A psychodynamic treatment for severe personality disorders: Issues in treatment development

We describe a psychodynamic treatment modified for patients with severe personality disorders identified as borderline personality disorder in DSM-IV, Axis II, and understood as borderline personality organization from a psychoanalytic perspective. This treatment is labeled transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) in order to highlight the centrality of working with these patients in the here-and-now treatment interaction. The empirical development of TFP is described, including the generation of a treatment manual, the utility of various methods to teach the treatment, and preliminary data on efficacy. The latest step in the development of this treatment is an ongoing randomized clinical trial comparing the efficacy of TFP to a cognitive-behavioral and a supportive treatment.