About this Blog

(We don't have too much stranger following yet, but we do need to come up with our nicknames soon.)

Why blogging?

We decided to keep a blog of Kumari's experiences dealing with Borderline Personality disorder for several different reasons. 

Support and Encouragement for Kumari

Having a mental illness, especially one that wears your self esteem down to nothing, is a lonely and scary experience. A big reason for starting this blog is to share her recovery process with her friends and family and others who may have or know those with BPD. (Or anyone else sympathetic, of course!) For her, the validation of other people that a mental illness is a legitimate illness like any other, and not something "made up for attention" is an important factor to give her the strength to keep working on her recovery. And if anyone else with BPD ends up reading or commenting, it may help her feel like it's not such a lonely and hopeless experience. Roughly 2-6% percent of the general population is estimated to have symptoms of BPD (6% in this study but less on Wikipedia). That's a lot of people with BPD, so hopefully she can get encouragement from others who have dealt with this disorder. 

Also (Mel) transcribes a lot of the main points from her weekly therapy sessions here (with Kumari's express permission and prior looking-over) in an effort for her to be able to remember the main points she went over and have them written down, to be able to better remember them through the week. (Kumari doesn't have the best memory). Even in these we're trying to be as honest and open as possible, since even though the symptoms can often be rather personal and embarrassing, they need to be acknowledged as symptoms. There's a lot of undeserved stigma for BPD

Communication between Caretakers

Having an open blog helps us with communication in a few different ways. Here Kumari can describe how she's honestly feeling and how she thinks she's progressing, as well as anything else she feels like sharing in her attempt to find her identity (a big part of her treatment). This can help her support group know when she needs us most. 

Also, everyone in Kumari's support system gets to see a different side of her and her symptoms. [Mel] and [Trevor] see Kumari on a day-to-day basis (being roommates and all). [Mel] also manages her medicine, diet, money, car, bedtime, BPD research, and outburst management, and attends therapy appointments with Kumari. As general director of the Kumari Recovery Regimen, she writes out the therapy pointers that week (so Kumari can remember them later), can mention when she's having a particularly bad day, knows most of the information on BPD and DBT therapy, and can share more of the amusing Kumari activities. [Anna and Sky] 

Promoting BPD and Mental Illness Awareness

BPD is not a well-known disorder, and is often confused with other disorders like Bipolar Disorder (which has an entirely different symptom set)

And just as getting validation from others could help Kumari, for anyone else suffering from BPD symptoms a blog about someone else's experiences could make them feel less alone.  In addition to professional therapy, though, perhaps reading through the experience of someone with similar symptoms will be cathartic to others with BPD or their loved ones. 

The most important actual message of this blog is if you think you or a loved one have BPD, depression, anorexia or any other disorder symptoms, consult a mental health professional for an evaluation as soon as possible! Mental illnesses are real illnesses and in addition to the negative emotional or practical side effects caused to those afflicted, they can be life-threatening. Especially in the case of suicidal thoughts, self-harm, anorexia or other self-destructive behaviors, get to a legitimate therapist!) Most areas have options for free clinics to get evaluated and begin treatment, and though treatments may not be perfect now they are available. For those who know someone who may be suicidal or self-harming, please get them actual professional help, people suffering from BPD usually suffer from symptoms untreated for years and are often dismissed as "attention seeking", especially when young. But the sooner many mental disorders are treated the easier it is to get past them (just like any illness) so at least recommend a therapy appointment. There are better options than suffering in silence!

And for fun!

Let's be honest here, besides just the practical reasons Kumari is actually really awesome and tends to do interesting and funny things often. Sometimes we just want to share little amusing things about daily life and keep things light in between the serious therapy posts or the deep emotional introspection from Kumari. So there will be cat stories and Kumari-isms thrown in with the serious-business BPD stuff, because life (even with BPD) is far too entertaining for serious-business all the time (or even most of the time). 

Blog Features

Therapy Quest, D&D with Kumari, Rules of Kumari, Kumari Writes, Kumari Cartoons (possibly adventures with cats) (Or in cooking!) Possibly Childhood Tales from Skyler,