotherapies and medications created a belief that the disorder was incurable.
