Different Therapies for Borderline Personality Disorder

“Talk Therapy” is probably the most commonly recommended type of therapy for people with Borderline Personality Disorder. However, there are several different therapies for Borderline Personality Disorder. These include: Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Analytic Therapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy:
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy is usually an ongoing process which rarely lasts less than twelve months, and can often last longer. Psychodynamic Psychotherapy allows the client to talk through any issues that they have in their lives. The therapist can then help the client to understand their behavior and their way of thinking and link it to their past. Therapeutic relationships provide an opportunity to resolve past issues and conflicts, but this can be a long and difficult process. In Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, communication can be difficult, as people with Borderline Personality Disorder usually have undeveloped interpersonal skills, which is one of the characteristics of the disorder. However, one benefit of this type of therapy is that people with Borderline Personality Disorder can improve their interpersonal skills by interacting with their therapist.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy:
Cognitive Behavior Therapy is a combination of two psychotherapy techniques: Cognitive Therapy and Behavior Therapy. The aim of Behavior Therapy is to enable the client to change how they react to certain stimuli and thoughts. If there is a connection between a triggering incident and a behavior and/or an emotion, this type of therapy attempts to weaken the connection so new, more rational and positive behaviors can develop.

Cognitive Therapy is about changing the client’s cognitive, or thought, processes that may make symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder worse. Cognitive Behavior Therapy, then, attempts to determine what needs to change in the life of the client to improve their behavior (symptoms). It is more focused on improving the client’s “here and now” than delving too deeply into the past, since the past cannot be erased. The main aims of this type of therapy are to alter the client’s way of thinking and to encourage more positive actions/behavior. It is a very well researched type of treatment that has been shown to be highly successful for people with Borderline Personality Disorder.

Cognitive Analytic Therapy:
Cognitive Analytic Therapy is an integrated therapy, designed by Anthony Ryle, which has shown much promise in treating people with Borderline Personality Disorder. This therapy consists of a 24-week session program. It integrates theories from several different theoretical models including Cognitive Therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, psychoanalysis and object relations theory. It involves both the therapist and client actively working together to identify current problems of thought, feeling, and/or behavior and linking these things with past events in the client’s life. This type of therapy especially looks at interpersonal issues and uses the therapeutic relationship as a means of identifying and changing unhelpful patterns of relating to self and others. These patterns are identified as procedures, and the therapist and client together work out “exits” from these patterns together. The sessions are largely unstructured, and the material the client brings to each session is linked to the identified procedures. The client’s ability to recognize the roots of their problems is increased, which also increases the potential for change.

A “reformulation” letter is also written by the therapist and given to the client at around the fourth session, which summarizes the issues and the areas to work on as understood by both the therapist and client. This provides a useful reminder and also acts as a support to the client. “Goodbye” letters are also exchanged in the last few sessions and follow-up appointments are usually offered. The aim of Cognitive Analytic Therapy is not to achieve complete change during the therapy but, instead, to give the client the means to change themselves.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy:
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, developed by Marsha Linehan, PhD., is a type of therapy which stands out from other therapies in that it was developed especially for the purpose of treating Borderline Personality Disorder. This therapy is based upon the theory that psychosocial treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder is as important as traditional psychotherapy. A structure of treatment goals forms the basis Dialectical Behavior Therapy. This includes reducing parasuicidal behaviors, reducing behaviors that interfere with the therapeutic relationship, and then reducing those behaviors which directly impact upon the client’s quality of life. Studies have shown that this therapy is effective in achieving these goals.

About the Author

David Oliver is the founder of BorderlineCentral.com a one stop source of information on how to cope and deal with borderline personality disorder.

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