I hadn't heard of this specifically, although as soon as i read "transference" I immediately connected with psychoanalysis. BPD and psychoanalysis have a rocky relationship, and I think the treatment would require a VERY good, genuine therapist who is truly focused more on the therapy relationship than trying to move too quickly into interpreting everything about the past. So, I think you're correct about this being long-term. I'd imagine it would therefore be expensive, too, because it probably isn't as empirically supported as is DBT (and so insurance might be less likely to cover it). But all of this is just guesswork on my part.

I do think that there's something to be said about addressing some of the "root" of issues rather than just the symptoms, although I think that any good therapist who attends to interpersonal dynamics would be able to do at least some processing of that. i think that the patient would have to be psychologically strong enough to withstand the feelings and realizations that might come to surface, too. Once the therapist gets her to that point, perhaps it's worth the try.

If DBT didn't work so well for you, perhaps this is indeed worth a try! Maybe you can contact a psychoanalytic organization in your area (I don't know how...Google as usual?) and they might be able to direct you to the more specific practitioners...good luck!

Just a few points to clarify:

Traditional psychoanalysis is not effective for BPD. HOWEVER, almost no one practices traditional Freudian psychoanalysis anymore and almost no one would try it for BPD.

Traditional psychoanalysis, a few times a week, on-the-couch, unstructured, based on childhood memory is a bad idea for BPD. But currently, when it is a face-to-face, 1 or 2X wk treatment, based on trauma work, transference and developmental psychology, it is very effective. However, it takes therapist many years to learn this approach so most therapists don't know how to do it well. You would more likely find it in large urban centers that provide advanced training. Such as the program at Weil Cornell center in NYC, with the link from Joyce3001.

There are MANY misunderstandings and prejudices against psychoanalytically oriented therapy these days, usually fostered by insurance companies and ill informed therapists. Some of the very best, well respected and published therapists with BPD, including James Masterson, Glen Gabbard, Otto Kernberg, Peter Fonagy and others use a psychoanalytically-informed approach and will use a transference-based strategy. This may also be called "Mentalization-Focused" wich includes how the mind thinks about problems.

in the hands of a well-trained, experienced therapist this may be even more effective and long-lasting than DBT (there are complexities with research designs and outcome but more and more is coming out about the benefit of psychoanalytically informed therapy. See Shendler, et al for details).

While psychoanalytic approach had many faults in the past and deserved criticism, there have been many changes in the past 20 years. These have not been promoted adequately so that the public thinks that CBT, DBT, etc. are the only and "best", which is not the case.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2007/06/05/therapy-for-borderline-personality-disorder

http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/10/24/borderline-personality-disorder-sufferers-can-improve-with-psychoanalytic-therapy/46573.html

http://www.psychsystems.net/lab/dynamics_bpd.pdf

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychoanalysis/research/mbt.htm

http://focus.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=50191

More info:

http://www.borderlinepersonalitytoday.com/main/masterson2.htm
http://www.borderlinepersonalitytoday.com/main/gabbard.htm
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=100776

Call for referrals
http://internationalmastersoninstitute.com/about/
http://www.iabmcp.net/Masterson.htm
http://bpdresourcecenter.org/about.html
http://www.thegabbardcenter.com/teammembers.html
http://weillcornell.org/ottokernberg/
http://www.borderlinedisorders.com/personality-disorders-institute-professionals.php

Thanks for the responses, the information was very helpful especially the links supplied by NYNM.

I would like to add that many of these resources can provide referrals outside of the NY (or other large urban) area. Many may also be covered by insurance. It is worth a few phone calls to get a good referral. While DBT is excellent and usually covered by insurance, these referrals are almost all one-to-one (not group treatment), are long-term (a year or more, most more), are more "open" as opposed to skills based and get to the "root" of the development of personality disorder problems. They work best for people who are willing to commit to extended therapy. It is worth a phone call to ask about therapy near your area.

I spent 9 years in that type of therapy. Run not walk away from this type. I lost $29,000 in copays. Stay away. CAUTION. It is not helpful!!!!!!!!!!!

LL: Could you explain more? Are you sure your therapist was well trained? $29,000 in copays is a very lot of money; if someone is not getting better within six months or so, it is not the right kind of therapy for them.

As NYNM says I would like to know more about why those treatments failed you lonely lady and especially if we are talking about the same type of therapy, I don't think this is your standard talk therapy approach. I also feel schema therapy might be better for some people than dbt especially older people who don't have enough life left to work that hard to maybe make a difference by the time I"m 90.

wow. that sounds like what my current therapist does when I am with her. I just thought she was really smart, and I was glad to not be focused on stupid therapies that only work on what we do on the outside.

Just curious Stephanie if you like the program and if you've tried dpt. If so can you compare the two therapies. I really wish they had such therapies and more awareness of these disorders when I was younger. I hear it takes years for dpt to work and a tremendous amount of effort of which I'm not sure I have the capacity for at my age. I think I'm still menopausing for about the 5th year now which has made me a complete basket case. I would like to find a therapy that focuses more on helping to find the self without so much effort I guess.