Supportive Therapy for Borderline Patients

``I have become convinced that many borderline patients are not helped by the psychiatric treatment they receive and even more troubling, that a fair percentage of them are made worse by it....Dr. Rockland's approach makes sense to me at a time when much of the literature on the psychotherapy of borderline personality does not....I have learned a great deal from this book and feel confident that it will have a pronounced beneficial effect on clinical practice.' --From the Foreword by Allen J. Frances Noting the potential dangers of uncovering approaches, early writers on borderline personality emphasized the value of supportive therapy. Despite these warnings, the preponderance of the current literature on borderline disorder is confined to exploratory psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Redressing this imbalance in the literature, this important new work is the first to present an organized and detailed description of how supportive interventions are accomplished with borderline patients. With a uniquely practical focus on ``how to do it,' Lawrence H. Rockland applies the principles of Psychodynamically Oriented Supportive Therapy (POST)--an approach that he formulated--to patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Divided in three sections, the book's opening chapters review the changing concepts of the borderline, vicissitudes in treatment recommendations, the general principles of POST, and the indications for applying this approach to BPD. The second section presents the 2 1/2-year psychodynamic supportive treatment of a patient with BPD. The four phases of treatment--evaluation and treatment planning, early phase, middle phase, and termination--are discussed in detail and illustrated with session dialogue and critical commentary by the author. The final section addresses two major problems--therapist countertransference and patient acting out. Other topics include continuous/intermittent supportive therapy, psychopharmacology in supportive therapy, and supportive aspects of inpatient treatments. Filling a significant gap in the literature, this important new volume's systematic and comprehensive exposition of supportive therapy for borderline patients makes it an invaluable resource for all practitioners who work with this difficult population. Replete with clinically useful suggestions and guidelines, it is ideal for trainees in all mental health disciplines. It is relevant to any course on dynamic psychotherapy, and serves as a text for all students of borderline pathology and its treatment.