Laura's Bio | Laura's Education & Experience

Laura Paxton grew up in a literary family, raised by two PhD's in English who were English professors and also writers. She was considered a "literary prodigy," speaking in complete sentences before she was a year old, reading when she was three, and writing small books from the age of four. Laura's parents viewed "life as literature," instilling in Laura a sense of the poetry and beauty in everyday experience. Laura graduated from college when she was twenty years old, and then went on to receive two master's degrees, in psychology and in counseling, in her early twenties.

Laura’s precocious language development may have been due to a condition known as hyperlexia, which is often associated with autistic spectrum disorders or future development of related conditions. In her mid-twenties, When she failed to respond to multiple trials of medications, she was labeled as having “borderline personality disorder,” and she was told this was a chronic condition that could not be changed. No one considered the impact that Laura’s atypical neurological functioning had upon all this. In fact, neuropsychological testing was not even completed until November, 2005.

Laura made a decision in 1996 to dedicate herself completely to finding a solution to the struggles associated with the “borderline personality” diagnosis. She did not give up on finding a way to overcome the problems she was having. The result was that she stopped meeting the criteria for BPD in 1996. When she was evaluated in November, 2005, “no borderline subscales were elevated,” and no evidence was found that she met the BPD criteria any longer. There was also controversy regarding whether Laura ever had it at all.

In 1999, Laura published the Borderline and Beyond Program as a simple spiral bound set of pages printed on copy paper. Because of its popularity and success, Laura established the White Tiger Dream Press, through which she republished the book. The books have now sold over 20,000 copies, and have been shipped to more than 24 countries. In 2004, she led monthly workshops and even had her own retreat program. She offered consultation to patients and professionals from several different countries.

Eventually, the intense schedule and increased social prominence took its toll. Laura developed shingles twice in her mid-thirties, and she also experienced unpredictable attacks of chronic migraines, panic and anxiety. As a result, she underwent a series of neuropsychological assessments. Over a six month period, she was diagnosed as having a type of right hemisphere dysfunction known as Non-Verbal Learning Disability (NLD,) Attention Deficit Disorder-Inattentive Type, and Sensory Integration Disorder. Some clinicians have assessed her as having residual Asperger's Syndrome.

She is now receiving treatment for all of the above conditions, which has left her feeling balanced and well, with a much better understanding of how to take the best possible care of herself. Laura also suffers from bipolar disorder, a disorder which sent her to "spiritual highs," and the sense that she had overcome everything down to deep depression. Laura’s combination of symptoms often led to recurrent depression and anxiety, as her life took multiple turns of ups and downs due to sensory overload and attention deficit problems, sabotaging various periods of her life, social development and career.

During the year of 2005, Laura Paxton actually lost all interest in borderline personality disorder. During this period, Laura underwent a deep re-evaluation of her relationship to the construct of “borderline personality disorder” altogether. After all, upon re-analysis of her life, she could clearly see that neurological factors had led to more maladjustment problems than any mood spectrum or trauma spectrum model of BPD etiology accounted for. Therefore, she was invigorated once again to revise Borderline and Beyond.

This time, she does not propose to know the “answer” anymore about BPD. Instead, she raises some rather provocative questions. Much change has taken place in the treatment of BPD over the past decade. When Laura Paxton’s book was originally written, it was the first of its kind. Now, multiple treatments have shown greater promise, and more experts and professionals are questioning what was once assumed about BPD. Recent trends and strategies weresynthesized into the updated version of Borderline and Beyond.

Since 2001, Laura Paxton has worked as a mental health clinician and also provided private personal coaching for those suffering from BPD and also family members. She has had two radio interviews and led a chat conference at healthyplace.com. She has received commendation for her talks and workshops at such places as Rutgers University in Newark, NJ and for Sharp Hospital in San Diego, CA. Over the past year, Laura Paxton has been researching autism spectrum disorders, and related neurological disabilities. She is working to compile resources which may be of help to others.

As always, she will not allow these difficulties to hold her back. The most meaningful part of her life is sharing a positive message about learning to live productively and happily, whether one has a neurological, psychological impairment, or both.

Education

• Ed.S. (Education Specialist) Guidance and Counseling, 1993
  State University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA (www.westga.edu)
• M.A. Psychology, 1991
  State University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA (www.westga.edu)
• B.A. Psychology, 1989
  Shorter College (www.shorter.edu) Rome, GA

Post-Graduate Work

• Saybrook Insititute (www.saybrook.edu) 6 semester units, Winter 2003
  (Focused on Partial Credit Towards a PhD)
• San Jose State University (www.sjsu.edu) 9 semester units, Winter 2000
  (Focused on Special Education)
• Passed four Praxis Licensing Tests in Multi-Subject Teaching and Special Education, with superior scores.

Additional Certifications

• Certified in Combative Patient Management (PARTS training,) American Heart Healthcare Professionals Basic Life Support, CPR, AED & First Aid May, 2004

Other Experience
Laura has formerly been employed as a therapist, psychological assistant, social worker in a hospital setting, dual diagnosis clinical case manager, special education teacher, and a training specialist who designed and implemented a program in five counties to prepare 361 staff members for CARF accreditation. Laura enjoys working in an educational and consulting role with emotionally disturbed adults, children and adolescents.

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All contents of this website © Laura Paxton, 1999-2006