ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the feasibility of developing a trans-theoretical and trans-diagnostic treatment for personality disorder. The collaborative relationship needed to treat any mental disorder has additional significance when treating personality disorder because the impaired relationships that characterise the disorder require additional attention to promoting a collaborative alliance. Therapist factors contribute to positive outcomes either directly or indirectly through their influence on the alliance. Validating interventions that recognise and affirm the legitimacy of the client's experience are a critical therapeutic process in treating personality disorder. Integrated modular treatment (IMT) conceptualises the work of therapy as engaging the client in a collaborative description of his or her problems and psychopathology, and the effect of these problems on his or her life and relationships and to reflect on the nature and consequences of these problems. The dysfunctional mechanisms linked to personality disorder are best conceptualised as neuropsychological structures rather than purely neurobiological entities.
