Abstract
Despite its difficulty, psychotherapy is considered to be the first choice in the treatment of personality disorders (PDs). There is development and clinical application of growing body of psychotherapies for PDs present in last decades.
Nevertheless, the major problems are: 1) inconsistencies in quality of care provided to the patients with PDs because of limited availability of a specialized training for mental health professionals; 2) excessive specialization of the majority of new treatments in borderline personality disorder accompanied by reduced effectiveness of treatment for other PDs. Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) is a manualized, evidence-based treatment for severe personality disorders.
TFP provides a comprehensive diagnostic approach, overarching theoretical orientation, and specific techniques for application in clinical settings. This review points to the theoretical background, basic components, and empirical status of the TFP in comparison to the other specific PD treatments.
Extensions of use of the TFP beyond the long-term psychodynamic treatment frame are also mentioned.