Guidance for Family Engagement With Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder: Integrating Principles From Transference-Focused Psychotherapy and Good Psychiatric Management

Clinicians working with patients with primary or co-occurring personality disorder diagnoses are often confused about how to work most effectively with patients' families. While there are a variety of well-described interventions for working with families of patients with borderline personality disorder, these options are often unavailable or unaffordable. The goal of this article is to outline a set of simple, commonsense interventions for generalist providers informed by two evidence-based treatments for patients with borderline personality organization or other moderate to severe personality disorder presentations, transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP), and good psychiatric management for borderline personality disorder. Clinicians can benefit from familiarity with the guidance for working with families outlined in these modalities, even if they are not motivated to offer either of these two treatments themselves. The combination of TFP and good psychiatric management elements offers a clear and helpful road map for useful interventions in what can be thorny and complicated situations.