Dr. Julian Ford: Differentiating Borderline Personality Disorder & Complex PTSD

Thoughts on Record: Podcast of the Ottawa Institute of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

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Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) & borderline personality disorder (BPD) are often confused and sometimes used interchangeably when, in fact, they are separate diagnoses with distinct underlying core etiology and symptomatology. Clinical Psychologist & Professor, Dr. Julian Ford, joins us for a conversation around defining & differentiating CPTSD & BPD. In this conversation we cover:

• the adequacy of current conceptualizations of trauma
• the origin of the diagnostic construct of complex PTSD (CPTSD) and why it was proposed as an alternative to borderline personality disorder (BPD)
• where CPTSD and BPD overlap, and where they differ
• the special role that interpersonal trauma, attachment injury & especially victimization play with respect to development of CPTSD and BPD
• differentiating between CPTSD & BPD from a neuroscience lens
• differentiating between CPTSD & BPD from the lens of emotion dysregulation (i.e., the types of emotion dysregualtion typically experienced within each diagnosis)
• considering CPTSD & BPD from an assessment & diagnostic perspective, with some suggestions for clinicians
• "gold-standard" treatment approaches for CPTSD & BPD
• Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD) - why it was developed, the essential features of DTD and implications for diagnosis, assessment & treatment of trauma in children

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Host note: We will be offering a 6 week essentials of CBT workshop that I will be facilitating beginning March 24, 2023. For more information and registration, please visit: https://www.ottawacbt.ca/news.
Dr. Julian Ford is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Director of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Center for Trauma Recovery and Juvenile Justice. Dr. Ford developed the evidence-based TARGET CT recovery model that has been implemented in all sectors of the workforce in juvenile justice, child welfare, and residential treatment settings. He has authored or edited 10 books and more than 200 articles and chapters in the traumatic stress field, and co-developed the Traumatic Events Screening Inventory for Children (TESI). Dr. Ford co-leads the NCTSN DTD initiative.