Conference Program

Moderator for the day: Seth R. Axelrod, PhD

Welcome & Opening Remarks                                                       

Perry D. Hoffman, PhD

President, National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder and Trauma

Objectives:

1)  Familiarize attendees with diagnostic criteria and leading models of BPD

2) Review relationships of BPD to trauma and PTSD

3) Discuss controversies in conceptualizing BPD as a trauma-related disorder

4) Review longitudinal course of BP

Seth R. Axelrod, PhD is an assistant professor of the Yale University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, team leader of the DBT and DBT for Substance Use Disorders (DBT-SUD) at the Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital Intensive Outpatient Program, and the Clinical Director of Parent Support Services, a newly developed clinical research center and satellite of Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC) that serves maltreated children and their families involved in the DCF system.  He received his PhD from the University of Kentucky, completed internship training focusing on DBT with the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and obtained postdoctoral training in personality disorders research at the Yale University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry.  Dr. Axelrod enjoys teaching and supervising mental health professionals of various disciplines and providing training and consultation to schools and other mental health agencies.  He is the founder of the Connecticut DBT Network, an organization that supports the development and practice of DBT and that facilitates referrals to Connecticut DBT programs.  Dr. Axelrod is actively involved in research, and has published and presented his work in the areas of DBT, personality disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

BPD and Complex PTSD                                

Objectives:

1)    Introduce the concept of complex PTSD, and review the conditions of prolonged and repeated trauma under which it develops.  

2)    Present the descriptive overlap with BPD, and review the evidence highlighting the specificity of the association between childhood trauma and BPD.  

3)    Discuss implications for the treatment

Judith Lewis Herman M.D. is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of Training at the Victims of Violence Program at The Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge, MA.  Dr. Herman received her medical degree at Harvard Medical School and her training in general and community psychiatry at Boston University Medical Center.  She is the author of two award-winning books:  Father-Daughter Incest (Harvard University Press, 1981), and Trauma and Recovery (Basic Books, 1992).   She has lectured widely on the subject of sexual and domestic violence.  She is the recipient of the 1996 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and the 2000 Woman in Science Award from the American Medical Women's Association.  In 2007 she was named a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

Consumer and Family Perspectives and Family Connections

Objectives:

1)   Why families need help

2)   Research and A Family Program: Family Connections

Thinking and Rethinking BPD

Objective:

1. To understand the impact of BPD as the disorder left untreated impedes the course of a person’s life

Amanda Wang, organizer of a peer-led support group for BPD/SI in New York City, is currently working on RethinkBPD, a venture designed to define new solutions for this community. Ms. Wang's associate degree from Pratt Institute in Digital Design and Interactive Media has stood her in good stead to create RethinkBPD.org, a website aimed to draw attention to the human side of the disorder. Her own experiences speak to the need to understand, educate, and provide access to proper treatment.

The Connections Place: A Portal for Hope

Objective:

1. Present a job preparedness program specifically designed for people who have been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder to overcome barriers which have interrupted their vocational journey.

Dale Terilli is Program Director at The Connections Place, a job preparedness program in Manhattan for people with BPD who are returning to the world of work.  For more than three decades, she worked at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in the Therapeutic Activity Department. She was trained in DBT in 1996 and was the Admission Coordinator and Treatment Coordinator in The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Day Program. Her work in DBT also includes a Co-leader in The DBT Family Group, coordinating the College Outpatient program for BPD students, providing seminars to introduce professionals to DBT, lectures to the community and other professionals, consulting to WJCS for monthly DBT for the past four years. She was also the Clinical Coordinator at the Mount Sinai Medical Center DBT Outpatient Program. Ms. Terilli and Beth Elliott, PhD, The Connections Place Director, have joined their skills in the planning and implementation of the TCP.

Beyond Remission: Mapping BPD Recovery

Objectives:

1)   Introduce a developmental model of BPD recovery

2)   Explore obstacles to BPD recovery with focus on identity development and relationships

3)   Define dialectics of BPD recovery and resiliency

Kiera Van Gelder, MFA is a writer, artist and educator. She is the founder and director of Middle Path, Inc. a borderline personality disorder advocacy and education organization. An international speaker and presenter, Ms. Van Gelder is featured in the documentary "Back from the Edge: Living with and Recovering from Borderline Personality Disorder." She is on the board of directors of the New England Personality Disorder Association and is the Massachusetts Consumer Council Representative for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Ms. Van Gelder has pioneered a peer-facilitated psychoeducation curriculum for BPD and is currently collaborating with clinical communities to train staff and peer specialists on how to support all those affected by the disorder.

Fostering Resiliency                                          

Objectives:

1)    Discuss definitions of resiliency from trauma illustrated with case examples

2)    Present biological, psychological, and social factors that are implicated in the expression of trauma resiliency

3)    Explore lessons from the resiliency literature as they might be applied to fostering resiliency in individuals with BPD, their families, and their mental health providers

Steven M. Southwick, MD is Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale Medical School and at the Yale Child Study Center, Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and Deputy Director of the Clinical Neurosciences Division of the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. He is a recognized expert on the psychological and neurobiological effects of extreme psychological trauma. Dr. Southwick has served on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Traumatic Stress. He has published extensively in the scientific literature on the phenomenology and neurobiology of PTSD, the longitudinal course of trauma-related psychological symptoms, memory for traumatic events, treatment of PTSD and on neurobiological and psychological factors associated with resilience to stress. He has worked with a wide range of stress sensitive and stress resilient individuals including combat veterans with PTSD, civilian children and adults with PTSD and very high functioning stress-resilient prisoners of war and active Special Forces soldiers. Dr. Southwick has been awarded numerous research grants and has served on a number of federal grant review committees. He has also won several awards for excellence in teaching and clinical work.

Applications of Dialectical Behavior Therapy To Trauma-Related Problems

Objectives:

1. Demonstrate the applicability of DBT principles to case formulation and treatment planning for individuals with trauma-related problems

2. How to conceptualize trauma-related problems according to the biosocial theory, stages of treatment, and behavioral theory in DBT

3. How to apply key DBT strategies (validation, problem-solving, dialectical strategies) to trauma-related problems

Panel Discussion: BPD, Complex PTSD, and Resiliency

Objectives:

1. Compare and contrast Complex PTSD with Borderline Personality Disorder

2. Translate models of resiliency and treatment to case material

3. Facilitate discussion between experts and conference attendees

Moderator: Ellen Nasper, PhD

Ellen Nasper, PhD is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Yale School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry where she supervises trainees and teaches courses on Dialectical Behavior Therapy and The Psychosocial Consequences of Attachment Trauma.  She is the Director of Community Outpatient Services at the Central Avenue site of Greater Bridgeport Community Mental Health Center, directs the Dialectical Behavior Therapy program for the Southwest Community Mental Health System, and provides consultation for the Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services on developmental trauma related issues. She coauthored The Return from Madness  (Jason Aronson, New Jersey, 1996) with Kathleen Deegan, M.D., which explored the impact of the new antipsychotic medications on persons recovering from severe and persistent psychotic disorders. 

Panelists:

Judith L. Herman, MD

Shireen Rivzi, PhD

Steven M. Southwick, MD

Kiera Van Gelder, MFA