At this training workshop, which would be especially relevant for counsellors, psychotherapists and psychologists across modalities, we will in presenting relevant elements of attachment theory and research, we will look at the role of attachment, the range of attachment styles, including disorganised attachment, and how these link to personality disorders, in particular Borderline Personality Disorder (aka Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder), Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Anti-social Personality. We will explore how personality disorders present in the therapeutic space and how they impact on the therapeutic relationship.

Emphasis will be placed on understanding personality disorders as adaptations to relational threats and how to reframe these as enduring personality changes rather than a personality disorder. The training will evaluate the traditional psychiatric formulation of personality disorders and compare these to current conceptualisation of personality disorders in ICD-11 (2022) and the DSM-5-TR (2022) Alternative Model for Personality Disorders. This will be combined with clinical formulations that reframe personality disorders as disorders of attachment and relational trauma rather than a personality disorder. The focus will be on understanding what happened to the person rather than what is the problem and what they had to do to survive including enduring changes in their sense of self and personality.

This reformulation of personality disorders enables us, as therapists, to work in a more compassionate, non-judgemental and non-shaming way. It humanises those who have been labelled with a personality disorder and enables them to make contact and facilitate connection. With our understanding of personality disorders as manifestations of deep emotional suffering in response to traumatic attachments, we are able to transform the therapeutic process for our clients to create a sustained positive impact on their lives and relationship patterns.

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