Re:Exposure therapy and Borderline Personality Disorder

Ulrich:

I think the answer to your question is "yes." This was study used our standard PTSD protocol. Patients received 9 sessions over 5 weeks (2 sessions per week, each session 1.5-2 hours). Sessions 1 and 2 are for assessment, treatment planning, and patient education. In session 2 we begin developing a formal hierarchy for in vivo exposure and patients are assigned homework to be completed by session 3 to conduct their first in vivo exercise. Imaginal exposure begins in session 3. The patient has considerable control over what, how much, and how fast to tell the story. The therapist becomes more involved in helping the patient with repetitions in session 3 and in the sessions that follow. By session 6 or so, we are ready to begin focussing on hot spots. This continues until session 8 or 9 where we put the whole memory back together. Edna and her colleague Barbara Rothbaum have a formal text book that is available (Guilford press I think) and a patient guide book (through the same press that publishes David Barlow's Mastery of Your Panic, etc). If you want more details of this approach, I strongly suggest those two resources.

Replies:

One more thing for Ulrich, by Cahill, 02/12/03

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