Outcome of Crisis Intervention for Subjects With Borderline Personality Disorder or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Dr. Laddis will test a hypothesis about the nature and the management of behavioral crises in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The term "behavioral crisis" is used strictly for periods of uncontrollable urges to repeat mental or outward activity, e.g., flashbacks, cutting, binging on food, drugs or sex, with no intervals to rethink one's priorities or to consider others' direction. The clinical hypothesis states, in two steps, that: 1. the perception of a life crisis precedes and then underlies every behavioral crisis; 2. the behavioral crisis resolves promptly and all symptoms end if the clinicians engage the patient about his management of the life crisis that underlies the symptoms.