Once Upon a Time there was a Gray Chameleon: A Documented Treatment of a Patient with Borderline Personality Disorder with Positive Psychotherapy from the Perspective of the Patient and the Therapist

Abstract

Even though the borderline personality disorder (BPD) belongs to the most common personality disorders, its treatment is still a great therapeutic challenge. The different approaches have one thing in common – the request for a flexible setting depending on to meet the patient’s needs. After a brief introduction, we report about a 27-year-old female patient who was treated successfully in a 33-hour-session individual therapy. The applied method was positive psychotherapy, a humanistic psychodynamic method. Additional techniques are explained. The patient wrote more than 500 pages as homework during the treatment period of 10 months. This material gives an insight into the therapeutic process and its transference phenomena from the perspective of the patient. The therapist´s comments conclude this and give an insight into the countertransference. The applied therapeutic techniques, especially the writing, homework, tales and bibliotherapy are discussed. Finally, in conclusion, a more innovative approach for the treatment of borderline disorders is called for.

Keywords

• borderline personality disorder
• positive psychotherapy
• psychodynamic psychotherapy
• homework
• bibliotherapy