Targeting core beliefs in treating borderline personality disorder: The case of Anna

The present response paper is one of a series describing various cognitive- behavioral approaches to treating a patient, Anna, who has been diagnosed w ith borderline personality disorder (BPD) and comorbid major depression (Ku yken, 1999). Anna is a 26-year-old, married, mother of two young children, who recently began a new job. Our case conceptualization focuses on the rol e of maladaptive core beliefs (A. T Beck Freeman, & Associates, 1990) and t he avoidant/dependent subtype of BPD (Layden, Newman, Freeman, & Morse, 199 3). Three stages of treatment are described (assessment/conceptualization, intervention, and maintenance) from a cognitive therapy perspective, and a cognitive case conceptualization diagram (J. S. Beck, 1995) is utilized to address three problems arising during therapy.