Transference-Focused Psychotherapy

This chapter details the theoretical and clinical underpinnings of transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP), a psychodynamic treatment modified from essential psychoanalytic principles and intended to treat patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). TFP has its roots in object relations theory, which focuses on the developmental achievement of an integrated and stable sense of self in interaction and relationship to equally whole and stable others. The theory posits a progression of psychological development on a continuum toward object constancy, tolerance of ambivalence (positive and negative affects in self and others), and achievement of an integrated identity. Our understanding of the core pathology of BPD and the systematic application of essential techniques and strategies of TFP are described.