Borderline Personality Disorder

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorUniversity, Bachelor's February 2008

download word file, 18 pages 4.3

Introduction In this paper I am going to attempt to identify treatment options for patients with dual diagnosis with Borderline Personality Disorder and Substance Abuse issues. According to Encarta Encyclopedia, ? In the United States, researchers estimate that about 24% of people 18 or older or about 44 million adults experience a mental illness or substance related disorder during the course of any given year. The most common of these disorders are depression, alcohol dependence and various phobias.? ? An additional 2.8% of adults, or about 5.2 million people experience a mental illness that seriously interferes with one or more aspects of their daily life, such as their ability to work or relate to other people.? These percentages did not include adolescents. Many mental health professionals separate mental health issues from substance abuse issues; stating substance abuse issues are usually more behavior oriented or addictive disorder. However, there is a commonality of what psychotherapists call dual diagnosis.

Sometimes people with substance issues can have symptoms of mental health illnesses but are related to the substance abuse. Frequently, symptoms that are caused by different mood-altering chemicals are seen as depression, anxiety and psychosis. Many of the ?drugs associated with theses disorders include alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamines, hallucinogens and sedatives. ? (Encarta Encyclopedia). Personality disorders represent usually extremes of patterns of behaviors that are deviant from what societal norms are. However, it should be pointed out that for it to be considered a disorder it should have a severe negative impact on a person?s social or employment environments. In this paper the focus will be primarily on Borderline Personality Disorder. According to Encarta Encyclopedia ?about 2 % of all people have Borderline Personality Disorder. Also, about 75 % of people with this disorder are female.? Borderline personalities are at...