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Understanding and Treating Borderline Personality Disorder: A Guide for Professionals and Families offers both a valuable update for mental health professionals and much-needed information and encouragement for BPD patients and their families and friends. The editors of this eminently practical and accessible text have brought together the wide-ranging and updated perspectives of 15 recognized experts who discuss topics such as
• A new understanding of BPD, suggesting that individuals may be genetically prone to developing BPD and that certain stressful events may trigger its onset
• New evidence for the success of various forms of psychotherapy, including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), in reducing self-injury, drug dependence, and days in the hospital for some groups of people with BPD
• Pharmacology research showing that the use of specific medications can relieve the cognitive, affective, and impulsive symptoms experienced by individuals with BPD, as part of a comprehensive psychosocial treatment plan
• New resources for families to help them deal with the dysregulated emotions of their loved ones with BPD and to build effective support systems for themselves
Yet much remains to be done. Research on BPD is 20 to 30 years behind that on other major psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Despite evidence to the contrary, much of the professional literature on BPD continues to focus on childhood trauma, abuse, and neglect as triggers for BPD—to the detriment of both patient and family.
Families of people with BPD must deal with an array of burdens in coping with the illness, often without basic information. The chapters on families and BPD give voice to the experience of BPD from the perspective of individuals and family members, and offer the hope that family involvement in treatment will be beneficial to everyone.
Above all, this book is about the partnership between mental health professionals and families affected by BPD, and about how such a partnership can advance our understanding and treatment of this disorder and provide hope for the future.
This impressive book is quite successful in clearly communicating information to a diverse audience on a complex disorder. It is a one of a kind source that provides an extensive amount of information for professionals and lay persons in a unique and manageable form by blending personal experiences with current psychiatric understanding. It will be a valuable resource for family members, patients, and healthcare professionals alike.
— Marie A. Dewitt, M.D.
John G. Gunderson, M.D., is Director of the Center for Treatment and Research on Borderline Personality Disorder at McClean Hospital in Belmont Massachusetts. He is also Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Perry D. Hoffman, Ph.D., is President of the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder and Research Associate at Weill Medical College at Cornell University in New York, New York.
Contributors
Foreword
Preface
A word to the lay reader
Part I: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prognosis
Chapter 1. The borderline diagnosis: Concepts, criteria, and controversies
Chapter 2. Psychotherapies for borderline personality disorder
Chapter 3. Suicidal and self-injurious behavior in borderline personality disorder: A self-regulation model
Chapter 4. Pharmacotherapy in borderline personality disorder
Chapter 5. The longitudinal course of borderline personality disorder
Part II: Family Matters
Chapter 6. Living with borderline personality disorder: Two firsthand accounts
Chapter 7. Family perspectives on borderline personality disorder
Chapter 8. From family trauma to family support system
Chapter 9. Family involvement in treatment
Index