Extra Help for
Disorders of the Self
 

People who depend on others to feel important or cared about may focus
on controlling their loved ones rather than changing themselves. The
methods they use to avoid painful feelings (substance abuse, lashing out,
or clinging) create considerable distress for people in their lives. Friends
and relatives may need to be the first ones to change before people with
self-defeating behavior can begin to alter well-entrenched patterns. Mark
any strategies below that you would be willing to make to plant seeds for
new growth.

• Read everything you can to help you understand difficult people. The
  more you know, the less responsible you will feel and the more
  options you will have.

• Return helplessness with helplessness. If you are asked to do all of
  the problem solving, act as if you don’t know the answers. Establish a
  habit of giving your opinion after others have said theirs. Set limits on
  what you will and will not do.

• Model the middle-ground response to excessive reactions. Silent
  withdrawal or efforts to control extreme behavior are replicas of the
  circumstances that created it. Instead, show support, identify
  feelings, and state the truth—“I really care about you. I know you
  spoke the way you did because you were so frustrated with me.
  However, I will wait until you can discuss this issue without calling me
  names.”

• Make an agreement to use a timer during conversations so both
  people have equal time to express themselves. Repeatedly ask for
  feedback to make sure the other person is listening—“Did you get my
  point? Could you tell me what it was?”

• Set a limit for how long each person can spend talking about himself
  or herself. Put questions on file cards that the other person can ask
  to show an interest in you.

• Determine your own standards for cleanliness, spending money,
  morals, or dress. Get outside input. Sympathize with your partner’s
  distress when you are not willing to live up to his or her standard, but
  stay firm about meeting (only) your own expectations.

• Do not give up your power and blame your partner for “controlling”
  you. Make your own sensible decisions and sympathize with your
  partner’s reaction—“I know it’s hard for you to believe I love you
  when I don’t do what you want me to do.”

• Do not reassure, explain, or attack. Consistently empathize with
  difficulties rigid people have enduring change—“It must feel awful
  when I don’t do what you want.”

• Do not accommodate to your partner’s avoiding or isolation. Make
  plans to do what you want to do and give your partner the choice to
  accompany you or stay home.

• Express any complaints you have as requests for change—“Would
  you . . . , . . . , or . . . ?” Find out if your partner is willing to work on
  making improvements.

• Identify actions you can take if you do not see any cooperation.
  Implement them one at a time until you notice a difference. Be firm
  while understanding distress.

• Determine how far you are willing to go for change. Do not wait until
  all love dies before taking action. Keep a bag packed as a symbol
  that you can leave.

• Do not return home after leaving until the person takes concrete
  action: attending a certain number of 12-step meetings or talking with
  a therapist and allowing you to attend a session to gain a
  professional opinion on the possibilities for improvement.

• Get help for yourself if you tolerate unacceptable behavior or try to
  fix people with problems. Support groups and therapy can be helpful.

FRIENDLY CAUTIONS

If you have come to a point in your life where you’ve decided you need to
change self-defeating habits, bravo! Choose family members and friends
as coaches who can be honest, firm, and sympathetic with you. Don’t look
for people who will give you the answers you want to hear. Feedback that
makes you feel bad may be accurate. Learn to stay with those emotions
long enough to comfort the wounded child within you who has difficulty
being self-supporting, admitting mistakes, or connecting with others. Give
others’ ideas full consideration before you reject them. As you identify your
patterns, let others know how they can help—“Give me a signal if I talk too
long.”

NATIONAL NETWORKS, SUPPORT GROUPS, AND OTHER RESOURCES

There are few nationwide organizations or networks devoted to specific
personality disorders. However, many12-step groups deal with self-
defeating behaviors people with these problems have. Listings of local
meetings can be found in your community newspaper. Web sites and books
can offer additional assistance, for example:

• 12-step groups: Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous
  (NA), ALANON Family Groups (ALANON), Adult Children of Alcoholics
  and Dysfunctional Families (ACOA), and Co-Dependents Anonymous
  (CoDA).

• General Internet sites offer online diagnosis, research articles and
  information on treatment: www.mentalhealth.com, www.healthguide.
  com, www.cmhc.com, www.bpdcentral.com for erratic or borderline
  personalities (BPD).

• The Angry Heart by Joseph Santoro and Ronald Cohen for BPD
  (New Harbinger, 1997).

• Codependent No More by Melody Beattie (Hazelden, 1992).

• I Hate You, Don’t Leave Me by Jerald Kreisman and Hal Straus for
  BPD (Avon Books, 1989).

• Lost in the Mirror by Richard Moskovitz for BPD (Taylor Publications,
  1996).

• New View of Self  by Larry Siever on biochemistry of disorders
  (Macmillan, 1997).

• Reinventing Your Life by Jeffrey Young and Janet Klosko (Penguin
  Books, 1993).

• The Search for the Real Self  by James Masterson (The Free Press,
  1988).

• Personality Disorders, New Symptom-Focused Drug Therapy by
  Sonny Joseph (Haworth Medical Press, 1997).

PROFESSIONAL HELP

Counseling is very important when personality traits interfere with work or
relationships. Often, family members will seek help for people with
disorders. Until the late 1990s, the prevailing belief was that treatment of
personality disorders took years. When different theoretical orientations
and treatment modalities (individual, family, group therapy, and support
groups) are combined, significant improvement may be seen in less than a
year. Psychopharmacology is the newest addition to the treatment mix.
Drugs can moderate underlying temperaments to help people make gains
from other forms of treatment. However, the reality needs to be faced that
low-functioning personality disorders and defiant, guarded, and inflated
people in particular may not be able to benefit from any form of help.