Personality Disorder Support & Medication Management in Maryland & DC | MJB Holistic
- Melveena Johnson-Bolden, PMHNP-BC
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
MJB Holistic provides supportive psychiatric care and medication management for Maryland and DC residents living with personality disorder symptoms or diagnoses, via secure telehealth and in-person at our Upper Marlboro, MD office. Care is delivered by a board-certified PMHNP-BC. We work alongside therapists who specialize in evidence-based therapies for personality disorders.
Personality disorder is a label that often does more harm than good in casual conversation. In our practice, what matters is what you are actually experiencing — not the diagnostic shorthand. We work with adults whose patterns of feeling, thinking, and relating have caused them, or those they love, real distress, and who want a different way forward.
What We Mean (and Don't Mean) by Personality Disorder
Personality disorders are long-standing patterns of inner experience and behavior that differ from cultural expectations and cause distress or impairment. The DSM-5 organizes them into clusters: Cluster A (odd/eccentric), Cluster B (dramatic/emotional, including borderline), and Cluster C (anxious/fearful).
We don't lead with the label. Many people who could meet criteria for a personality disorder also have anxiety, depression, trauma history, ADHD, or substance use — and these often respond well to treatment in their own right. We focus on what is causing distress and what you want to change.
How We Can Help
Therapy is the primary treatment for personality disorders. Evidence-based therapies include:
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) — strongly evidence-based for borderline personality disorder
Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT)
Schema-Focused Therapy
Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and CBT for many adjacent concerns
Medication does not 'treat' a personality disorder, but it can meaningfully ease co-occurring conditions:
Where Medication Fits
Anxiety, panic, or persistent worry
Depression that overlaps with personality disorder symptoms
Mood instability — though we are careful here; many medications oversold for "mood swings" do not have strong evidence
Sleep disruption
Co-occurring ADHD, substance use, or trauma symptoms
We approach prescribing conservatively. Long medication lists tend to do more harm than good in this population. We will be straight with you about what a medication is likely to do — and not do — for you.
Coordinated Care
For personality disorder care to work, the prescriber and the therapist need to be on the same team. With your consent, we communicate with your therapist regularly to make sure we are not pulling in different directions. If you do not yet have a therapist, we can help connect you with one trained in DBT or another evidence-based approach.
Insurance Accepted
We accept the following insurance plans:
Aetna
Cigna
Blue Cross Blue Shield (CareFirst MD, FEP, out-of-state BCBS)
UnitedHealthcare
Maryland Medicaid (Priority Partners, Aetna Better Health, Maryland Physicians Care, MedStar Family Choice, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, Wellpoint, CareFirst Community Health Plan)
DC Medicaid (AmeriHealth Caritas DC, MedStar Family Choice DC, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Community Health Plan DC)
TriCare Prime, TriCare Select, Humana Military
Johns Hopkins Health Plans (USFHP, EHP, Priority Partners, Advantage MD)
Peach State Health Plan (for Georgia residents)
We verify your benefits before your first visit. To check coverage, call (301) 381-3622.
About the Provider
Care is provided by Melveena Johnson-Bolden, PMHNP-BC — a board-certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. A Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner is an advanced-practice nurse trained to evaluate, diagnose, and treat mental health conditions, including prescribing and managing psychiatric medications, within state scope-of-practice rules.
How to Schedule
Getting you seen quickly matters to us. We do our best to accommodate each patient's needs as soon as possible — same-day and next-day appointments are often possible, subject to availability. Call or book online and we'll find the soonest opening that works for you.
You can book online through our scheduling portal or call our Maryland office:
Call: (301) 381-3622
Office: 1300 Mercantile Lane, Suite 129-14, Upper Marlboro, MD 20774 (Georgia residents are seen by telehealth only)
We work to meet at a frequency that works best for each client. It's common to meet every 4 weeks at the start, then every 1-3 months once stable.
Related Topics
Other resources from MJB Holistic that may be helpful:
Frequently Asked Questions
I think I have BPD but no one has diagnosed me. Can I still come?
Yes. You don't need a diagnosis in hand to start care. We will assess and discuss what we are seeing together. We are also comfortable working with people whose symptoms don't fit a clean diagnostic box.
Will medication fix my personality?
No, and any clinician who tells you otherwise is overpromising. Medication can ease co-occurring symptoms — anxiety, depression, sleep, attention — and free up your bandwidth to do the work in therapy. The change in patterns happens through therapy and lived practice.
I've been on a lot of medications and none of them helped. What now?
That is common in this population. It often means the medications were aimed at the wrong target — chasing "mood swings" with mood stabilizers when the underlying issue was emotional regulation, which medication doesn't directly fix. We start with a careful re-evaluation of what is happening and work from there.
Do you do DBT?
No, we are not a DBT clinic. DBT is delivered by trained therapists with a particular structure. We refer to and coordinate with DBT-trained clinicians.
Can I bring a partner or family member to a visit?
Yes, with your consent. Many people find it helpful for someone close to them to be in the room, especially for a first visit or for medication discussions.
Care provided by Melveena Johnson-Bolden, PMHNP-BC. MJB Holistic & Therapeutic Services, LLC. 1300 Mercantile Lane, Suite 129-14, Upper Marlboro, MD 20774. Phone: (301) 381-3622.
Comments