The Beginning Psychotherapist and Borderline Personality Disorder: Basic Treatment Principles and Clinical Foci

Borderline personality disorder is a prevalent psychopathology; thus, most graduate students in psychology, residents in psychiatry, and early career clinicians will encounter patients with this disorder in the course of their training or initial professional practice. This paper provides clear and concise guidelines for conducting treatment geared toward the clinician's developmental level. It builds upon the knowledge and skills that are typically acquired during graduate education and training to provide an accessible framework for undertaking psychotherapy with patients who have borderline personality disorder. This paper draws upon common psychotherapeutic factors and existing evidence-based treatments for the disorder to identify principals and interventions that are likely to contribute to therapeutic action. It uses behavioral, cognitive, and psychodynamic interventions to address the patient's multidimensional psychopathology. This approach offers a coherent and integrated treatment framework for the beginning psychotherapy practitioner.