Reframing Personality Disorders from an Attachment Perspective

About the Training

Overview: Research shows that clinicians often hold negative views of clients with personality disorder traits. A diagnostic label alone can make clinicians less hopeful about a client’s prognosis and more likely to pull back from them. That distancing is associated with early dropout, dismissive crisis care and poorer outcomes for a population at high risk of suicide. This training reframes personality disorder traits as adaptations to attachment injury, giving clinicians a lens that replaces judgment with understanding and helps them build the secure base these clients need to recover.

 Learning Objectives:

1. Describe at least two ways that clinician bias toward clients with personality disorder traits affects engagement, retention, and treatment outcomes.
2. Explain personality disorder traits as adaptive responses to attachment injury, using core concepts from attachment theory.
3. Reframe at least three common personality disorder behaviors, such as emotional intensity, fear of abandonment, or mistrust, in attachment terms.
4. Identify their own countertransference reactions to clients with personality disorder traits and name strategies to manage them.
5. Apply attachment-informed interventions that help clinicians act as a secure base for clients with personality disorder traits.

Presenter Bio:

Breesha is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Pennsylvania and an AAMFT Approved Supervisor. She holds a Master of Science in Couple and Family Therapy (Medical Family Track) from Thomas Jefferson University. She is Clinical Director at Council for Relationships and Executive Director of Clinical Services at Sun Point Foundation, where she oversees clinical services, supervision and training programs.Her clinical work has spanned intensive family-based services, integrated pediatric behavioral health at Penn Medicine LG Health, and long-term outpatient therapy with individuals, couples and families. She has created and developed training programs in systemic therapy including a certificate training program in Systemic Sex and Trauma counseling at Sun Point Foundation where she serves as the executive director of clinical services. Breesha is dedicated to the development of new therapists as well as improving the standards of care and training in the field of couple and family therapy.

Trainer:

Breesha Comish LMFT, AAMFT Approved Supervisor

Format:

This training is held live online and combines didactic content, video and case illustrations, as well as guided skill practice.

Audience:

This training is for interns, pre-licensed therapists, and licensed professionals. It is designed for a professional audience and includes time for networking with peers.

Continuing Education:

Council for Relationships (CFR) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Council for Relationships maintains responsibility for this program and its content. CFR’s continuing education programs may also qualify for licensure renewal credit for Pennsylvania LCSWs, LPCs, and LMFTs, as well as New Jersey psychologists, LPCs, and LMFTs, subject to applicable licensing requirements.Participants licensed in other states or professions should verify credit acceptance with their licensing boards.