A developmental psychopathology approach

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.