Helping young people with BPD is 'sexy.' Helping older adults? Not so much. That's the ageism we need to talk about.

In this episode, I'm joined by Professor Arjan Videler - Professor of Psychotherapy in Older Adults at Tilburg University, senior researcher at PersonaCura in the Netherlands, and one of the world's leading voices on BPD across the lifespan.

We cover:
• The 19-year life expectancy gap for people with BPD
• What BPD actually looks like at 70
• The advantage older adults have for recovery
• The ageism in mental health
• How schema therapy and STEPPS are being adapted for older adults
• What 'positive schemas' are and why they matter

And somewhere in the middle, there's a story about a glass of expensive wine in Central Park, a psychologist named Theodore Millen, and how the DSM ended up categorical instead of dimensional.

This is a quiet, profound episode about a population that has been largely invisible in BPD research and public conversation.

If you're 40 or 70, it doesn't really make a difference. It's never too late to heal.

🌱 Have questions, stories, or something you’d like us to cover? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at bpddiariespodcast@gmail.com and let’s keep the conversation going.

🎧 Looking for meditations made for emotional regulation, BPD, and more? Check out Empowered Heroes Meditations on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify.

If you’d like more support in your journey toward BPD recovery, Steff offers 1:1 sessions using evidence-based tools from DBT, Schema Therapy, and Mindfulness to help you heal. Email for a free 30-Minute Consultation:

📩 steff@bpdsupport.org or check out the website: www.bpdsupport.org

📚 Referenced Research Includes:

Conjaerts, J. A., Videler, A. C., Schepman, R., Elfeddali, I., Rosowsky, E., & van Alphen, S. P. (2025). Clinical staging for personality disorders in older adults. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 38(1), 32-43. https://doi.org/10.1177/08919887241254467

Ekiz, E., van Alphen, S. P., Ouwens, M. A., Van de Paar, J., & Videler, A. C. (2023). Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving for borderline personality disorder: A systematic review. Personality and Mental Health, 17(1), 20-39.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pmh.1558

Khasho, D. A., Van Alphen, S. P. J., Heijnen-Kohl, S. M. J., Ouwens, M. A., Arntz, A., & Videler, A. C. (2019). The effectiveness of individual schema therapy in older adults with borderline personality disorder: Protocol of a multiple-baseline study. Contemporary clinical trials communications, 14, 100330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conctc.2019.100330

van Donzel, L., Ouwens, M. A., van Alphen, S. P., Bouwmeester, S., Bachrach, N., & Videler, A. C. (2025). Integrating positive schemas in schema therapy for Cluster C personality disorders in older adults: A multiple baseline study. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 32(4), e70121.

https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.70121

Videler, A. C., Hutsebaut, J., Schulkens, J. E., Sobczak, S., & Van Alphen, S. P. (2019). A life span perspective on borderline personality disorder. Current psychiatry reports, 21(7), 51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-019-1040-1

Videler, A. A., van Royen, R. R., & van Alphen, S. B. (2012). Schema therapy with older adults: call for evidence. International Psychogeriatrics, 24(7), 1186-1187. Doi:10.1017/S1041610211002638

PersonaCura: https://ggzbreburg.nl/over-ggz-breburg/voorloper-in-de-ggz/topklinische-ggz/personacura

Make Therapy Simple Again Article: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340081785_Make_therapy_simple_again

What if the most effective framework for BPD recovery was written by a former slave and a Roman emperor over 2,000 years ago?

This episode is about Stoicism. Not the pop culture version that means suppressing your feelings and pretending nothing hurts, but the real thing. A practical, rigorous system of thought that maps onto what people with BPD struggle with most.

The impulsivity. The fear of abandonment. The catastrophic interpretations. The feeling of being a slave to your emotions.

I go through ten Stoic principles, each one mapped directly to the BPD experience, grounded in neuroscience. Because this isn't just philosophy. CBT was directly influenced by Stoic thought. DBT was built on CBT. Which means there's a direct line from Epictetus in the first century AD to the skills your therapist may have walked you through last week.

🌱 Have questions, stories, or something you’d like us to cover? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at bpddiariespodcast@gmail.com and let’s keep the conversation going.

🎧 Looking for meditations made for emotional regulation, BPD, and more? Check out Empowered Heroes Meditations on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify.

If you’d like more support in your journey toward BPD recovery, Steff offers 1:1 sessions using evidence-based tools from DBT, Schema Therapy, and Mindfulness to help you heal. Email for a free 30-Minute Consultation:

📩 steff@bpdsupport.org or check out the website: www.bpdsupport.org

📚 Referenced Research Includes:

Aziz, A. (2025). The Application of Stoic Philosophy to Modern Emotional Regulation.

Denny, B. T., Lopez, R. B., Wu-Chung, E. L., Dicker, E. E., Goodson, P. N., Fan, J., ... & Koenigsberg, H. W. (2024). Training in cognitive reappraisal normalizes whole-brain indices of emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 9(8), 819-826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.03.007

Zetsche, U., Bürkner, P. C., Bohländer, J., Renneberg, B., Roepke, S., & Schulze, L. (2024). Daily emotion regulation in major depression and borderline personality disorder. Clinical Psychological Science, 12(1), 161-170. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702623116070

Stoic Primary Texts (all public domain)

Epictetus. The Enchiridion.

Marcus Aurelius. Meditations.

Seneca. Letters from a Stoic.

Further Reading

Robertson, D. How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius.

Robertson, D. Stoicism and the Art of Happiness.

Holiday, R. The Obstacle is the Way.

Waltman, S. The Stoicism Workbook.