Topic
Personality disorders
A personality disorder is marked by lasting ways of thinking, feeling and relating to others that cause significant distress or difficulties, for the person or for those around them. The manuals in this topic, written for professionals, present for each disorder the clinical understanding and the therapeutic approaches that have been studied. Guides are also written for the public, in particular for people whose emotions overflow and for those close to someone living with borderline personality disorder.
12 resources
For the public
Someone close with borderline personality disorder: understanding and helping
A flood of messages at midnight, a break-up announced and then regretted, injuries hidden under long sleeves: when someone you love has borderline personality disorder, you end up walking on eggshells. This guide explains what is really going on, why the word "manipulation" is misleading, how to acknowledge their emotions without accepting everything, how to set limits that hold, and what to do when their safety is at stake.
When emotions overflow: instability and borderline personality
Everything rises too fast, too strongly, and takes hours to come back down. A single sentence is enough to tip the day over, relationships swing from intensity to emptiness, and impulsivity does damage that is regretted at once. This guide explains that mechanism without labelling anyone, sets out the skills whose effectiveness is established, and points out something few people know: it gets better with time.
For professionals
These manuals are written for psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health practitioners. Anyone can read a preview; the full text is reserved for practitioners who have submitted proof of their professional status and who hold a professional plan.
Paranoid personality: a therapist's manual
A protocol of sixteen key sessions, within treatment lasting about a year, for adults whose lives are organised around mistrust of others. First, an alliance built on transparency, because the patient reads anything implicit as a threat. Then the cycle of mistrust, what it costs and what it protects, ambiguous situations, behavioural experiments, vigilance, rumination and sleep. Next, anger, grievances and assertiveness, graded trust in close relationships, and the vulnerability that lies beneath. Recognising justified mistrust, risk assessment, alliance ruptures as working material, an honest account of the level of evidence, and references.
Schizoid personality: a therapist's manual
A protocol of sixteen key sessions, within treatment lasting about a year, for adults whose lives are organised around detachment from relationships and emotional reserve. First, an alliance that respects the distance the patient chooses, and goals that never aim at sociability for its own sake. Then the map of contacts, the difference between chosen solitude and unwanted isolation, recognising emotions and bodily signals, activation based on the patient's own values, and the social demands of work. Next, a practical network, relationships at the right distance, pressure from family and others, and the transitions of later life. Detecting silent depression, the differential diagnosis with autism and avoidance, an honest account of the level of evidence, and references.
Schizotypal personality: a therapist's manual
A protocol of sixteen key sessions, within treatment lasting about a year, for adults who present ideas of reference, unusual beliefs and perceptions, an idiosyncratic way of thinking and speaking, and social anxiety tinged with mistrust. First, an alliance that accepts eccentricity and a clear framework; then psychoeducation on the continuum of unusual experiences, the cycle that maintains them, and the vulnerability factors that can be acted on: stress, sleep, cannabis. Next, ideas of reference, unusual beliefs and unusual perceptions approached through their effects rather than their truth, social anxiety and mistrust, clarity of communication, and life plans. An early warning signs plan written with the patient, the place of the family and of medication, an honest account of the level of evidence, and references.
Antisocial personality: a therapist's manual
A sixteen-key-session protocol, within treatment lasting about a year, for adults whose lives are organised by a lasting disregard for rules and for the rights of others, impulsivity and rule-breaking. First a firm, explicit framework, the limits of confidentiality stated by the second session, and a structured assessment of violence risk. Then motivation built from what the patient wants for their life, the real price of their behaviour, and analysis of the chain leading to an offence. Next, impulsivity, anger and violence, substance use, solving problems without rule-breaking, taking others into account, relationships, work and social circle. A relapse prevention plan, the distinction from psychopathy, the place of medication, a level of evidence set out honestly, and the references.
Borderline personality: a therapist's manual
A sixteen-key-session protocol, within treatment lasting about a year, for adults with borderline personality: emotional instability, fear of abandonment, intense and shifting relationships, impulsivity, suicidal behaviour and self-harm, a sense of emptiness. First, disclosing the diagnosis and a prognosis far better than its reputation, a written safety plan, a contract and a hierarchy of targets. Then chain analysis of crises, observing emotions, and skills for getting through crises, regulating emotions and keeping relationships going. Next, fear of abandonment, the capacity to think about others and oneself under stress, emptiness and identity, trauma at the right time, and a life worth living. Validation, the therapeutic relationship, family and friends, medication in its proper place, and the references of a field where the research is solid.
Histrionic personality: a therapist's manual
A sixteen-key-session protocol, within treatment lasting about a year, for adults whose lives are organised by attention-seeking, shifting and theatrical emotionality, seductiveness and suggestibility. First a warm alliance and a framework that holds in the face of seduction, then the attention cycle, what attention brings and what it costs, and the shift from impressionistic to precise thinking. Next, emotions named accurately, problem-solving, the capacity to exist without being looked at, seduction and its costs, suggestibility and vulnerability to exploitation, and the art of asking directly. Self-worth beyond the gaze of others, the gender and cultural biases of the diagnosis, a level of evidence set out honestly, and the references.
Narcissistic personality: a therapist's manual
A sixteen-key-session protocol, within treatment lasting about a year, for adults whose self-worth depends on superiority and admiration, in a grandiose or vulnerable form. First an alliance that avoids both humiliation and collusive admiration, goals framed in the patient's own terms, and an assessment that looks for depression and suicide risk after an injury. Then the cycle of fragile worth, what superiority protects and costs, and shame, recognised and named. Next criticism and failure, anger and devaluation, excessive demands, the place of the other person, repair and reciprocity. A realistic sense of self-worth, the distinction from the popular figure of the "narcissistic pervert", an honest account of the level of evidence, and references.
Avoidant personality: a therapist's manual
A sixteen-key-session protocol, within treatment lasting about a year, for adults who want relationships but flee them for fear of being judged, criticised or rejected, and who experience themselves as inferior or inadequate. First an alliance that anticipates avoidance of therapy itself, goals oriented towards a chosen life, and an assessment that looks for depression, alcohol use and isolation. Then the avoidance cycle, what it protects and costs, and safety behaviours. Next graded exposure, behavioural experiments that put the belief to the test, emotional avoidance, assertiveness, intimacy and real rejection. A belief of inadequacy revisited, self-criticism eased, the distinction from shyness and introversion, an honest account of the level of evidence, and references.
Dependent personality: a therapist's manual
A sixteen-key-session protocol, within treatment lasting about a year, for adults who feel unable to cope alone, who rely on others to decide and act, who submit so as not to lose their relationships, and who dread separation. First an alliance that welcomes without taking over, goals that belong to the patient, and an assessment that looks for violence, coercive control and depression. Then the dependence cycle, what it protects and costs, and requests for help and reassurance. Next deciding alone, doing things alone, tolerating uncertainty and solitude, expressing disagreement, rebalancing relationships and getting through a separation. A belief of incapacity revisited, an identity of one's own, an ending of therapy prepared from the start, the distinction from healthy dependence and from situations of coercive control, an honest account of the level of evidence, and references.
Obsessive-compulsive personality: a therapist's manual
A sixteen-key-session protocol, within treatment lasting about a year, for adults whose lives are governed by perfectionism, order, control and rigid rules, at the expense of flexibility, relationships, rest and pleasure. First an alliance that respects rigour without entering a power struggle, goals built from the costs the patient recognises, and an assessment that looks for exhaustion, depression and suicide risk. Then the control cycle, what perfectionism protects and costs, and the rules. Next the experience of "good enough", deciding and finishing, delegating, emotions, flexibility in the couple and the family, free time. Beliefs revisited, values in place of rules, the distinction from OCD and from professional conscientiousness, an honest account of the level of evidence, and references.
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