Cognitive–behavioural therapy as a comprehensive treatment for personality disorders

Summary & key facts

Personality disorders are long-lasting patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that cause real distress and problems in relationships and daily life. This review explains how cognitive–behavioural therapies, which focus on spotting and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviours, can be used as a full treatment for different personality disorders. It describes how to assess these conditions, what we know about their brain links, and gives practical overviews of three main therapy models with examples of how they work in real life.

Key facts:

• Personality disorders are long-term psychological problems that cause ongoing impairment and emotional suffering.
• About 8% of people in the general community have a personality disorder, but among people in hospital the rate can be as high as three quarters.
• Cognitive–behavioural therapies focus on identifying and changing thought patterns and behaviours that keep psychological problems going.
• Research has shown that cognitive–behavioural therapies can be effective for treating several types of personality disorder.
• The article reviews three widely used cognitive–behavioural models for personality disorders: schema therapy, cognitive interpersonal therapy, and dialectical behaviour therapy.
• For each therapy model, the paper explains why it might help, what the therapist actually does, and gives practical examples and summary tables to illustrate treatment techniques.
• The review also covers ways to assess personality disorders both as categories and as traits that vary in degree, and it discusses relevant neurobiology research, meaning studies of how the brain may be involved.

Abstract

SUMMARY Personality disorders are a group of psychological disorders characterised by a developmental nature, long-lasting impairment and emotional suffering. Personality disorders have an estimated prevalence rate of approximately 8% in community settings, but in in-patient settings the rate might be as high as 76%. Cognitive–behavioural therapies (CBTs) include psychotherapies that emphasise the identification and modification of maladaptive thought patterns and behaviours that contribute to the maintenance of psychological disorders. CBTs have demonstrated their effectiveness in treating various types of personality disorder. This article focuses on the nature of personality disorders and their categorial and dimensional assessment and neurobiology. We present three influential CBT models used in personality disorders: schema therapy, cognitive interpersonal therapy and dialectical behaviour therapy. For each one, we outline the rationale, intervention strategies and therapeutic techniques, with practical examples and summary tables to illustrate their application.

Topics

Mental Health and Psychiatry Personality Disorders and Psychopathology Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications

Categories

Clinical Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Borderline personality disorder Clinical psychology Cognition Cognitive therapy Computer science Dialectical behavior therapy Interpersonal communication Intervention (counseling) Machine learning Personality Personality disorders Psychiatry Psychology Psychotherapist Schema (genetic algorithms) Social psychology

Conditions & symptoms

Feeling disconnected from others Sadness or low mood