Targeting core beliefs in treating borderline personality disorder: The case of Anna

Abstract

The present response paper is one of a series describing various cognitive-behavioral approaches to treating a patient, Anna, who has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and comorbid major depression (Kuyken, 1999). Anna is a 26-year-old, married, mother of two young children, who recently began a new job. Our case conceptualization focuses on the role of maladaptive core beliefs (A.T. Beck, Freeman, and Associates, 1990) and the avoidant/dependent subtype of BPD (Layden, Newman, Freeman, and Morse, 1993). Three stages of treatment are described (assessment/conceptualization, intervention, and maintenance) from a cognitive therapy perspective, and a cognitive case conceptualization diagram (J.S. Beck, 1995) is utilized to address three problems arising during therapy.