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Medical Author:

Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD

Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD

Dr. Roxanne Dryden-Edwards is an adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist. She is a former Chair of the Committee on Developmental Disabilities for the American Psychiatric Association, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and Medical Director of the National Center for Children and Families in Bethesda, Maryland.

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Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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Although psychiatric hospitalization may often be used to address the suicidal and other safety crises of individuals with BPD, it is unclear how beneficial that intervention is. In contrast, partial hospitalization has shown some promise as an intervention for individuals with BPD who are not in imminent danger of mortally harming themselves or others. Partial hospitalization involves the sufferer receiving intensive mental health treatment for several hours per day then returning home each afternoon or evening. Therapeutic communities are living arrangements that provide a safe, nurturing, and structured environment for individuals with BPD that they may not have received as a child. Those communities can play an important role in the care for these individuals.

Most practitioners will use some form of psychotherapy to treat BPD. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) addresses problems that individuals with borderline personality disorder often have relating to others and managing their behaviors and feelings. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy involves the mental health professional helping the person with BPD explore deep feelings and the ways they manage those feelings (defenses) in ways that are not constructive. Interpersonal psychotherapy focuses on helping people with BPD relate to others in healthier, more appropriate ways.

Psychotherapy remains the mainstay of treatment for BPD. Many practitioners use techniques to help BPD sufferers better regulate their emotions and interact with others. Given the constraints of health insurance-funded treatment, mental health providers are often limited to supporting patients in their daily emotional and interpersonal struggles rather than directly treating their symptoms.

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