title: Couples Therapy: Treating Selected Personality-disordered Couples Within a Dynamic Therapy Framework.
abstract: Personality disordered couples present unique challenges for couples therapy. Novice therapists may feel daunted when taking on such a case, especially given the limited literature available to guide them in this specific area of therapy. Much of what is written on couples therapy is embedded in the larger body of literature on family therapy. While family therapy techniques may apply to couples therapy, this jump requires a level of understanding the novice therapist may not yet have. Additionally, the treatment focus within the body of literature on couples therapy tends to be situation-based (how to treat couples dealing with divorce, an affair, illness), neglecting how to treat couples whose dysfunction is not the product of a crisis, but rather a longstanding pattern escalated to the level of crisis. This is exactly the issue in therapy with personality disordered couples, and it is an important topic, as couples with personality pathology often do present for treatment. This article strives to present practical techniques, modeled in case vignettes, that can be applied directly to couples therapy- specifically therapy with personality disordered couples.
authors.affiliation: Dr. Landucci is a Fourth-year Psychiatry Resident with Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Dr. Foley is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry with Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Staff Psychiatrist at Wright-Patterson Medical Center, Dayton, Ohio.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Landucci
authors.affiliation: Dr. Landucci is a Fourth-year Psychiatry Resident with Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Dr. Foley is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry with Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Staff Psychiatrist at Wright-Patterson Medical Center, Dayton, Ohio.
authors.forename: Gretchen N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Foley
keywords: Psychotherapy; borderline; couples therapy; histrionic; narcissistic; obsessive-compulsive; personality disorder