Over the past two decades considerable progress has been made in
developing specialist psychosocial treatments for borderline personality
disorder (BPD), yet the majority of people with BPD receive treatment
within generalist mental health services, rather than specialist
treatment centres.
This is a book for general mental health professionals who treat people
with borderline personality disorder (BPD). It offers practical guidance
on how to help people with BPD with advice based on research evidence.
After a discussion of the symptoms of BPD, the authors review all the
generalist treatment interventions that have resulted in good outcomes
in randomised controlled trials, when compared with specialist
treatments, and summarise the effective components of these
interventions. The treatment strategies are organised into a structured
approach called Structured Clinical Management (SCM), which can be
delivered by general mental health professionals without extensive
additional training.
The heart of the book outlines the principles underpinning SCM and
offers a step-by-step guide to the clinical intervention. Practitioners
can learn the interventions easily and develop more confidence in
treating people with BPD. In addition, a chapter is devoted to how to
help families - an issuecommonly neglected when treating patients with
BPD. Finally the authors discuss the top 10 strategies for delivering
treatment and outline how the general mental health clinician can
deliver these strategies competently.
