Page 51 - Personality disorders and insecure attachment among adolescents
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Self-esteem ‘Self-esteem’ was described as a sense of being valued by the group and feeling self-confident. It was expressed by a minority. In this context, finding oneself was sometimes mentioned, as well as the sense of belonging. ‘But not anymore; I am full of self-confidence, and I am myself.’ ‘But above all that I am capable of much more than I think myself.’ Turning-point A few participants pointed out a crucial moment of change in their treatment. Some of these ‘turning points’ were due to therapeutic interventions or changes in the treatment programme. ‘From the moment I went to day treatment, there was a turning point in my treatment for me.’ ‘And when the subject was raised by Willy and Pieter, I found out that I was completely lost in caring for others. I therefore did not do anything about my own problems and felt incredibly depressed. That conversation with Willy and Pieter was a turning point for me in my treatment.’ ‘I did a psychodrama about my acting out and how it got in the way of the contact with the group, and that really was the turning point for me.’ Other turning points were due to the group and treatment staff demanding that a patient should try out new behaviour, or setting boundaries for behaviour that undermined change. Participants described receiving a supportive reassessment of treatment from a member of the treatment staff, in the presence of a group member as support, which was experienced as a ‘wakeup call’. ‘I actually only had contact with them (subgroup) and I was missed on the group, I felt unseen and I damaged myself so that I was seen. That is why I got a treatment policy conversation, I personally see this as one of the turning points in my treatment. ’ ‘The realization came when I thought that no one liked me anymore, nobody shared secrets with me anymore, I had to talk about real things. It was the end of the world for me, I even wanted to resign. Then I fell, something broke. People were not there for me to hurt or bully me but to see me as a person. I have jumped, the contact I have with people now is real and the real contact is 10 times better than that secrets hassle.’ 47 


































































































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