Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder Description:

Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder review:
4 stars (Effective for higher functioning, motivated borderlines) - I work in a residential treatment facility for SPMI (all clients also have at least one Axis I diagnosis), and most of our clients have too low of intellectual functioning to grasp many of the DBT concepts. As an intellectual and a practicising Buddhist, I enjoy Linehan's text (especially the focus on Zen aspects: primarily mindfulness). I have encountered many therapists who have succesfully utilized DBT with other client populations. Dr. Linehan has poured years of experience and research into this text. For my clients, I have to significantly alter and simplify many of the tennants of this treatment. If you are reading this, you know that Borderlines are a growing (and very timeconsuming) population of consumers and this text should be in the library of all mental health workers.
5 stars (Fascinating!) - I found this book to be so fascinating and eye opening. Although this book is written for those who TREAT borderline personality disorder, I think it will be very helpful to those who have the disorder. I know it has been a great learning tool for me, and I suffer from BPD. Marsha Linehan shows an amazingly compassionate understanding towards the mind of a person with this disorder. I found myself astonished at her incredible ability to understand the way I think. I think the author is nothing short of a genius. The book is great...but it is complicated and it is not a good book for those who don't enjoy intensely intellectual reading. If you are looking for a book to give you quick facts, this is not the book for you. You must enjoy reading to get into this book.
1 stars (A Total Waste of Paper) - At first I thought the author, Marsha Linehan, was a mental patient herself or perhaps foreign-born because this book is so badly written. It's full of new age cliches, tossed in with Eastern mysticism and the author's own ramblings. The author repeats the same words and phrases over and over again, and is fond of making vague circular statements. I'm surprised that an academic like Linehan has such poor writing skills. Maybe a good editor could make sense of Linehan's gobbledygook. I certainly can't.