1. Know Your Enemy
As the parent of a teenager with borderline personality disorder, your greatest enemy will be ignorance. Why does your teenager do what he does? How can you ease the symptoms? Read as much as you can about borderline personality disorder to learn about the causes, the symptoms and how treatment will improve your child's condition.
2. Spend Some Quality Time in Therapy
Family therapy is extremely helpful for both parents and teenagers who are borderline. It helps you learn to problem solve for when the borderline personality disorder symptoms are severe, how to communicate to teenagers without triggering any of their borderline symptoms and how to adjust your parenting style as necessary. Support groups for you and your teen are also recommended. Your child will appreciate the reassurance she gets from other people who are in the same position she is, and get advice on how to deal with her borderline personality disorder that has been tested "in the field" as it were. A support group for parents of teenagers with borderline personality disorder, on the other hand, can offer some much-needed emotional support for when you're feeling the stress of watching your child go through the illness.
3. Enforce a Schedule
One of the hardest things to do with a teenager is to enforce a schedule. However, in the case of borderline personality disorders, a tight schedule will really help your teen deal with the illness. Making sure your teen gets at least seven hours of sleep on a regular basis, for instance, will give him greater stability and help lessen the borderline symptoms. A regular balanced diet with plenty of fruits and grains will also help ease the symptoms, as will scheduling some time for exercise. A regular schedule will also make your teen feel calmer, which will make him more stable.
4. Be Patient
Being the parent of a teenager can be difficult sometimes. So is trying to help someone who has a mental disorder. Be patient with your teenager, because when her borderline personality disorder flares up, she may be very hard to deal with and could fall back into some textbook borderline symptoms, such as self-mutilation or acting impulsively (including gambling or driving recklessly). Be patient with her as she goes through this disease, and remember that with psychotherapy, she will get better.
