School Daze
The Remote Learning Effect
It’s mid-August and the days are getting shorter. A reminder of how time can easily slip by with little notice, especially if your life is not dictated by the calendar. Speaking of which, parents with school age children will soon be marking up their calendars with all their kids’ keynote events and activities that have been in hibernation over the summer months.
The school experience for the current generation if youth is dramatically and radically different from those of us who have long gone before them. Pandemic generated health fears, climate disasters and ramped up political turmoil in recent years have taken a toll on everyone, but especially on the minds of younger people.
Remote classroom learning, cancelled school events, masking, Covid testing, quarantines, social distancing, the loss of contact with friends and hours a day of freedom from the confines of home. No one knows with any certainty what the long term effects on their developing minds might be. But there are already signs and symptoms emerging that are worrisome especially rising incidents of anxiety, depression as well as suicide ideation and attempts
In an initiative designed to provide information and support for parents of this troubled generation, the National Institute of Mental Health, or NIMH, hosted an informational seminar recently on Facebook Live to address some of those issues.
The program is hosted by Dr. Shelli Avenevoli, the deputy director of the NIMH, whose area of expertise is developmental psychology. She will, in her words:
Discuss the challenges that our youth are facing today and how these challenges pose risk to wellbeing and mental health.
Here’s the entire 30 minute episode:
Supporting Peer Support
For a disorder once considered incurable, several types of therapy have been developed over the past 40 years that have been shown to be effective in the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. These include talk therapies such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Mentalisation-Based Therapy (MBT) Transference Focussed Psychotherapy (TFP), Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS), Schema Focussed Therapy and Good Psychiatric Management (GPM).
There are also a host of medications that are prescribed to treat the many co-occurring disorders that people with BPD struggle with as well, such as depression, anxiety, self harm and impulsivity. Medications, however, don’t provide a cure for BPD. But they can be very helpful in managing the emotional turmoil that is part and parcel of BPD.
A major concern regarding many of these interventions is that they are typically not affordable, not easily accessible or not geographically convenient to a majority of people who suffer with BPD.
There are, however, some DIY (do-it-yourself) approaches that may provide some relief to people trying to cope with BPD. A particular one that is both accessible and affordable is peer support.
What exactly is peer support and who provides it? The US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) describes peer support like this:
Peer support workers are people who have been successful in the recovery process who help others experiencing similar situations. Through shared understanding, respect, and mutual empowerment, peer support workers help people become and stay engaged in the recovery process and reduce the likelihood of relapse. Peer support services can effectively extend the reach of treatment beyond the clinical setting into the everyday environment of those seeking a successful, sustained recovery process. (1)
Peer support comes in different forms than more traditional treatment and recovery services. These range from online communities (both fee-based and free) to individuals who lend their experiences on a volunteer basis or through therapy services. Many peer support resources are designed to meet the needs of individuals, but there are others whose focus is families with a member with BPD.
The effect of providing peer support to people diagnosed with BPD was explored in a recent study conducted by the Australian BPD research and advocacy organization Project Air Strategy for Personality Disorders. They found that:
Consumers with BPD receiving peer support benefitted by feeling understood, hopeful and less isolated. Peer workers were described as role modeling a meaningful life, understanding the unique experiences associated with BPD, and providing skills in the context of their own personal experiences. (2)
#BPDChat : A Place for Peer Support
While peer support resources come in many different shapes and sizes, one of our favorites is #BPDChat, a weekly one hour (or more) Twitter chat room facilitated by Carl Dunn Jr, a certified mental health educator and peer support expert.
What exactly is #BPDChat? Here is how Carl describes it:
I think the whole idea of #BPDChat is peers "hanging out" with each other and supporting each other. I hope if anyone in the community is needing emotional support they post to the #BPDChat hashtag and others will respond (if possible)
I recently spoke at length with Carl about #BPDChat, how it began and how it operates. You can listen to our conversation here:
You can access #BPDChat every Sunday on Twitter at 4PM EDST in the US which is 9PM BST in the UK. At the end of daylight saving time, #BPDChat starts at 5PM EST
(N.B.: For the sake of transparency, we have participated in #BPDChat for several years but not in any administrative capacity)
Links to Peer Support Resources
You can find more information about other peer support organizations that serve individuals and families on the BPDVideo.com website (click selection):
A note of caution: it’s always a good idea to get a feel for the structure and processes used by DIY organizations before committing your time and, in some cases, money. You can vett many of them via your favorite search engine.
The Marvelous Universe of DBT
Doctor Blaise Aquirre is a leading BPD researcher and therapist at the McLean Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, where he directs McLean’s adolescent dialectical behavior therapy programs that provide specialized care for teens and young adults. He is also co-author with his McLean colleague, Dr. Gillian Galen, of the recent best selling book, DBT For Dummies. An active Twitter poster, Dr. Aguirre shared this clip about the latest Marvel Universe streaming TV series, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
Heads up: We recently interviewed both Dr. Aguirre and Dr. Galen about DBT For Dummies. That video discussion will be posted on the September editions of the OnePointSixPercent newsletter.
Hope to see you then. And thanks for reading the OnePointSixPercent newsletter
Resource Links:
(1). https://www.samhsa.gov/brss-tacs/recovery-support-tools/peer.
Image Credits:
HeraldSunAu.com
Dan Meyers on Sunsplash
BPDVideo.com
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