For which PD is Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) commonly used?

• A. Narcissistic Personality Disorder
• B. Avoidant Personality Disorder
• C. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
• D. Borderline Personality Disorder

Answer: (D)

Transference-Focused Psychotherapy centers on the patient’s unconscious expectations and internal relationships and uses the therapy relationship itself to bring these patterns into awareness. In borderline personality organization, people often experience unstable self-image and intense, rapidly shifting feelings that get acted out in relationships. They tend to project their old, split views of others onto the therapist—alternating between idealizing and devaluing, or seeing the therapist as all good or all bad. TFP uses careful transference interpretation to reveal these projected patterns and link them to past interactions with caregivers, helping the patient see how these internal objects shape present relationships.

By bringing these dynamics into the therapeutic relationship, the patient can begin to hold and regulate affect more effectively, reduce impulsive responses, and move toward a more coherent sense of self and more stable interpersonal functioning. This approach is especially associated with borderline personality disorder, whereas the other listed disorders are typically approached with different therapeutic emphases or modalities.