The wish to be held: female patients with borderline personality disorder.
Two female patients expressed in psychotherapy their wish to be held. This reflects their pathology, intense loneliness and defective sense of self and reality. The 'holding' function of the psychotherapist can place the wish to be held into the mutual interaction even if it seems unacceptable, similar to the holding in mother-child communication. The deliberate efforts by the psychotherapist to 'hold' lead to an improvement of the pathology, and contribute to form an endurable therapeutic relationship. Unavoidable body contact with patients who are in regressive states is discussed, and the need to re-establish the communicative value of contact experiences is emphasized.
Hayashi
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Department of Psychiatry, Tokyo Metropolitan Matsuzawa Hospital, Japan.
D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D002997:Clomipramine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006234:Handling, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D008132:Loneliness; D009769:Object Attachment; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012043:Regression, Psychology; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012737:Sex Factors
D002997:Clomipramine; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors