Borderline Personality Disorder (WW Norton & Co)

Few psychological problems carry the negative connotation accompanying borderline personality disorder (BPD). Rather than a single disorder, BPD is a complex constellation of feelings, actions and thoughts that often create difficult or life-threatening situations for the client.

Clinicians Arthur Freemand and Gina Fusco have written two companion volumes to help both the person with BPD and his or her therapist take control of the disorder. These volumes present practical strategies and the research theory behind them.

The therapist's manual should provide a clinician with the necessary tools for working with this innovative programme from the basic steps of an assessment through all treatment phases. The accompanying patient's manual offers the individual with BPD concrete, specific and useful material and techniques with which to work.

This treatment programme involves four stages. The first is identifying the specific areas where control needs to be asserted. The second step is taking control. This involves changing how one thinks, feels and acts.

The programme should help clinicians choose specific techniques that are designed for helping the participant assert control.The third step is maintaining control. Through readings and therapy, patients should be helped to maintain gains made through the programme.

The fourth and final stage is relapse prevention.