Q. Mr. Paul Mason, I would like your suggestion of what sort of therapy would be most beneficial to provide individuals being treated in an Area Program setting. Many of our clients have Borderline Personality Disorder in addition to a severe and persistent mental illness and usually a SA dx. We are set up to treat SPMI clients. I am a SPMI case manager and also do liaison work at a state hospital here in North Carolina. Myself and others at the facility I work are having to "treat" more and more individuals like I described above and most of us don't feel equipped to do so appropriately. DBT is the big emphasis here but some of us don't feel it is the best option for our clients. I'm going to share some of the info I've gathered from Dr. Markovitz's page with our Psychiatrist and your input would be greatly appreciated as well. We are wanting to work together to provide the best treatment possible for these individuals. I appreciate your dedication to this illness and your time you are providing us.

 A. It sounds from your description that you are working with a severely and chronically mentally ill population. I apologize as some of the acronyms we use for certain populations here may be different in other parts of the country. However, with a dually-diagnosed and multi-diagnosis type of client that you describe, any one form of treatment is unlikely to be effective for everyone. DBT assumes the client has fairly well developed cognitive skills that they can turn to in the face of emotional distress. Many clients do not possess this type of cognitive functioning. For them, basic problem-solving and solution-focused therapy can be more helpful since it is fairly structured and provides a nice framework for multiple and various problems. Consider reading some of the work by Scott Miller and Insoo Kim Berg on solution-focused work. Best wishes. It sounds like you are doing some very good and needed work down there.

[ Home ] [ BPD Bookstore ] [ BPD Membership Section ] [ BPD Today Advocate Program ] [ BPD Advocates Needed ] [ Search BPD Today ] [ DSM IV Diagnosis ] [ Ask the Therapist about DBT ] [ Ask the Dr. Archives ] [ Therapist's Archives ] [ What's New? ] [ Articles ] [ BPD Research ] [ BPD Discussions  ] [ Personal Stories ] [ BPD Chat ] [ BPD Family Chat ] [ BPD Bulletin Boards] [ BPD Family Boards ] [ Family Section ] [ Author Interviews ] [ Older BPDs  ] [ BPD Rages  ] [ Clinicians That Treat BPD ] [ Resources ] [ BPD Survey ] [ Links ] [ Email Volunteers ] [ Spiritual Support  ] [ Clinicians ] [ Awards ] [ Contact Us ] [ Mental Health Today ] [ Bipolar Disorder Today ] [ Borderline Personality Disorder Today ] [ Depression Today ] [Gender Identity Disorder Today ] [ Narcissistic Personality Disorder ] [ PTSD Today ] [ Schizophrenia Today ] [ Locate a Therapist ] [ Free Medication ]