Download PDF Stop Walking On Eggshells Secon Edition by Paul T. Mason

Sinopsis

More than 400,000 copies—that’s how many Stop Walking on Eggshells copies have been purchased since it was published in 1998. At the rate it’s selling, the benchmark of half a million copies is well within sight. Not only that, this book has been translated into so many languages, I have trouble remembering which they are.

When Paul Mason and I were writing this book, we had to struggle to find information of use to family members. A few people were talking about borderline personality disorder (BPD) on AOL and a personality newsgroup. We found just two books for laypeople. Now, the Internet is teeming with information, and you’d need an entire bookshelf to hold the mainstream books about BPD—not to mention all the self-published books and e-books by people who have struggled with this disorder from the inside or the outside.

So what happened? Many things. Researchers started to have the ability to scan the brain and actually see the differences between the normal brain and the brains of people with BPD. New medications followed, and research continues to reveal data that explain why people with BPD think, feel, and act the way they do. Forward-thinking clinicians developed novel approaches that started showing results. Advocates started their own organizations and began pressuring for more visibility and research dollars.

But that’s not all. Stop Walking on Eggshells, along with my website and my Welcome to Oz online community, was a potent force in increasing awareness of BPD. Readers went online and started to talk to each other on the Internet; people with BPD and their families started websites and formed communities because they had something to say and they didn’t feel heard in other arenas. Formerly isolated, people started reaching out to each other. Between 1995 and 2008, my online Welcome to Oz family group grew from twelve members to sixteen thousand.

The success of Stop Walking on Eggshells (and later, the Stop Walking on Eggshells Workbook) also showed publishers that books about BPD could succeed, hence the proliferation of titles. The foreign editions started information flowing in other countries. In 2008, I (Randi Kreger) gave a series of presentations to BPD family members in Tokyo on the invitation of the Japanese publisher of Stop Walking on Eggshells.

But not everything is rosy. Most clinicians still lack essential knowledge—especially about how to assess and treat children and adolescents with symptoms of BPD. Another problem is the fundamental lack of understanding that borderline behavior can be expressed in a multitude of ways that don’t necessarily get noticed by, or detected as, signs of BPD by clinicians in the mental health system.

On a more personal level, just as the world has moved on, so have my coauthor and I. A few years after this book was first published, I wrote The Stop Walking on Eggshells Workbook: Practical Strategies for Living with Someone Who Has Borderline Personality Disorder. The workbook format allows for lots of examples and description, and the interactive elements help readers understand themselves and apply the information to their own lives.

In 2008, I came out with another major book, The Essential Family Guide to Borderline Personality Disorder: New Tools and Techniques to Stop Walking on Eggshells. It contains a clear-cut system with five skill sets to help family members move beyond blame and use concrete solutions to feel better, get unstuck, be heard, and set limits with confidence. As you’ll see, I’ve sprinkled some items from the book in this new edition; both books complement each other and offer different perspectives. Family members need all the help they can get!

Paul Mason, my coauthor, took a different path. He is now the vice-president of clinical services at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare–All Saints in Racine, Wisconsin. In his role, Paul has executive and administrative oversight of the Mental Health and Addiction Care service line, which includes three inpatient programs and six outpatient clinics serving the needs of adults, children, and families in southeast Wisconsin.

His three children, who were just entering grade school when this book first appeared in bookstores, are now ages thirteen, seventeen, and eighteen. He continues to be happily married to Monica, who, when not taking care of all of the family needs, maintains a small therapy practice serving adults and couples in Racine.

We hope you’ll enjoy this new edition.

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