How are expert therapists similar, different, and integrative in the treatment of borderline personality disorder?

This study examined the use of therapeutic skills by different, well-known experts in psychology who have published extensively on the treatment of borderline personality disorder to ascertain areas of technique similarity, difference, and integration. Initial videotaped sessions from these expert therapists working with the same patient were independently rated, using an established measure, on cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic-interpersonal techniques by 6 trained clinicians. These raters also independently identified what they believed were the segments of each session.

Therapist Evaluation of Client Adaptive Interpersonal Vulnerability: Relationship to Attachment Style.

The clinician-rated Adaptive Interpersonal Vulnerability Scale (AIVS) was developed from items of the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP; Westen & Shelder, 2007; Westen, Waller, Shedler, & Blagov, 2014). Convergent validity of the AIVS was examined with self-report attachment style measures: Relationship Questionnaire (RQ; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) and Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire-Revised (ECR-R; Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000). Fifty-nine patients completed the RQ and ECR-R before beginning psychotherapy.