ABSTRACT
The Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) can be recognized by the following descriptors and characteristics: styles vs. disorders, triggering event, behavioral style, interpersonal style, cognitive style, affective style, attachment style, and optimal diagnostic criterion. This chapter focuses on diagnosis, case conceptualization, psychological assessment, and treatment interventions. It begins with background information on the disorder as well as a DSM-5 description and a prototypic description of this disorder. Bateman and Fonagys mentalization approach to BPD is rooted in object relations and attachment theory. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-IV), the Rorschach Psychodiagnostic Test, and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) can be useful in diagnosing the BPD as well as the BPD style. Problem patterns are categorized according to the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB), a method developed by Benjamin. BPD is characterized by unstable personality structure that seems to shift among the various insecure attachment styles creating a disorganized profile, called the disorganized attachment style.
