COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS IN THE PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY OF BORDERLINE PERSONALITY-DISORDERS

A pathology of affect regulation and of object relations (the cognitive and affective processes that mediate interpersonal functioning in close relationships) are two features that define much of borderline pathology. Cognitive-behavioral interventions that target self-regulation and social-cognitive processes (such as perspective-taking and attribution) can be usefully integrated into psychodynamically oriented treatment of borderline patients. Strictly psychodynamic approaches tend to be limited by factors such as a lack of attention to processes by which conscious insight and coping strategies can be transformed into automatic or adaptive unconscious procedures in these patients. Cognitive approaches tend to be limited by rationalistic assumptions about motivation and an underestimation of the complexities of cognitive-affective interactions and unconscious processes. © 1991.