Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) often requires a combination of therapies. One of the most effective therapies for BPD is Mentalization-based Therapy (MBT), which was specifically developed to treat BPD.
Mentalization-based Therapy can help you to gain a better understanding of how your behaviors and feelings are associated with specific mental states and how to separate your own thoughts and feelings from those around you. Through MBT, you can gain more control over your behaviors and sustain more stable relationships.
Like other forms of psychotherapy, you will work with a therapist trained in Mentalization-based Therapy to examine your internal state and actions, and learn to stay focused in the present. A mentalization-based therapist will help you learn to reframe how you see others and the world around you to provide you a different perspective.
The skills gained through Mentalization-based Therapy can help you to learn to live more in the moment and be more attuned and empathetic to the thoughts, emotions, desires, and needs of others, as well as yourself. During BPD treatment using Mentalization-based Therapy, you will work on the following:
- Focusing on currently experienced mental states
- Recognizing the hierarchy of complexity of internal mental states
- Identifying primary beliefs and linking them with affects
- Identifying beliefs about other people’s beliefs
- Exploring wishes, hopes, fears, and other desire states
Finding Mentalization-based Therapy Treatment
Studies have shown that people with Borderline Personality Disorder who undergo Mentalization-based Therapy experience significant reductions in suicide attempts, self-harm, depression, and anxiety.
Because it is a highly specialized method of treatment, not all mental health professionals or psychiatric disorder treatment centers offer Mentalization-based Therapy for the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. If you are seeking treatment for BPD and are interested in trying MBT, take time to research treatment centers that offer this method of therapy.
A skilled Mentalization-based therapist will help you to enhance your ability to mentalize and focus on the present instead of the past. Your therapist will help you learn to be flexible in your thinking, help you learn to draw alternate conclusions, and help you to better identify your feelings.