How Structure Can Help With Borderline Personality Disorder

Key points

People with borderline personality disorder often find it difficult to create enough stability in their life.

Adding external structure, like regular meal and sleep times, can have a calming effect.

This helps people deal more productively when painful feelings from the past surface when they are alone.

People with borderline personality disorder often have difficulty creating a structured, adult container for their life. Instead of developing and sticking to a daily schedule for predictable reoccurring events—like going to bed at a reasonable time given when they must get up in the morning—they tend to prioritize whatever feels good in the moment.

For example, my client Sara told me in her session that she needed to get to sleep early because she has an important meeting