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Personality Disorders

Personality disorder treatment in West Michigan

Understanding and managing personality traits for a healthier, balanced life.

Overview

Patterns that feel deeply ingrained

Personality disorders affect how individuals perceive themselves and others, often leading to difficulties in relationships, emotional regulation, and daily functioning. These conditions can cause patterns of behavior, thinking, and feeling that are rigid and unchanging, often resulting in challenges with interpersonal relationships and self-identity. Disorders such as borderline personality disorder (BPD), narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), and avoidant personality disorder (APD) are examples of conditions that impact how people relate to themselves and the world around them.

Living with a personality disorder can feel isolating. Many individuals struggle with intense emotional responses, difficulty trusting others, or a fear of abandonment. This can lead to misunderstandings in relationships, emotional instability, or even self-destructive behavior. For those affected, these patterns can feel deeply ingrained and hard to break, creating significant distress and a sense of being stuck.

At Hope & Healing Counseling, we understand the complexities of personality disorders and are here to help you gain a deeper understanding of your emotions and behaviors while working toward lasting change.

If you are thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 right now, or go to your nearest emergency room. Therapy is for the long road — a crisis line is for tonight.

Personality Disorders feature image

At a glance

Ages served Teens and adults
Format In person or telehealth
Session length Dependent on needs, typically 30–60 minutes
First availability Typically 3–5 days

Signs

What it can look like

You don't need a diagnosis to start therapy. If several of these sound like your last few weeks, it's worth a conversation.

What clients describe

Intense emotional responses that arrive fast
Difficulty trusting others, even close family
A fear of abandonment that shapes decisions
An unstable or shifting sense of self
Impulsive or self-destructive behavior
A feeling of being stuck in the same pattern

What loved ones notice

Conflict that escalates beyond the topic
Relationships that swing between close and cut off
Black-and-white views of people
Rigid reactions to feedback or criticism
Repeated crises around endings
A pattern that predates this relationship
Therapist and client in session

How we help

Compassionate, evidence-based treatment

Our approach to treating personality disorders focuses on providing compassionate, evidence-based therapies such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Internal Family Systems (IFS). DBT helps you build skills to manage intense emotions, reduce self-destructive behaviors, and improve interpersonal relationships. This therapy is particularly effective for conditions like borderline personality disorder, where emotional regulation is a key challenge.

CBT helps you identify and reframe unhelpful thought patterns that often drive negative emotions and behaviors. By challenging these distorted thoughts and replacing them with healthier ones, CBT can empower you to approach situations more rationally and improve your overall mental health. This is especially beneficial for breaking rigid patterns that make relationships and daily functioning difficult.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy addresses the internal conflicts that may arise in personality disorders. By helping you understand the different parts of yourself and fostering self-compassion, IFS encourages healing and emotional balance. Together, these therapeutic approaches help you build emotional resilience, improve your relationships, and foster a healthier sense of self, enabling you to create lasting, positive change.

By providing a safe and supportive environment, we help you navigate the complexities of your personality disorder, empowering you to make lasting changes in how you relate to yourself and others. With consistent support and effective strategies, you can develop healthier coping mechanisms and lead a more balanced, fulfilling life.

Borderline (BPD)

DBT-informed care for emotional intensity, abandonment fear, and impulsivity.

Avoidant (APD)

Work on rejection sensitivity and the isolation it produces.

Narcissistic (NPD)

Identity, self-worth, and the relationships strained along the way.

Partners & families

Guidance on boundaries and support that does not require walking on eggshells.

Therapies we use

The tools behind the work

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Skills to manage intense emotions, reduce self-destructive behavior, and improve relationships.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Identify and reframe the unhelpful thought patterns driving the reaction.

Internal Family Systems

Understand the different parts of yourself and build genuine self-compassion.

Care coordination

Coordination with prescribers for co-occurring mood and anxiety symptoms.

Getting started

What the first few weeks look like

No surprises, no paperwork ambush. Here is the whole process.

Step 1

Reach out

Fill in the form or call. We ask what is going on and what you want to change.

Step 2

Coverage verified

We check your insurance and tell you the cost before you commit to anything.

Step 3

First session

Mostly listening. Your therapist learns your history and what you have already tried.

Step 4

A plan you agreed to

Goals, cadence, and approach set together — and revisited as things shift.

Questions

Personality disorders FAQ

Still deciding whether therapy is the right next step? Call us and ask — there's no obligation.

Contact our office →
Can a personality disorder actually be treated?

Yes. DBT has strong research support for borderline personality disorder in particular, and outcomes for other patterns improve substantially with consistent therapy. The old belief that these conditions are untreatable is out of date.

Do I need a diagnosis to start?

No. Many clients begin because relationships keep breaking in the same way. A diagnosis may or may not become part of the picture; the work does not wait on it.

How long does this take?

Longer than most therapy — think in terms of a year or more rather than a handful of sessions. We are direct about that up front so you can decide with real information.

Will I be labeled and treated differently?

Not here. These are patterns of adaptation, not character judgments, and every clinician on the team works from that stance.

Can my partner be involved?

With your consent, yes. Bringing a partner in for occasional sessions to align on skills and repair often accelerates the work.

Is medication required?

No medication treats a personality disorder directly, though prescribers often treat co-occurring depression or anxiety. Therapy is the primary treatment.

Related care

Often paired with

All services

The pattern is not the whole of you

DBT, CBT, and IFS-trained clinicians. We accept 13+ major insurance plans, including Michigan Medicaid.