An Introduction to Coping with Extreme Emotions: A Guide to Borderline or Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder

by Lee Brosan, Amanda Spong

Many people suffer from extreme emotions with around 2% of people being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. It is a very troubling condition which causes abnormal and unstable behaviour including overwhelming feelings of distress and anger, which may lead to self-harming, damage or destruction of relationships and, at times, loss of contact with reality.

Through clinically proven dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) techniques, this book will help you to control your extreme emotions. You will

· The symptoms of personality disorder
· Different ways of coping with overwhelming emotions
· How to increase your emotional resilience from day to day

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published November 6, 2018

Reviews

[Astrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for a kind of introductory guide to Borderline Personality Disorder. If you are going to buy this book, go for a hardcopy/paperback rather than the Kindle version. The Kindle version is readable, but it's not really optimised for it - there's a lot of DIY worksheets that require paper/printing to do, thus it'd be better to have a physical copy of the book.

You can tell the book is based on opinions and thoughts from service users, and those that suffer from BPD themselves. It has a lot of true to life statements in it, and some of the coping mechanisms feel very honest.

This book doesn't shy away from the harder issues, such as self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Like it states in the book, if you suffer from BPD and you're going to read it, let a friend know. Have someone to talk to after some of the chapters - it's emotionally hard work!

A good book for anyone who suffers from BPD (you may pick up some new coping mechanisms), or anyone that wants to learn a bit more about BPD. I would definitely recommend it to someone newly diagnosed with BPD as it's quite thorough in what the disorder is, how people suffer, why it occurs, etc. A good all round self-help book.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

“If you have BPD, it’s much more likely that you will have spent your life being told you’re rubbish, first in your childhood, and then possibly because you choose people who do the same when you’re an adult. But here is the crucial point: Don’t join in. Just because other people have bullied and abused you, it doesn’t mean that you have to do it, too.” ❤️

[Surena S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not have borderline personality disorder myself. However, this book helped me gain further insight into people's struggles and problems with BPD and knowledge of potential causes, extreme emotions, attachment theory, etc. It also is upfront about discussing the more serious issues people with BPD struggle with, including self-harm and suicidal behaviour, aggression and such, so it is a good read there for being upfront and discussing all aspects of this disorder. I believe that the book's advice and activities for coping could help individuals struggling with it, so I recommend giving this book a try!

PS: please do read the first section, "how to use this book", before continuing with the rest! As Lee Brosan says, it might be overwhelming or too confronting as a person with BPD to read through the whole book in one go, so please acknowledge it!

[Emily Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been told by two different mental health doctors that they think I have BPD. Even though it’s gonna take a while to get a formal diagnosis, I thought it would help to read up about it to see what I resonate with and little things I could do to help my mental health. This book was very helpful with that — short and sweet. I really enjoyed reading it!

[Piara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for beginners, uses easy to understand plain, straight forward sentences to grasp the concept.