Out of the FOG was created by people who have experienced a relationship with a family member or partner who suffers from a personality disorder.
Personality disorders are mental-health conditions which affect the behavior of millions of people but are often unheard of, misunderstood or misdiagnosed. Personality disorders do not just affect the people who suffer from them. There are also millions of family members, spouses and partners whose lives are adversely affected by a personality disorder.
It is our goal to inform and support family members, spouses, partners and caregivers as they try to navigate out of the confusion, out of the chaos and out of the FOG.
There exists an abundance of sites containing information about personality disorders, their diagnosis and treatment. Some of them are listed on our Links Page. However, the emphasis of this site is to discuss the disorders from a Non-personality-disordered family member or partner's point of view.
In other words - what is it like to live with a person with NPD or BPD? What’s it like to have a parent with a Histrionic or Dependent Personality Disorder? How do you cope when confronted with the prospect of caring for someone with Emotional Regulation Disorder?
The descriptions of personality disorders listed on this site are based not on clinical criteria but rather on the experiences of people who have cared for someone who suffers from a personality disorder.
Information about our on line Support Forum for people who care about someone who suffers from a personality disorder.
Our Common Behaviors and Traits Section is packed full of information about some of the different types of behaviors you might encounter when you are in a realtionship with a person who suffers from a personality disorder with examples, descriptions of what it feels like and ideas for coping with difficult or challenging behaviors.
The most comprehensive online Personality Disorder Glossary containing definitions of terms and links to more information.
Dealing with a loved-one or family member who suffers from a personality disorder can sometimes feel like navigating through a fog.
The acronym FOG (coined by Susan Forward & Donna Frazier in Emotional Blackmail) stands for Fear, Obligation, Guilt - feelings which often result from being in a relationship with a person who suffers from a Personality Disorder. It is our hope that this site may help some navigate out of the FOG in their own lives. You can read more About Us here.
People often arrive at our site feeling a range of emotions including fear, anger, confusion, guilt, a sense of isolation, hopelessness and powerlessness. It can be a tremendous relief to discover that others have been where you are and are struggling with some of the same issues. You are not alone. We have been there.
June 15 2009 - Please excuse our appearance while the Out of the FOG Support Forum upgrades to run on the new Zetaboards software platform. The new software contains a number of new features and improvements over our existing system which should become evident after the conversion is completed.
This upgrade will convert all our existing forums, posts, PM's, memberships and profiles. There should be very little interruption in service or loss of data. The only thing you will notice is changes to the appearance of the graphical interface. It will take 1-2 weeks to complete the conversion.
Our main Out of the FOG information site, here at http://www.outofthefogsite.com will be unaffected by the upgrade. Bookmark this site and visit here if you have any trouble logging into the board. Should any unexpected interruption in our service occur, an announcement will be posted in the "Latest News" Box at at http://www.outofthefogsite.com. Additionally, a temporary discussion forum has been established here which you can use should we experience any long-term interruption of service.
Please excuse any inconvenience you may experience as we perform the upgrade.
June 3 2009 - BPD author A.J. Mahari has launched a new version of her website called BPD INFO which has a section which invites members to submit website articles about BPD. Our own gary submitted an article to her site this week.
March 23 2009 - The National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder (NEA-BPD) has scheduled another phone conference for April 3rd entitled Confronting Myths and Stereotypes about Borderline Personality Disorder. The presenter is Dr. Richard Hersh, Associate Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Associate Director of the Intensive Outpatient Program at Columbia University Medical Center.
Jan 8, 2009 - Time Magazine has published an article entitled The Mystery of Borderline Personality Disorder" by reporter John Cloud. The article includes an interview with BPD specialist Marsh Linehan.
