Scholarly Saturday- Attachment Theory and Borderline Personality Disorder
On Thursday I had two lengthy conversations with professionals and a parent about trauma and attachment. This got me thinking about a client I worked with in my brief time working with adults. There was a young lady in her mid-twenties who was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. She was in and out the hospital and making little progress. I attempted to argue that she was a 27 year old with Reactive Attachment Disorder. My argument at the time was not that good.
What I needed was the work of Levy (2005) to make the argument for me. This article does an excellent job reframing some of the challenges we face as treatment teams with Borderline Personality Disorder. This is useful information in rethinking the assessment and treatment of this often challenging diagnosis.
Levy, K.N., (2005) The implications of attachment theory and research on the understanding of borderline personality disorder. Development and Psychopathology. Vol. 17 pp. 959-986
There is a PDF link found at the Google Search.
