How to Find a BPD Therapist

Borderline Personality Disorder, or BPD, is a serious mental illness that features wild instability in moods, relationships and behavior. Because of the nature of the illness and the fluctuating moods and "all-or-nothing" thinking that accompany it, it is critical to find a mental health professional who has received specialized training in treating BPD patients. Finding a BPD therapist is moderately easy, provided you focus on existing specialized resources and are willing to do a little research.

Instructions

Find a BPD Therapist

• 1

  Contact your state psychiatric society to find a psychiatrist who treats BPD patients. The American Psychiatric Association maintains a list of all state psychiatric societies with contact information and websites. Most state societies have a search tool on their websites to find a local psychiatrist; these tools usually sort therapists by location, specialty or practice demographic. When you call therapists in your area, be sure to ask questions about how many BPD patients they have treated in the past, what their practice demographic is like and whether they are currently treating any BPD patients.

• 2

  Search for a BPD therapist through online resources dedicated to BPD. Publications such as BPD Today and resource centers such as BPD Central provide a host of tools and resources to find therapists who specialize in treating BPD patients. These resources also provide lists of questions to ask when interviewing potential therapists, background information on the kinds of therapy or drug treatment usually used to treat BPD and what to expect from the treatment.

• 3

  Find a BPD therapist through Behavioral Tech, a company that trains therapists in dialectical behavior therapy, a specialized therapy created by the company to treat BPD patients. Studies have shown that this specialized therapy generally leads to good outcomes for patients suffering from BPD.