This is self-work, and I'm Dr. Margaret Rutherford.

At self-work, we discuss psychological and emotional issues and what you can do about them,

whether that's learning self-acceptance, taking action, or seeking therapy or treatment.

Eight years ago, I extended the walls of my practice to reach those of you who might already be

knowledgeable about middle health treatment, but also to those of you who might say you'd never

darken the door of a therapist. And yet, you are here. I'll answer your questions while I invite

you to take a few minutes for your

own self-work. If you're the one who identifies as borderline, there are treatments and DBT

Dialectical Behavior Therapy is the best treatment that we know of at this point. It's very

goal directed and teaches you how to hook up your mind with your tendencies

to be too emotionally governed. Both your thoughts and your emotions are important, but your

impulsivity and tendency to way over-personalize has to be corrected. And it can be. Welcome to

this week's edition of Self-Work. Today we're focusing on what are termed borderline traits, as well as different types of

borderline personality disorder.

The National Institute of Health, or NIH, states, this disorder is associated with considerable

functional impairment, intensive treatment, utilization, and high societal costs. The risk of self-mutilation and suicide is high.

In the general adult population, the lifetime prevalence of borderline personality disorder has been reported to be from 0.7 to 2.7%.

While its prevalence is about 12% in outpatient services and 22% in inpatient psychiatric services.

There are many people, primarily women, who struggle with it, without knowing what to call it.

In fact, it wasn't even a diagnosis until 1980, but that certainly doesn't mean it wasn't real before that date.

There's a commercial on TV these days for a store. I think it's a foot store. In it, the spokesperson who's a smiling, slightly overweight, older guy says, I was born with a sunny disposition. And he goes on to say that he lost that disposition when his body started hurting. I think he said something about his knee. But poof, as soon as he put the foot thing with the arch in it in his shoe, he was back to his old self, sunny and happy. Wouldn't it be

nice if all dispositions would be that easy to fix if there were some orthotic device that would

...