Forgive and Forget /Healing the Hurts We Don't Deserve
by Lewis B. Smedes

Anger Kills - Redford Williams, M.D. and Virginia Williams, PhD
This one I actually read before as part of a National Center for Continuing Education requirement for my FL Nursing license. It ties anger to the medical issues caused mismanaged anger, explosive rage, and stifled anger.

that should read 'caused by'.....

Oh, and I forgot the one I'm almost finished with:
The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle

Not new to the shelves, but while I was working, never got time....

I tried to read both of Tolle's books and I just couldn't get through them I think he has a lot to say, but his writing style is so dry I just drift off.

I read borderline personality demystified last year. It was eye opening -- it's when I really knew for sure that is what my father has. I worried that I was also borderline for a while, but my therapist (at the time) told me he thought I had some borderline traits because of growing up with my father. Anyway, that was a good book.

I followed that book up with "surviving a borderline parent" (Kimberly Roth and Freda Friedman). It was somewhat helpful.

In the past year I have also read:
"Games People Play" by Eric Berne. I guess it's really a book for therapists, but it was an interesting take on how people relate to one another.
"Never Good Enough" by Monica Ramirez Basco (How to use perfectionism to your advantage without letting it ruin your life)
"Overcoming Anger" by Carol Jones. (How to identify it, stop it and live a healthier life)
and "Allies in Healing" by Laura Davis (when the perosn you love was sexually abused as a child) I read this one with my husband.
There were more, too. I borrowed several from my therapists that I have since returned, and I can't remember what they were all called.

Probably not surprising at all....I prefer fiction! I love fiction! Once I get through LIW and RAR, I do believe that I shall give "Fanshawe" ANOTHER spin. That is one of my favorite Nathaniel Hawthorne works ever!

what is LIW?

"Last Indian Wars" - my previous book about Native American cultural survival and modern politics.

Interesting. Thank you.

Matt is very modest.....it is most awesome work! By the by...do you happen to have any copies left? I know a few folks who might like to purchase them.... : )

Yes, I have copies of LIW left. Thank you!! I was, what, 23 or something when I started that book? It took me all over the country for years, meeting with elders and activists and tribal authorities, working with those communities to understand those struggles.

I finished reading the "Secret language of eating disorders" book already. I think she NAILS it on the split-mind dynamic of the anorexic/bulemic female. I felt she limited too much of the book to children as patients, though, when most of my ED patients have been adolescent or women in their 20s. She also specializes in HARD core cases--the most severe of all--and thus her book describes the worst ravages of Ana and Mia. For the more-common case - the mid-twenties female in a care-taking profession with a legacy of selfless dutifulness - it could seem like a bit of a scary book. Still, she hits the bulls-eye about the role of "the negative mind" versus "the actual mind," and advice for families about how to respond (and NOT respond).

The book on Borderline Disorder isn't a lot of new information for me; I have years and years of experience working with this disorder, so it's second-nature. At this point, I'm mostly reading books on BPD to judge whether they are good to recommend to patients or families, rather than for personal education. Surprisingly few books have been written to therapists about BPD; a few of the good exceptions are Dr. Allen's (Freudian-based) books on Borderline disorder in females, and Linehan's "Skills manual for treating BPD."

BPD is such a relevant and potent issue that I wonder if there ought to be more discussion of it on DS, at least to offer a basic "Borderline 101" thread. But there's no "safe" way to talk about Borderline Personality Disorder without attracting severe transference from hurt and affected sufferers. If there's any group interest in the topic, I might piece together a few thoughts about it.

It is really interesting that you brought up BPD because I was just doing some reading today on the links between BPD and PTSD in victims of sexual assault. I was thinking about BPD because I just watched "Girl, Interrupted." again!!!

Funny story, Heckle:

on Friday night I was trying to brag on my three amazing patients, NILY, Shannon, and Katie, to my colleague, Jennifer. I managed to get the sentence started: "Jennifer, these three ought to be the most Borderline women you would ever meet..."

...and before I could get the rest of the sentence out ("...but not one of them has a Borderline molecule in her body!"), all of them did a spit-take at me! Eyes bulged, they gasped, "What?!" and they looked like deer in headlights!

Ha ha!

I'd like to know what you find about BPD and PTSD. One psychiatrist - an idiot, incidentally - said to me last year, "When a girl has been sexually abused, she should automatically be considered a Borderline until proven otherwise."

How do you like that? "A Borderline." She becomes her label. Pffft.

Look on PubMed. They have a lot of relevant articles. The American Journal of Psychiatry online had an interesting article as well. Here's the link. http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/160/11/2018

This is a hot topic for me. I still don't really know what the difference is between being borderline and "exhibiting some borderline traits".

What makes someone borderline if not the traits?

The intensity with which they manifest, the depth to which they are entrenched, and degree to which they interfere with your life and relationships. A lot of my patients have "traits," but are not true BPS sufferers.