ABSTRACT
In cognitive therapy for personality disorders, the emphasis is on developing new, more adaptive beliefs rather than trying to modify old, existing core beliefs. The rationale is that pre-existing core beliefs are rigid and inflexible and in this model of personality disorder they have a pervasive impact on maladaptive behaviours. Attempting to modify these core beliefs through standard cognitive techniques is likely to fail as they have formed in childhood as a result of adverse events and dysfunctional relationships, and from the child’s perspective, these beliefs will have made sense of their experience. The overdeveloped behaviours that are an attempt to cope with childhood experiences are maladaptive in adulthood and are as ingrained as the core beliefs that go along with them. If the therapist is to help the patient acquire more adaptive and optimal coping skills in adulthood, new patterns of behaviour and thinking have to be developed. These behavioural patterns are the reciprocal of what has been learnt in childhood, the underdeveloped behavioural strategies, and it is necessary to learn new ways of thinking about self and others that would support and maintain these new behaviours.
