The psychotherapy of commonly occurring personality disorders – borderline, narcissistic, dependent, avoidant and obsessive compulsive – presents the therapist with a unique therapeutic challenge, as each of these personality disorders rarely occur alone. The therapist is required to have a basic understanding of personality and psychopathology; to be empathically attuned to the patient’s complaints, problems, symptoms and respond to the subtle nuances of the patient’s communication, both verbal and non-verbal; to be aware of the patient’s relational functioning, and have a flexible theoretical framework from which to proceed. This paper will describe such a theory i.e. the Conversational Model and its approach to traumatised individuals who present for psychotherapeutic help.
