Treating Personality Disorders Using a Systems Approach in Individual Psychotherapy (3 CEs)

Most studies of the background of clients diagnosed with personality disorders shows a high percentage of subjects have a history of child abuse, invalidation, or other features of family dysfunction. However, most therapy models do not deal directly with current family interactions, which often trigger and reinforce repetitive dysfunctional behavior throughout the client’s adulthood. The psychotherapy outcome literature shows mainly that current models of psychotherapy helping with symptoms of different disorders, but do little for the clients  problemswith love, work, and play.

This seminar will describe systemic factors over several generations that result in the formation and maintenance of personality disorders, elucidating the family dynamics of many of them. It will then focus on how therapists can get the full family history from reluctant clients while handling clients who come in with hostility or acting out with the therapist. We will then look at strategies for altering the family relationships teaching clients how to enact them through the use of role playing and role reversal. Last, it will discuss how clients can handle family relapses into old patterns.