I had given this manual 4 stars- I own it- but after some events in my life I am going to give it a proper rating. It deserves 5 stars. This book can help everyone, not just people suffering from borderline personality disorder. I have Bipolar (Type 2) and let me say, I had owned this book for years without cracking it open. I ended up attending a partial inpatient program that was teaching us all the techniques in this book, and let me tell you, they work. This skeptic is now convinced (and I work on changing my thoughts and staying with a routine.
This book is dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) based. It's written by Marsha Linehan, who created DBT. I was in a class with people of varying issues. Bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, anger, addiction, etc.
It does what it says. It teaches emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, distress tolerance, and mindfulness. This is all cognitive-behavioral therapy except redesigned. It is geared to counselors but the info and the worksheets can help you. I went into the classroom (and this book!) a skeptic but when I came out and really applied all the coping skills they taught us based on this book and this author's other works, all I can say is, you have to work at it, you have to practice it until your coping becomes a habit.But if you are really looking to change your issues whatever they may be, this book and anything DBT is super.