Cathy was referred to me by her GP for treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD). She had had a very difficult childhood. Her mother had bipolar disorder and was hospitalised on numerous occasions and her father had difficulties with alcohol abuse, often becoming angry and violent when intoxicated. The pervasive emotion Cathy remembers experiencing was fear.
She was a sensitive child but kept her emotions under wraps to protect her mother and to ensure that she did not incur her father’s wrath. She detached from her feelings and felt “numb” all the time.
