Borderline personality disorder (BPD), a disorder of the emotion regulation system, is characterized by mood lability, interpersonal problems, and impulsive behaviors. Individuals with BPD often experience suicidal ideation and other self-destructive urges, particularly when emotions are activated by interpersonal events. Difficulties with assertiveness, identity confusion, and anger problems are also common.

Self harm, including cutting, burning, or any self-inflicted tissue damage, is a behavior commonly associated with emotion dysregulation and borderline personality disorder. When environmental demands outstrip one’s coping abilities, they often reach for behaviors, often self harm, that regulate emotion. Self harm can also serve the function of communicating distress and eliciting care from others, or validating to oneself how painful things are.

Suicidal Behaviors can be contemplated when the demands of life outstrip our coping abilities or misery persists for long periods of time. On average, there are 130 suicides per day in the United States. In 2019, 1.38 million people attempted suicide. Suicidal thinking and behavior are more common in those with mental health conditions such as BPD and depression. If you, or someone you know, has suicidal thoughts, seek treatment immediately.

Anxiety is something that almost every person has experienced sometime in their lifetime. In fact, low to moderate levels of anxiety can be quite adaptive in many situations. Anxiety helps us consider the future and plan for success. However, anxiety begins to be a problem when it lasts a long time, typically 6 months or more, and starts to interfere with one’s life.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is recurrent thoughts, urges, or images that are highly bothersome and feel intrusive. The thoughts, urges, and images, more often than not, feel so uncomfortable that people feel driven to do things in order to neutralize them and reduce their distress. These behaviors are referred to as compulsions.

Phobias involve experiencing intense fear when exposed to particular situations or objects. The fear is so intense and aversive, that one avoids these particular objects or situations entirely, or only approaches them with extreme caution and a set of behaviors that will allow one to feel safe. Although someone with specific phobia may recognize that their fear and anxiety is out of proportion, this does not lessen their avoidance or distress.

Depression is an illness triggered by loss, life stressors, or changes in the rewards in one’s life. A depressive episode lasts at least two weeks when one experiences either depressed mood or the inability to enjoy things one used to enjoy. These and additional symptoms are experienced most of the day, nearly every day. Depressive symptoms include changes in sleeping, appetite, weight gain or loss, lethargy and fatigue, difficulty concentrating, changes in how one views oneself such as excessive guilt or worthlessness, and thoughts of death and dying.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the result of experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. Symptoms include, but are not limited to) re-experiencing the event (nightmares, intrusive memories, flashbacks). People also experience alterations in arousal, likely related to feeling regularly distressed because of constant reminders of the trauma. People report feeling irritable, tired, hyper-vigilant, startling easily, and having difficulty with concentration.

Eating/feeding disorders can take many forms and often include high-risk or life-threatening behaviors. While less severe and recent onset eating disorders can often be treated with regular outpatient therapy, some individuals require more intensive treatment or medically based intervention such as hospitalization in order to recover. Eating disorders we treat at EBTP can include Bulimia Nervosa, Anorexia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder, and Body Image Disturbance.

Insomnia is a common sleep disorder characterized by persistent difficulties sleeping, including falling asleep and staying asleep. Insomnia can be a distressing and frustrating experience that significantly affects daytime functioning. While it’s normal to experience occasional sleep disruptions as well as changes to sleep with aging, it’s recommended that you seek help if insomnia persists for more than a month.

Chronic pain is defined as pain that lasts longer than 6 months. Millions of Americans struggle with chronic pain and many have made countless attempts to try and relieve the pain. The unfortunate reality is that those seeking help often end up feeling hopeless after years of debilitating pain, invalidation from providers, and possible opiate addiction.

Grief and Loss are heavy, if not debilitating, and can come from any experience of loss including a break-up, death of a family member or friend, the passing of a pet, a miscarriage, or walking with someone through terminal illness. No matter what the situation, living without something that previously held meaning in our lives is painful and most people benefit from having some extra support and guidance.

Marital & relational problems can arise in new or seasoned relationships. We are never more emotional than when our primary relationship is threatened. We all want to feel accepted, loved, valued, and seen accurately—especially by the people we are most dependent on. But sometimes, we feel misunderstood, unimportant, or, like nothing we do is ever right, or we can't count on our partner. When this happens, we often react with strong emotions and respond in ways that only make us feel further from each other.

Parent difficulties are common in different forms throughout the child lifespan. The parent-child relationship is believed to be one of the most important human bonds, and yet so often parents and children struggle to connect and understand one another. There are many reasons why this may happen. Parents often feel entirely burnt out and children feel that their parents cannot understand them or their experiences. It is hard to parent effectively when you reach this point.

Mindfulness, with roots in Buddhist tradition and Tibetan mediation, is the practice of purposefully paying attention to one’s experiences in the present moment in a non-judgmental way (Kabat-Zinn, 1994). All humans have the ability to direct and control their attention, pay attention to what is going on right now, and see things as they are. However, many different factors make it hard for us to engage our mindfulness abilites