The borderline patient in the general hospital

The usefulness of the general hospital inpatient service for the borderline patient is described. The short-term nature of most general hospital units requires a setting that facilitates the rapid establishment of a holding environment and the re-establishment of self-object transferences. Borderline patients have particular difficulty in accepting responsibility for their feelings and behavior and, instead, tend to blame themselves and others. An approach to inpatient care that defines expectations of both patient and family prior to and early in the admission of the patient is elaborated clinically and theoretically. Such an approach offers a way of working with the potential regression in borderline patients, especially around the important issues of responsibility and blaming. The staff's awareness of countertransference problems related to the patient and family as well as to the patient's therapist are described as important ingredients in successful work with these patients.