Assignment: Therapy for Clients With Personality Disorders
To prepare:
- Review this week’s Learning Resources and reflect on the insights they provide about treating clients with personality disorders.
- Select one of the personality disorders from the DSM-5-TR (e.g., paranoid, antisocial, narcissistic). Then, select a therapy modality (individual, family, or group) that you might use to treat a client with the disorder you selected.
The Assignment:
Succinctly, in 1–2 pages, address the following:
- Briefly describe the personality disorder you selected, including the DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria.
- Explain a therapeutic approach and a modality you might use to treat a client presenting with this disorder. Explain why you selected the approach and modality, justifying their appropriateness.
- Next, briefly explain what a therapeutic relationship is in psychiatry. Explain how you would share your diagnosis of this disorder with the client in order to avoid damaging the therapeutic relationship. Compare the differences in how you would share your diagnosis with an individual, a family, and in a group session.
Support your response with specific examples from this week’s Learning Resources and at least three peer-reviewed, evidence-based sources. Explain why each of your supporting sources is considered scholarly. Attach the PDFs of your sources.
Submit your Assignment. Also attach and submit PDFs of the sources you used.
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction:
The treatment of clients with personality disorders is a complex process that requires a thorough understanding of the disorder, as well as appropriate therapy modalities. In this assignment, students are asked to select a personality disorder from the DSM-5-TR and a therapy modality, and describe how they would use it to treat a client. Additionally, they will need to explain what a therapeutic relationship is and how to share a diagnosis of the disorder with the client without damaging the therapeutic relationship.
Answer:
Personality disorders are a group of mental health disorders that are characterized by long-standing patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings that deviate from the cultural norm. The DSM-5-TR lists ten personality disorders, each with its own diagnostic criteria. For this assignment, I have chosen Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder is characterized by a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, a need for admiration, and a lack of empathy towards others. The DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria include having a grandiose sense of self-importance, a preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success and power, and a belief in their own superiority. Individuals with Narcissistic Personality Disorder often exploit others and have difficulty understanding or responding to the needs of others.
As to the therapy modality to be used, I would choose a psychodynamic approach, specifically the use of Transference focused psychotherapy (TFP). In TFP, the therapist focuses on the client’s relationship with the therapist, using the transference of unresolved conflicts from past relationships to develop insight and awareness.
The choice of TFP as a therapy modality for an individual with Narcissistic Personality Disorder is appropriate as it is designed to help the person develop a stronger sense of self and a more accurate appraisal of themselves and their interactions with others. TFP is also beneficial in promoting the development of empathy and the ability to understand other people’s perspectives, which is necessary for individuals with narcissistic traits.
In psychiatry, a therapeutic relationship is a professional relationship between a mental health provider and a client that is designed to help the client improve their emotional and psychological well-being. In addition, sharing a diagnosis of a personality disorder with a client can be challenging and has to be done carefully.
To avoid damaging the therapeutic relationship, I would start by empathizing with the client and letting them know that it is not easy to receive a diagnosis. Next, I would discuss the diagnosis with them using a DSM-5-TR framework. It is important to emphasize that the diagnosis does not define the client, but it is only a starting point in the therapeutic process.
When working with individuals, I would focus on building a collaborative relationship based on trust, empathy, and mutual respect. When working with families, I would focus on including all members of the family in the therapeutic process, as well as identifying interpersonal patterns that have contributed to the development of the disorder. In a group session, I would promote social learning and encourage members to share their experiences and solutions to common problems.
In conclusion, understanding personality disorders, therapy modalities, and the therapeutic relationship is essential for treating clients with personality disorders. As a mental health provider, it is also important to consider how to share a diagnosis with the client without causing harm to the therapeutic relationship.
