Posts Tagged ‘BPD’
Skillful Job Search Part 2: Integrating DBT Skills
This is the second of four posts discussing our approach to helping OPI Living and OPI Intensive participants with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) find and keep a job. Read Part 1 – Obtaining a Job with BPD . The first thing we do to help participants tackle the job search process is to create a…
Read MoreSkillful Job Search Part 1: Obtaining a Job with BPD
A collaboration between OPI’s Department of Volunteer & Career Services and OPI Intensive Therapist Emily Rabuchin, MA, MFT has resulted in this 4-part blog series, “Skillful Job Search.” Each successive post will address a different aspect of our approach to help participants with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) find and keep a job: Part 1: Obtaining…
Read MoreDoes It Matter if Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is an Illness or a Disease?
“People with BPD are like people with third degree burns over 90% of their bodies. Lacking emotional skin, they feel agony at the slightest touch or movement.” — Marsha Linehan, developer of Dialectical Behavior Therapy The dedicated therapists in OPI’s Addiction Counseling Services Department constantly strive to support participants at all stages of their recovery…
Read MoreDSM-5 and How it Affects the Diagnosis of BPD
Changes to the DSM – Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, often referred to as the “bible” for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals and the subject of much recent controversy, affect several diagnoses, including that of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).” Changes to the BPD diagnosis in the new DSM-5 involve radical changes that fundamentally amend a…
Read MoreOPI Intensive Therapists Attend NEA-BPD Borderline Personality Disorder Conference
When Alex Miller, Psy.D, spoke about advances in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) at a recent conference about Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), he scored points with Melissa Patterson, MS, therapist at the specialized OPI Intensive for young men and women with BPD. “Many of the points he made struck me as confirming the unique strengths we…
Read MoreIntensive Outpatient Program at OPI Living Expands Services For Local Young Adults
Young adults aged 17–28 in the Los Angeles area who need help defining goals and becoming independent can now participate in a unique Intensive Outpatient Program at the Optimum Performance Institute. This program offers everything from individual and group psychotherapy, life coaching and career development classes to Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), yoga, tennis, hiking and…
Read MoreEating Disorder Awareness – Statistically the Deadliest of all Mental Illnesses
“Eating Disorders,” a hot topic of conversation in our national dialog this week because February 24th through March 2nd marks the National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. “Eating disorders affect over 11 million people in the U.S.,” says one of many e-mails I recently received on this topic. Others inform me that: “….10-15% of those with…
Read MoreWorking With Families & Young Adults With Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) – Part IV
Borderline Personality Disorder, Families and Solutions Parents of young adults with Borderline Personality Disorder, BPD Traits and Co-occurring Conditions are typically frustrated and feel helpless, even hopeless, about the possibility of change in their families by the time we see them here at OPI Living’s specialized OPI Intensive. Parents have endured so many years in…
Read MoreQ & A with Reginald Ford – Assistant Director of Milieu for OPI Living Programs
Recently, I sat down with Reginald Ford, Assistant Director of Milieu for all OPI Living programs, including the Optimum Performance Institute, specialized OPI Intensive for participants suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder and BPD Traits and our newest OPI Living Program, Intensive Outpatient Services, to discuss a few topics about his valued work here among our…
Read MoreQ & A with Emily Rabuchin, MA, MFT – Clinical Therapist at OPI Intensive for BPD
We connected recently with one of our treasured OPI Living team members, Emily Rabuchin, Clinical Therapist, to talk about her valued work with us at our specialized OPI Intensive for participants suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder, BPD Traits and Co-occurring Conditions. Q: What have you learned from participants attending our program? A: The participants that…
Read MoreWorking With Families & Young Adults With Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) – Part III
Borderline Personality Disorder, Families and Anxiety Management All of us have at our command a vast array of defense mechanisms to help us manage anxiety and frustration. We can talk about an issue and come to a reasonable conclusion or we can avoid it. We can blame a problem on someone else or rationalize it…
Read MoreBook Review: “Healing From Borderline Personality Disorder: My Journey Out of Hell Through Dialectical Behavior Therapy” – Personal Story & New Perspective
With nearly 35 years of experience helping families as a practicing child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist, it’s been my privilege to get to know and help so many individuals and their families, including those who I meet in my role as Executive Director of OPI Intensive, a specialized BPD treatment program for young adults who…
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