If you are in crisis, get help now!
To anyone suffering with MENTAL ILLNESS You are one badass mother because nothing is more terrifying than battling with your own mind every single day.
This website is meant for people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), for their families and people that love them, and for anyone else that is interested in learning more about BPD. The website will also touch on other forms of mental illness, such as Panic Anxiety Disorder or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The content on this website will be many forms, such as technical articles and research, blogs by me, blogs from others and visual images that refer to the above topics. I will also have “visitors” such as practitioners that work with people who have BPD and other people with BPD that may chime in from time to time.
If you have Borderline Disorder, I hope that this website will be a place where you can come and receive hope. It is so important that you are properly diagnosed and that you find a good psychiatrist and other mental health professionals that specialize specifically in the treatment of BPD. I would also highly recommend finding someone that is trained in Dialectical Behavioral Treatment a/k/a (DBT). If you need to be on medication, please do not feel ashamed or that it might not be a vital step in improving your symptoms. You may need to try more than one or two until you find a medication that “sits” well with your system.
It is not an easy path to struggle with the symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. It is so worth it though, to gain more control over your life and for those who love and care about you, for them to learn more about how to help you.
I am NOT a Doctor or a Clinician. I do not hold any degrees or specialties in dealing with BPD. I myself am a survivor (yes, I call myself a survivor as I did not commit suicide from this disorder!) and I have been through over 20 years of psychiatric therapy, talk therapy and DBT training in learning how to conquer my symptoms. It has been a very long and at times a very rough journey but it has also been empowering to learn techniques and methods that help me get through my days almost symptom free.
What I want to share with you are two things: HOPE and KNOWLEDGE.
The rest we can experience along the journey from my book, “Searching For Grey”, my Facebook Page www.facebook.com/Searching-For-Grey, and this Website www.searchingforgrey.com.
Thank you for checking us out and I hope to hear from you on our Message Board.
YOU CAN DO IT!
With you on the journey,
Alice M. Pirola
Go Big or Go Home
It was spring on the East End of Long Island. Joe, Niki and I lived just on the edge of the Hampton's in a small condo on Moriches Bay. Niki was 2 years old, so I regret that she does not have much memory of it. It truly was a magical place. Contrary to popular
What is Normal?
Having suffered from mental health disorders my whole life, I’ve always strived to be 'normal'. Yet, what is normal? If you are like me, you may also be beginning to question this concept with all the recent events making headlines these days. For most of my life, I compared myself to others judging their status
Mental Health Fear Challenge
I would like to invite everyone to participate in this Mental Health Fear Challenge. I am creating this challenge as a way to support and help combat those who through fear and desperation feel they have no hope. For those of us with BPD, suicide rates are many times that of other illnesses, however lately
Can BPD’s Show Empathic Traits?
Can BPD’s Show Empathic Traits?I can say that there is hardly anything to like about having a disorder like Borderline. If I had to wish this disorder on my worst enemy, I would never. There are, however, certain aspects of the condition that I feel make us special, or set us apart from “normal people”.
Our Reality
At the very core of a person with Borderline Personality Disorder, in our reality there is a longing, a yearning, a need to be understood. People tell us we are manipulative, selfish, needy, and clingy and we can never get enough of what we are seeking. Our motive is not manipulation. ‘Manipulation’ is a way
How to Handle Toxic Relationships
I have brought this topic of how to handle toxic relationships up in blogs before with regard to having toxic relationships with those in your life. I have also brought up the fact that we, ourselves, may be the toxic one in the relationship. There are times however, such as with a family member, where
What Childhood Trauma Can Steal From You
During childhood, the time from birth through adolescence, a child's body is in a constant state of growth. Many times disruptions can happen to that biological development, especially when the child grows up in an environment where they are living in a constant state of stress. The growth of the child's immune system and learned
Pushing Forward
There are times when living with mental illness is easier than others are. Your meds are working well, you seem to be thinking clearly and sailing along in the belief that you too can live and exist like a normal person. Then the crap hits the fan. It could be anything from a trigger from
Silent Voices
It has the capacity to render its victims a life in a self-inflicted jail cell with no hope of escape. It will cause its victims to lie, cover up and make excuses for its very existence. Once encountered, its victims are forever changed; some of them will even die by its hand. It generally passes
Fixers
When you have grown up and survived a childhood of abuse and torment, it is my observation that you acquire a skill set trying to play the role of “fixer” throughout your life. Fixers are usually the eldest or first-born in the family. As the first born you have seen the most, suffered the most,