Psychotherapy for borderline personality : focusing on object relations

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The nature of borderline personality organization -- The treatment of borderline pathology: the strategies of TFP -- The techniques of treatment: moment-to-moment interventions -- Tactics of treatment: laying the groundwork for techniques -- Assessment phase: clinical evaluation and treatment choice -- Assessment phase: treatment contracting -- Early treatment phase: impulse containment and capacity to maintain the relationship with the therapist -- Midphase of treatment: movement toward integration with episodes of regression -- Advanced phase of treatment and termination -- Crisis management and other special situations -- Changes processes: theoretical and empirical perspectives.

The product of more than 25 years of development, transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) draws on advances in object relations theory and attachment theory with the goal of not merely treating symptoms but changing the patient's underlying personality and quality of life.

Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality describes principles of TFP intervention and contains a wealth of practical guidelines on how to apply TFP to individual patients on a session-by-session basis. This groundbreaking treatment manual focuses on the tasks of the therapist and the sequence of responses by the patient for each phase of treatment. Recognizing that patients with borderline personality organization (BPO) start treatment at different points of their pathology, the authors provide an expansive description of the treatment course with high-level and low-level BPO patients, making the book relevant to a wide range of clinical situations.

With insights garnered from years of successful clinical application, Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality will sharpen the skills of those already familiar with TFP and introduce others to a trailblazing approach to therapy.