scholarly journals The Therapeutic Alliance Over 10 Sessions of Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: Agreement and Congruence Analysis and Relation to Outcome

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yogev Kivity ◽  
Kenneth N. Levy ◽  
Stéphane Kolly ◽  
Ueli Kramer

The authors examined whether alliance dynamics are affected by tailoring the therapeutic relationship to the individual patient in brief psychotherapy of borderline personality disorder. Sixty patients were randomized to 10-session Good Psychiatric Management (GPM-BV) or GPM combined with Motive-Oriented Therapeutic Relationship techniques (MOTR+GPM-BV). Patient- and therapist-rated alliance was assessed weekly. Self-reported symptomatic distress was assessed pre-, mid-, and posttreatment. In MOTR+GPM-BV, stronger therapist-rated alliance predicted lower symptomatic distress in the same timepoint, but not in a lag, whereas symptomatic distress predicted therapist-rated alliance in a lag. Therapist-rated alliance was lower than patient-rated alliance in GPM-BV but not in MOTR+GPM-BV. In MOTR+GPM-BV, higher agreement on strong alliance tended to predict lower symptomatic distress. Patient- and therapist-rated alliances were temporally congruent, but congruence did not predict outcome. Addressing the relationship needs of patients may partly exert its salutary effect by increasing agreement between patients' and therapists' experience of the alliance.

Author(s):  
Sandra Köhne ◽  
Ulrich Schweiger ◽  
Gitta A. Jacob ◽  
Diana Braakmann ◽  
Jan Philipp Klein ◽  
...  

eHealth programs have been found to be effective in treating many psychological conditions. Regarding Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), few programs have been tested; nevertheless, results are promising. The therapeutic alliance is an important factor predicting treatment outcome in BPD. However, we do not know yet to what extent BPD patients form a therapeutic alliance with an eHealth tool and how this relationship differs from the relationship with their human therapist. This study aims to address this question using priovi, an interactive schema therapy-based eHealth tool for BPD. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore how patients perceived the therapeutic alliance with priovi and its differences compared to the alliance with their human therapist (N = 9). Interview data were analyzed following the procedures of qualitative content analysis. Additionally, the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI-SR) was administered in two versions (regarding the human therapist and priovi, N = 16) every three months during the treatment phase of one year. Results indicate that patients were able to form a good therapeutic relationship with priovi, but it differed from the relationship to their human therapist. Important categories were “priovi is helpful, supportive and always there” and “priovi is less flexible”. WAI ratings for the task subscale were high in both relationships but significantly higher in WAItherapist compared to WAIpriovi in two measurements (nine-months measurement: t = 2.76, df = 15, p = 0.015; twelve-months measurement: t = 3.44, df = 15, p = 0.004). These results indicate that BPD patients can form a functioning alliance with an eHealth program and that eHealth programs may be especially useful for psychoeducation and cognitive exercises.


2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L. Palmer

The concept of borderline personality disorder (BPD) seems to include, almost by definition, the idea that people described by the term are difficult to help. The broad picture portrayed by the diagnostic criteria (Box 1) is likely to be familiar to most clinicians and to cause the hearts of many to sink. A core issue for those with BPD is difficulty of relationship, and this will inevitably – even especially – include clinical and therapeutic relationship. It is all too common for distress to be met with much therapeutic effort but for little to change. Indeed, there is often a nagging sense that attempts at treatment may be making matters worse. The care of people with BPD presents an important challenge to mental health services. At the individual level, the patient continues to be at risk and to suffer and the clinician feels frustrated. At the service level, substantial resources may be expended to little apparent benefit.


2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Kling

As many research studies show, a large portion of clinicians in the mental field hold pejorative attitudes toward those with borderline personality disorder. Oftentimes, these attitudes become manifest through the use of stigmatizing language to describe client behavior, such as “manipulative” and “attention seeking.” In this article, combining personal experience with research, I explore how stigmatizing language and attitudes affect the relationship between client and clinician and how such language impacts recovery. I offer for consideration solutions that might be more conducive to recovery and lead to a better working relationship between client and clinician.


2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 730-749
Author(s):  
Martino Belvederi Murri ◽  
Federica Folesani ◽  
Silvia Costa ◽  
Bruno Biancosino ◽  
Luigi Zerbinati ◽  
...  

Very few studies have focused on the relationship between cognitive functions and clinical features in borderline personality disorder (BPD). Subjects with BPD and healthy controls were administered the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status, Trail Making Test A and B, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-53) was used to assess the severity of current symptoms. Attachment style was assessed with the Experiences in Close Relationship Questionnaire, identity integration with the Personality Structure Questionnaire, and other domains of personality dysfunction with the RUDE Scale for Personality Dysfunction. Patients with BPD performed significantly worse than healthy controls in all cognitive domains. Cognitive functions, particularly delayed memory and visuospatial abilities, displayed meaningful associations with trait-like clinical features, above the effect of global cognition and state psychopathology. These findings highlight the need to evaluate effects of cognitive rehabilitation on trait features among individuals with BPD.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janice Valencia ◽  
Frikson Christian Sinambela

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a deliberate destruction of one’s own body tissue without suicidal intention that causes physical injury. NSSI is mostly found in adolescents or young adults (Paul, Tsypes, Eidlitz, Ernhout, & Whitlock, 2015). Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is one of the risk factors for developing NSSI. Individuals with borderline personality disorder also experience invalidation during their childhood, this can cause individuals with BPD to feel that they deserve to receive NSSI as a form of self-punishment (Sadeh et al., 2014). In addition, children who experience parental separation (through death, divorce or employment) have a higher risk factor for developing NSSI (Astrup, Pedersen, Mok, Carr, & Webb, 2017). A literature search was conducted in six databases, and a total of 20 relevant articles were found. The explanation of the relationship between non-suicidal self-injury, borderline personality disorder, and loss of or separation from a parent are explored in this study, in order to increase understanding of how NSSI behaviours can be prevented. Keywords: NSSI, Borderline Personality, Separation Parent


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 838-856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah J. Scheibner ◽  
Anna Daniels ◽  
Simon Guendelman ◽  
Franca Utz ◽  
Felix Bermpohl

Individuals suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD) experience difficulties with mindfulness. How mindfulness influences BPD symptoms, however, is still unknown. We hypothesized that the relationship between mindfulness and BPD symptoms would be mediated by self-compassion. In study 1, we recruited 29 individuals with BPD and 30 group-matched healthy controls. In study 2, we complemented our results with findings from a larger, nonclinical sample of 89 participants that were recruited during an open-house event at the local university. All participants completed questionnaires assessing self-compassion, mindfulness, BPD symptom severity, and emotion dysregulation. In both studies, self-compassion mediated the relationship between mindfulness and BPD symptom severity as well as between mindfulness and emotion dysregulation. Self-compassion seems to be one psychological process that could explain the relationship between mindfulness and BPD symptoms. One promising approach in therapy could be to target self-compassion more directly during mindfulness trainings and interventions.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document