Motivation for Borderline Personality Disorder
Our 19 year old daughter was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) at 15 following battles with depression and self-harm. We sought the best help possible and she was hospitalized outside Boston where she learned Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) from your former colleagues at Harvard. She also stayed in a therapeutic boarding school for 14 months catching up on classwork and learning skills to better assist her in life. She did well under a structured environment but now constantly struggles to motivate herself physically, emotionally and academically in her first year of college. How do you promote personal responsibility when a person is extremely emotionally sensitive? You sometimes exclude those with mental illness when offering recommendations on how to be the best version of yourself. We feel like we have given her all the tools she needs to help herself but realize that holding her hand around every life experience could be as detrimental as mental illness.
Very high neuroticism and a fulfilling romantic life
How do you suggest a man very high in neuroticism conduct himself in a way that leads to a successful and fulfilling romantic life? The common advice I have heard is that an individual high in neuroticism should find a partner low in this trait if they want the relationship to have a chance at surviving. However, I struggle to see why an emotionally stable woman would want to be paired with a man high in withdrawal and volatility. It doesn’t seem like a good deal considering she would likely form a stronger relationship with someone who more closely matched her personality. I feel like this advice neglects the needs of the emotionally stable partner. It would be greatly appreciated if you could provide some further advice on this topic, as I know neuroticism is unfortunately linked to divorce and unsatisfactory relationships. Thank you.
Personality Differences in Relationships
I have read where you said that you don't want to be too dissimilar in personality in a relationship but also that you should not be too similar. What would a healthy difference (or threshold) be? Is there a way to use the understandmyself tests to know if we are too far or too similar? We have both taken the understandmyself personality test individually and then put them together as well.
What advice would you give to parents who are raising girls to act with fortitude in a culture that’s making it increasingly common to see transgender participants dominate in office, in working roles, in sports, and in other areas of culture that was hereforto never previously seen?
Dr. Peterson, my wife and I will be celebrating our 14th year of marriage this month (April 2022). We’ve known each other and have dated since high school, and successfully managed our relationship while attending separate universities, and moving from a dual income to single income family when we decided to have children. All that to say, we’ve done and continue to do the work necessary to keep our relationship healthy all the while growing a family. We have three daughters - at the time of asking - a 10 year old, eight year old, and a two year old. We’re heavily invested in their lives and their education, they are involved in extracurriculars, etc. They are all bright, happy, well-adjusted kids. What advice (outside of not bothering them while skateboarding :) would you give to parents who are raising their girls to remain courageous, to speak the truth, and to act with fortitude in a culture, specifically the US, which is making it increasingly common to see (and read about) transgender participants dominate in office, in working roles, in sports, and in other areas of culture that was hereforto never previously seen? (For what it’s worth, I define a woman as an adult human being who was born with a pair of X chromosomes.) Thank you for your time and all your work!