Borderline personality disorder is a severe and complex psychiatric condition that, until recently, many considered nearly untreatable. But this optimistic guide to BPD provides information that will bring newfound hope to those who have this painful disorder, and to their family and friends.

People with borderline personality disorder have problems coping with almost everything, and therefore anything can provoke them to impulsive actions, angry outbursts, and self-destructive behaviors. Their personal relationships are simultaneously overly dependent and strained, if not openly hostile, and frequently explosive. Incorporating the latest research and thinking on the disorder, Johns Hopkins psychiatrists Francis Mark Mondimore and Patrick Kelly conceptualize it in an original way. They explain that symptoms are the result of biological and behavioral problems, extremes of temperament, and impaired psychological coping, all of which may have a relationship with traumatic life events.

The authors advocate a therapeutic approach incorporating compassion and optimism in the face of what is often a tumultuous disease. With proper treatment, people with borderline personality disorder can enjoy long remissions and improved quality of life.

Francis Mark Mondimore, M.D., is a psychiatrist and member of the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His books include Depression, the Mood Disease; Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Patients and Families; and Adolescent Depression: A Guide for Parents, all published by Johns Hopkins. Patrick Kelly, M.D., is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and the director of pediatric psychosomatic medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. His research interests include borderline personality disorder development in children.