Young people with borderline personality disorder experience instability in the way they relate to themselves, other people, and the world around them. This can make it difficult to navigate different aspects of daily life, including relationships, work, and education. They may experience very intense emotions that can feel overwhelming and unbearable.
Some core traits of BPD include:
- An incoherent or unstable sense of self
- Intense and quickly changing emotions that are difficult to soothe
- Impulsive or self-destructive behaviours
- Chronic feelings of emptiness
- Patterns of short and intense relationships
Having BPD doesn’t mean there is something wrong with a young person’s personality. BPD traits can usually be understood as a normal response to difficult life events, which, at some point, helped a young person cope with and survive their experiences. However, these mechanisms make it hard to function in everyday life.
Borderline Personality Disorder and Young People’s Mental Health in Mumbai
Many young people in Mumbai experience challenges with their mental health. Data suggests that 7% of 13 to 17-year-olds in India may have a mental health disorder, but in urban areas like Mumbai, they’re almost twice as common (13.5%).
Some of the most common mental health disorders that young people experience are:
- Depressive disorders, such as major depressive disorder
- Anxiety disorders, including general anxiety disorder, panic disorders, and phobias
- Psychotic disorders like schizophrenia
Borderline personality disorder is hugely underresearched in Mumbai and other parts of India. However, while there are no large-scale prevalence studies on BPD, several small-scale studies suggest that BPD is present among young people and vastly underdiagnosed.
A study based in Mumbai found that among a group of adolescents and young adults who had a history of suicide attempts, 17.3% had borderline personality disorder. A more recent study among college students in Southern India found that 15.2% met the criteria for BPD.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Mumbai
Sadly, despite the prevalence of mental health problems among young people in Indian cities, there is no comprehensive national policy for child and adolescent mental health. Most states also don’t have a specific policy for child and adolescent psychiatry.
While some non-profit organisations, national strategies, and school-based initiatives have started to address young people’s mental health, they still fall far short of covering children’s and adolescents’ needs.
This means that for most young people and families, specialist mental health support is inaccessible or very difficult to find. Data suggests that less than one in a hundred young people with mental health disorders in India receive quality mental health care.
High-quality residential treatment programs are especially hard to access, meaning many parents have to look outside of the city for the care a young person needs.
Why Are Parents Looking Overseas for Mental Health Support?
Overseas programs can offer exceptional mental health support in a therapeutic environment away from the stresses and triggers of everyday life. They provide young people with the space they need for introspection, self-understanding, and identity exploration. They offer a safe environment where difficult experiences and emotions may be confronted and integrated into a broader narrative, facilitating trauma recovery and healing.
Overseas programs may also provide opportunities for enriching experiences, building relationships, and encountering different ways of life. Through these experiences, young people can develop new perspectives, discover new passions, and shape their future goals.
Healing from Trauma
Most young people with borderline personality disorder have experienced at least one form of childhood trauma, especially interpersonal trauma. These experiences can underpin the core traits of borderline personality disorder, such as fear of abandonment, intense and changing emotions, dissociative symptoms, and chronic feelings of emptiness.
In their home environments, young people with BPD may frequently encounter triggers of past traumas, causing psychological and physical states that are hard to cope with. Within this context, daily life can feel like a question of survival, and it can be difficult to find emotional and cognitive space to begin the healing process.
Overseas treatment can offer a safe environment away from the places, relationships, or dynamics that trigger the re-living of trauma. Young people can find the space they need to learn new coping skills, develop strong therapeutic relationships, and ultimately reprocess and reintegrate traumatic events.
Breaking Previous Patterns and Building New Dynamics
Adolescents and young adults with BPD have often developed patterns of behaviour that are harmful to their own well-being. This might involve self-destructive coping mechanisms or impulsive reactions to events in a relationship. It can be very difficult to break out of these patterns while still embedded within them.
Living in a different environment can help young people move away from old patterns of behaviour and provide space to develop new ones. They have the chance to explore new ways of relating in relationships, which can then be transferred to those of their home environment. They can develop alternative ways of relating to themselves that endure when they return to everyday life.
Inspiration and Discovery
Young people with borderline personality disorder often struggle to find a clear sense of meaning, belonging, and purpose in life. Living in a different environment, they can encounter new cultures, philosophies, and ways of life that can offer meaning and purpose. They may try new experiences and discover new interests that inspire them as they move forward.
Long-term recovery involves planning for the future. When young people find a life path and values system that is fulfilling and nurtures their true selves, it’s easier to find the strength, motivation, and resilience to surpass the challenges they may encounter in the future. By interacting with different cultures and ways of existing, young people can try out new directions and ways of being, doing, and relating that inspire them.
The Wave Clinic: Building a Community of Supportive Parents in Mumbai and Across the World
When a young person finishes a residential treatment program, it’s important to ensure a smooth transition back to everyday life. At The Wave, we prepare for the return home from the very start of our treatment programs, structuring elements such as education and family involvement to form an integrated experience.
We also prioritise building communities in young people’s home cities, offering parents and families the tools they need to support a young person for the rest of their journey.
Our Community of Parents in Mumbai
In Mumbai, there is already a strong and extensive community of parents who have shared experiences at the Wave Clinic. As more and more families choose overseas treatment in our mental health space, this community grows even wider.
Our community of parents acts as a support structure for families from the first stages of our admissions procedure, before a young person even arrives at The Wave. During the assessment process, we connect families with a ‘family buddy’: a family with young people who are currently staying at the Wave or have just left, who know exactly what it’s like to be part of our community.
Family buddies also share and understand the frustrations that parents may have experienced up to this point: the months- or years-long search for effective treatment and the inaccessibility of specialist services.
These first connections often develop into lifelong friendships. The families we work with often share similar characteristics, philosophies, and past experiences that nurture trust and companionship.
As families continue their journey with The Wave, these relationships deepen, broaden, and multiply. We hold informal and formal events for parents of The Wave in different parts of the world, including Mumbai. Many of our parents stay connected through WhatsApp groups, and regularly meet for holidays, sleepovers, and other pastimes.
Specialist Follow-Up Care in Mumbai
Follow-up care is a core element of residential treatment. Once a young person has returned home, ongoing outpatient sessions support young people to reinforce and broaden their skills, manage the transition back to their home environment, and access the support they need in challenging moments.
We work with a network of trusted, qualified therapists based in Mumbai. These therapists offer the highest quality of specialist care to young people while liaising with The Wave’s therapists to ensure cohesive and integrated support. Our young people have the opportunity to meet with their follow-up therapists while they are still staying at The Wave, aiding the transition process.
Contact Us Today
The Wave Clinic offers specialised mental health support for young people and families from around the world. Our residential programs combine exceptional clinical care with education, exploration, community responsibility, and an international gap-year experience.
We specialise in borderline personality disorder, providing trauma-focused programs that emphasise building a stable identity, secure relationships, self-worth, and a love of life.
If you’re interested in finding out more about our programs, get in touch today.
