At this summer school you will explore:

• The aetiology and nature of borderline structures
• The complexities of assessment and diagnosis – for example distinguishing BPD from complex PTSD
• Borderline symptoms: disorganisation of mind, dysfunctional psychological defenses, poor reality testing, and dsyregulation of affect
• How psychological therapies may be helpful in re-organising defenses and integrating splits
• Applications of effective treatment modalities: relational, psychoanalytic, attachment-based, DBT, mentalisation
• Complexities in the psychotherapeutic relationship, boundary issues, transference and countertransference dynamics
• A review of effective treatment approaches

The concept of the borderline personality has undergone significant review in recent years, and is now widely understood to be a constellation of symptoms and behaviours that are the expression of an early attachment disorder: those who receive the diagnosis of BPD map closely onto those known to have experienced abusive and neglectful early backgrounds. We now have far greater understanding on how such childhoods severely restrict social, relational and emotional development.

But how do we work psychotherapeutically with people for whom early developmental deficits have resulted in severe emotional dysregulation and a dysfunction ally personality structure? Amplified emotional responses to others, self-harming approaches to affect regulation, and difficulty in reciprocal empathy, all lead to complexity in the psychotherapeutic relationship intended to help.

This 5-day seminar school brings together a group of psychotherapists to present their views on how a person with a borderline vulnerability or BPD can gain from psychotherapy. The most contemporary and effective approaches will be explored, introducing new theory and practice that will support your own effective psychotherapy work.