Pet Dogs Are Therapeutic For People With Borderline Personality Disorder

People with borderline personality disorder tend to feel emptiness within themselves. This often stems from dysfunctional childhood experiences. When such people tell their life stories, you will notice many recurring themes. They report, among other things, their absent parents, mental neglect, and lack of physical affection. So how do pets relate to this? Continue reading to find out why pet dogs are so therapeutic for people with borderline personality disorder.

The environment is not the only factor in the development of borderline personality disorder. Inheritance also plays an important role. Patients with borderline personality disorder feel lost and broken, just as if they were drowned in despair.

Their fear of possible rejection is so strong that they lean toward self-destruction. This eventually ends up as a self-fulfilling prophecy because when they are afraid people will leave them, they push people they love farther away.

It is important to keep in mind that patients with borderline personality are extremely sensitive and feel deep mental pain if someone conflicts with or frustrates them.

Dogs or other pets, on the other hand, never condemn or reject their owner. This allows patients with borderline personality disorder to become attached to them to get love without getting hurt.

Why are pet dogs therapeutic for borderline personality patients?

Mental acceptance

Contrary to what can happen in human relationships, animals cannot make anyone feel as if their feelings are not valid. Mental nullification is when you deny another person’s feeling of being real or valid.

Usually, people with borderline personality disorder experience this problem with their family and closest friends. Some basic examples of this are the following phrases: “you can’t be thirsty you just had” or “I don’t understand why you cry all the time if you have everything you need”. Pet dogs do not do this and therefore they make a person suffering from such a disease feel fully accepted and fit.

Pet dogs do not judge

Pets do not judge their owners. They lack the language skills to express such feelings and do not have the cultural and social beliefs people have. These beliefs, stereotypes, and prejudices are often responsible for the way we judge other people.

People with borderline personality disorder experience unbearable mental pain when someone condemns them.  It makes maintaining an interpersonal relationship extremely difficult for them. Dogs and other pets can make them feel at peace. Such an unconvicted relationship can make them feel part of something.

Companionship

Pet dogs are great companions for borderline personality patients. No matter what we go through, how much we cry, or how unstable we feel, the dog stays by our side. Such a partnership is exactly what borderline personality patients sometimes need to find balance. In a way, pet dogs help their owner regulate their feelings.

Unconditional love

Dogs love their owner without expecting anything in return. Because very many borderline personality patients suffer from low self-esteem, a dog can make them feel more confident about themselves. Much of their problematic behavior stems from a need for affection, love, and understanding.  The problem is that their behavior often has the opposite effect. In this context, a dog can provide them with the absolute love they need, even if they have difficulties in life.

Disadvantages of pet dogs for people with borderline personality disorder

While it is clear that borderline personality patients can build a special and healthy bond with their dog, there are some drawbacks to these relationships. Sometimes dogs can become a kind of buffer to their emotions and act as a mental patch.

This is because focusing on the dog masks dysfunctional and painful emotions. This is great at first because it helps patients regulate their emotions and feel more mentally stable. The problem is that patients can become over-dependent on their dog, which makes it easier for them to avoid interpersonal relationships. They may even exclude themselves from other people and rely entirely on their pet to supplement all spiritual needs.

Maximize the benefits

It is therefore important to find a balance to ensure that dogs are therapeutic and that they do not aggravate the situation. The idea is to maximize the benefits brought by pet dogs without patients becoming mentally dependent on them. Borderline personality patients should also develop relationships with the people around them. They should be willing to feel sometimes frustrated. They must also accept the fact that they will be criticized at some point and learn to deal with it.

Another disadvantage of borderline personality patients attaching to their pet dog is that the pet is quite likely to die before its owner. This can cause a serious crisis and lead to suicide, impulsivity, aggression, severe dysphoria and so on.

In summary, pet dogs are therapeutic for patients with borderline personality disorder when reasonably “used”. Although patients may benefit from animal companionship, special care must be taken to ensure that the situation does not become a toxic and poor substitute for proper emotional regulation.