Transference Psychotherapy and Borderline Personality Disorder

[KrustyTheKat]

I've just started the above therapy for BPD. It will be 1 year long one session a week.
I've been told that I need to find work of at least 20 hours a week (been out of work for over a year due to my unstable mental health) in order to go through the therapy.

I have very unstable relationships with people which leads to conflict etc. The idea is to start work and when I find myself in situations where I feel unable to cope or conflict arises I go to my therapy session and I am meant to 'transfer' those negative feelings to the therapist and then we are meant to work through what I was feeling.

Has anyone tried this?...I can't see how this will work as when I have come out of that unreasonable rage I get into there is no way I can recreate it in a therapy session.

Has anyone tried any other types of therapy for BPD?

Krusty Your therapist should be able to help you with this in the session by inviting your transference. That means that he/she should ask you questions and behave in a way that allows you to access those emotions in session and better understand what they mean and what they are really about.

I suspect that what is expected of you is to have an open mind, go with it (even if it feels uncomfortable to be confrontational or 'rude' to your therapist) and understand that everything that happens in the therapy room is relevant and useful.

If you have a good therapist, this could be really helpful for you. Good luck!

Sorry Krusty, think your thread has been taken over by trolls. Hopefully they'll be removed soon.

Speak to your therapist about your concerns. They are rational so the therapist may be able to explain in better detail how it works.

I've reported those other posts. Hopefully they should be removed.

Transference is a concept from psychoanalytic psychotherapy and it is very unusual to hear it framed in this way. Who referred you for this? Is there an evidence base? Is it possible that you may have misunderstood or partly understood the aim, and perhaps it is a bit more along the lines the poster above, 2cats2many, is suggesting? Even that is a very unusual concept.

Not tried it and was also suprised to hear of it in this context... interesting...

I wonder what the research shows, will have to google!

I thought DBT was the recommended treatment usually

Thanks for all your messages.
I was referred by my psychiatrist. Its all done on the NHS and my therapist is a clinical psychologist.
I hadn't heard of this type of therapy before, I'm trying to be open minded about it but I'm struggling to see how I can access those emotions without being in the situation feeling annoyed if you see what I mean?
DBT was the therapy I had heard of for BPD so I assumed that's what I was being referred for.

I'm only 3 sessions in so I'll keep at it.

I think it's probably transference focussed therapy (TFP) you're having. It's more common in USA but used regularly here. There's quite a strong evidence base for it, particularly with BPD. If you're worried or confused about anything, talk to your therapist about it. The idea is you'll experience similar feelings in and out of therapy, and the therapy is a chance to think about them with someone else. Good luck!

I started therapy with my therapist two years ago three months after deciding that I would kill myself after my second year of medical school . I was diagnosed with BPD at the age of 25, after struggling with depression and self harm from the age of 14.

I did twice a week sessions for the majority of it.With the occasional three when I really needed it when I've had exams.

My therapist is psychodynamically orientated which does heavily feature transference for me anyway. I'm not done with therapy, but I honestly never believed that it would even work for me and that I would just end up as a suicide statistic. but I kept turning up to sessions. And slowly things began to change in me.He gave me hope when I had none and he believed in me when I never did. It has been the hardest thing I've done, but where I am now I'm actually happy and have more up days than I used. I left a relationship I wasn't happy in. I took a year out of school and now I'm currently in my fourth year and almost done with my degree. I feel like I have a future.

One thing I would recommend is learning DBT skills even if your therapist has a different orientation. I bought the workbook by Matthew Mckay from amazon and just learning self soothing techniques really does help.