Borderline personality disorder
BPD counseling for adults
A text goes unanswered for an hour and the whole relationship is suddenly in question. By midnight you have ended it, or begged.
A borderline personality disorder therapist works on the minutes that decide the evening: the fear of being left, the feeling that turns in seconds, and what you do with it. Weekly counseling, in person in the Houston area or online anywhere in Texas.
It is still on.
- Select insurance plans accepted
- Self-pay $100–$150 per session
- For adults in Houston-Willowbrook, The Woodlands, and Katy
- Online across Texas
In crisis or thinking about suicide? Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, any time. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. Counseling here is not an emergency service.
Who you might work with
Licensed counselors, matched to what you need
You are matched with a counselor based on what you need and who is available. These are some of the team. Tell us that BPD, or the fear of being left, is what you want to work on, and we will take that into account when we match you.
AJ Huynh
Director · LPC
Works with ACT, CBT and mindfulness-based approaches, with a focus on what matters to you rather than symptoms alone.
Brenda Resendez
Clinical Director · LPC
Blends ACT, CBT and motivational interviewing, adapting the approach to where you are rather than a fixed program.
Ricardo Alvarez
LPC
Draws on mindfulness, IFS, EMDR and ACT. A gentle, flexible approach that meets you where you are.
Cost and coverage
Know the cost before you begin.
For insured sessions, we verify your benefits and share an estimated out-of-pocket cost before the first session. That estimate is separate from the self-pay rates below.
Self-pay, per session
- Fully licensed clinician
- $150
- Associate clinician
- $100
Matching may include an associate clinician. Tell us if cost is a concern so we can discuss the options available to you.
Plans we currently work with
Coverage, cost, and availability depend on your plan, your eligibility at the time of service, and the clinician you see.
- Aetna
- Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Texas
- UnitedHealthcare
- Cigna
- Oscar
- Oxford
- Horizon BCBS
- BCBS of Massachusetts
- Original Medicare
- UHC Medicare Advantage
- Quest Behavioral Health
- Carelon Behavioral Health
Do not see your plan? Ask our team — consultations are free, and a limited number of sliding-scale openings may be available.
Daily life
It is not that you feel too much. It is how fast it turns.
Someone is late and you are certain they are done with you. Someone is kind and you are waiting for the catch. You say the unforgivable thing to get there first, then spend the night trying to take it back. And underneath all of it, a kind of emptiness that nothing quite reaches.
None of that is a character flaw. It is a nervous system that learned, early, that people leave — and a set of moves that once kept you safe and now keep costing you. Those moves can be understood before they are changed.
What you might work on
- The first ninety secondsWhat happens between the trigger and the text you send, and how to buy yourself the gap.
- The fear of being leftNaming it when it arrives, so it stops making the decisions for you.
- RepairWhat to do the morning after, so one bad night does not have to end the relationship.
- Who you are when it is quietWants, opinions and limits that are yours, not borrowed from whoever you are with.
You can try something between sessions, then talk about what fit and what got in the way.
Understanding BPD
What BPD is, in plain terms
Borderline personality disorder is a long-standing way of feeling and relating, not a phase or a mood. It is also the one with the best evidence that talk therapy changes it. These are the parts people tend to recognize; they are a starting point for a conversation, not a test you have to pass to deserve help.
01
Feelings that turn fast
Fine to furious to hollow inside an hour, with no obvious step in between. A therapist helps you find the turn earlier, while there is still a choice in it.
02
The fear of being left
Real or imagined, it tends to produce two moves: holding on hard, or leaving first so that nobody can leave you. Knowing which one you reach for is where the work starts.
03
Relationships at full volume
Someone is everything, and then they are nothing, sometimes inside one conversation. Steadiness can feel flat at first; part of counseling is learning to read it as safety rather than as boredom.
04
Not being sure who you are
A self that shifts with the room — different opinions, different plans, a different person depending on who is across the table. The work is finding what is yours underneath that.
05
Doing something fast to feel less
Spending, drinking, texting, driving, ending things. Counseling works on naming the urge before the act. If there is self-harm, the crisis line above is not a substitute for telling your counselor, whenever you are ready to.
06
Emptiness
The one people rarely say out loud, because it sounds like nothing. It is not boredom, and it does not lift because the day went well. It is worth saying in session; it is often what sits under the rest.
What can contribute
- Childhood trauma, neglect or abuse
- Caregiving that was unpredictable
- Being told, early and often, that your feelings were wrong
- A temperament that feels everything at higher volume
- Family history
- Coping that worked once and never got updated
BPD rarely has one cause, and none of it is anyone’s fault. Understanding what the pattern once protected you from is part of the work, not a prerequisite for starting it. If you want to read more first, see understanding BPD. If the pattern is broader than this page — suspicion, avoidance, rigidity — start at counseling for personality disorders. Where it sits on top of something that happened to you, trauma counseling can run alongside.
How we work
How BPD counseling works here
Three approaches do most of the work here, and mindfulness runs through all of them. This is weekly individual counseling with one therapist — you can ask about the approach in the first session and change your mind later.
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Mapping the pattern
Cognitive behavioral therapy, applied to the sequence rather than the mood: the trigger, the reading you gave it, the move you made, and what it cost — laid out until it is visible enough to interrupt.
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Acceptance and commitment therapy
ACT works on the gap between what you feel and what you do next. The fear of being left is allowed to be there; the work is choosing the reply from what matters to you rather than from the fear alone.
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Skills for the moment it happens
Rehearsed moves for the seconds that decide the evening: how to pause when the urge is to react, how to say what you need without setting fire to it, and how to repair the next day. These are drawn from emotion-regulation and communication skills training and practiced in session before you need them.
Getting started
Someone who will still be there next week.
Matching starts with what matters to you. You have a say in your goals and in whether the therapist feels like a fit.
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Tell us what you need
Use the matching form to share what brings you here and whether you prefer an office or online sessions.
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Explore your match
We suggest a counselor based on what you shared, who is available, and whether you want an office or online. You can ask about their approach before you decide.
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Start where you are
In your first session, talk about what feels hard. Nobody will ask you to do anything you have been avoiding on day one.
Before your first session
If it helps, you might jot down:
- The last time it went wrong — what was said, and what you did in the hour after
- The thing you are most afraid a therapist will think of you
- One relationship you would like to be different in a year
These notes are optional. You do not need a log, a count, or a tidy history — bring whatever you can say that day.
The Reset Guarantee
Not happy with your therapist? We waive the fee for your last session and cover the cost of your next one, until you find the right fit.
Near you, or online
Choose where you meet
Meet in person at one of our three Houston-area offices, or choose telehealth anywhere in Texas.
Houston-Willowbrook
12807 Haynes Rd, Building C1
Houston, TX 77066
The Woodlands
2219 Sawdust Rd, Suite 1204
The Woodlands, TX 77380
Katy
21715 Kingsland Blvd, Suite 105
Katy, TX 77450
Online across Texas
Prefer to meet from home? Explore telehealth counseling in Texas.
Online sessions run the same way as an office visit, with the same counselors. If the hard part is being in a room with someone who might judge you, starting on video is a reasonable first step, and you can move to an office later.
A few questions
Before you start
Have a different question? Ask our team when you get matched.
Do I need a BPD diagnosis to start?
No. Many people come here with a word someone else used about them, sometimes in one bad appointment, and many with no word at all. A clinician forms that picture over time, not from a checklist or an online test, and you do not need it settled before you book.
Is this DBT?
No. Dialectical behavior therapy is the best-known approach for BPD, and a full DBT program means individual therapy plus a weekly skills group, phone coaching and a therapist consultation team. We do not run that program, and if it is what you need we will say so and help you find it. It is also not the only thing that helps. When DBT has been tested against other well-organized treatment for BPD, people did about as well in either, and what the treatments that work have in common is not a brand name: one consistent therapist, a clear structure, and steady work on emotion and relationships. That is what weekly individual counseling here is built around, using CBT, ACT and skills for the moments that go wrong. Cognitive behavioral therapy has been tested for BPD in its own trial and worked.
Can BPD actually get better?
Yes, and this is the part people are rarely told: over time most people meet fewer of the criteria, and improvement is the norm rather than the exception. “Cured” is still the wrong word. The pattern loosens — you catch the turn earlier, hold the moment longer, and choose a different move often enough that relationships stop ending the same way.
Is it BPD or bipolar disorder?
They get confused because both involve moods that move. The difference is the clock and the trigger: bipolar episodes run for weeks on their own schedule, while these shifts are measured in hours and are usually tied to something that happened with someone. Telling them apart is part of a first assessment. If it turns out to be the other, bipolar disorder counseling is here, and the differences are set out in more detail.
Do I need medication as well?
No medication is approved for borderline personality disorder itself, which surprises most people. Some take something for the depression or anxiety that travels with it, and that is between them and a prescriber. Our counselors do not prescribe; if you already take something, counseling runs beside it rather than instead of it.
What if I have been told I am “too much” for therapy?
Then that therapist was the wrong fit, and you are not the first person to arrive here having been told it. Being discharged by a therapist is a common enough story with BPD that it is worth saying out loud in a first session rather than carrying it in. The Reset Guarantee exists partly for this: if the fit is wrong, changing should not cost you.
Can I meet with a counselor online?
Yes. Secure video sessions are available across Texas, with the same counselors you would see at one of our offices. Telehealth counseling in Texas has the details.
What if my therapist is not the right fit?
If you are not happy with your therapist, we waive the fee for your last session and cover the cost of your next one, until you find the therapist who feels like the right fit.
Your next step
You do not have to be calm to start. You have to show up once.
Tell us what keeps happening, and we will help you find a counselor.
In crisis? Call or text 988 any time. Counseling here is not an emergency service.
We provide diagnosis, assessment and therapy. Our clinicians are licensed in Texas as professional counselors, clinical social workers or marriage and family therapists, and none of them prescribe medication — if you see a prescriber, counseling runs alongside that. We do not run a residential or intensive day program; this is weekly outpatient counseling.
