Relationship Management of the Borderline Patient: From Understanding to Treatment

This excellent, clearly written and incredibly useful book is a must have for any Adult Community Mental Health Service dealing with individuals who have Borderline Personality Disorder. It provides evidence-based, clear, ethical, and highly effective advice that should enable medical staff, and case managers to take control of their relationships with patients and understand what tends to derail these relationships. Minimize harmful hospital admissions, reduce risk, and help promote a more healthy way of engaging with these troubled individuals. A must have.

I have spent my life doing advocacy work for people with psychiatric disabilities. This is one of only two books I have read in the field that (despite its somewhat unappetizing title) I try to make sure everyone reads who treats, evaluates, advocates for, represents, or works with people who have the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.The only other book that reflects as deep an understanding of its subject is Joel Paris' book Half in Love with Death, which should be a companion to this book. It is filled with very practical, concrete illustrations and suggestions on how to interact with and help people who have been given this diagnosis, and the authors' counterintuitive observations and perceptions are confirmed by my twenty-three years' experience with scores of people who have been given this diagnosis.

BPD has posed many problems to therapists. This excellent book is an attempt to focus on the relationships that BPD sufferers have with health professionals. The book gives plenty of vignettes that sound realistic and are helpful in showing what's meant with relationship management. The overriding problem with BPD sufferers is the distorted relationships they build with authority figures. Mental Health workers are therefore prone to experiencing the worst of their behaviours as the struggle to wrestle control from them becomes a central feature in their overall management. I am intrigued by approaches like "No therapy therapy" and giving them maximum control over their treatment. Treating them as responsible adults sounds logical but becomes difficult in a real life situation. A very thorough intake becomes crucial, also in order to fully explore the terms of a contract. This should specify in detail the consequences of certain behaviours. On top of the challenging contents, it's a good read, too!