This paper recounts my work with Anna, a 26-year-old married woman working
in two part-time jobs, who presented with major depression. The high preval
ence rates of depression, the comorbidity of depression with personality di
sorders (see Farmer & Nelson-Gray, 1990), and the long-term and destructive
course of borderline personality disorder (BPD) present a formidable chall
enge both to mental health professionals and clinical researchers (A. T. Be
ck, Freeman, & Associates, 1990; Gunderson & Zanarini, 1987; Linehan, 1993;
Ryle, Leighton, & Pollock, 1997). Two main thanes will be emphasized. Firs
t, the last la years has seen a burgeoning of clinical accounts, theoretica
l expositions, and clinical research of comorbid depression and personality
disorders in the cognitive-behavioral tradition. This paper seeks to draw
on this literature in describing and explaining the case of Anna. Second, a
developmental psychopathology! cognitive-behavioral approach is adopted in
conceptualization and treatment planning.