Fragile Selves: Working with Narcissistic and Borderline States of Mind

The Use of ‘Benign Authority’ with Borderline Patients: The Need for Interpretive Attunement and Limit-Setting

In this talk, Jack Nathan describes how BPD symptoms present and how therapists can best support those with these behaviors. He makes the case for the use of benign authority – an approach where the practitioner attunes to the ‘logic’ of the borderline’s internal experience, whilst also attending to challenging persistent acting out behaviors, through limit setting. There is always a dialectical tension between these two functions.

In the face of the challenges the borderline patient can pose, benign authority can support the therapist in not succumbing to the twin dangers of, on the one hand a ‘maternal’ masochism, and on the other, ‘paternal’ sadism.