Borderline Personality Disorder: Assessment, Diagnosis and Treatment Strategies That Work!
You have the assessment. You are fairly confident about the diagnosis. Now you have to say it out loud to the person sitting opposite you, who may have heard the term used as an insult, or been told by a previous clinician that nothing helps. That conversation is where a great deal of borderline personality disorder treatment succeeds or fails, and almost nothing trains clinicians to have it.
Jeff Riggenbach spends a substantial part of this course on exactly that: how to have the conversation in practical terms, whether you are the person making the diagnosis or someone who has inherited it and needs to talk about it anyway. He is explicit that this matters for people who are not diagnosticians at all, and describes a case manager whose job was school pickups and transport, and who used this material when her client started asking questions about her own diagnosis.
Seven hours built on his BPD Toolbox, which won a publishing award, and on fifteen years developing treatment programmes for this population in two psychiatric hospitals. He starts with why Axis II existed in the first place and what actually separates a personality disorder from the other diagnoses it gets confused with, then moves through differential diagnosis, particularly against bipolar disorder and PTSD, then treatment setup, then the model itself: skills training groups, individual work, schema therapy groups, and relapse prevention.
You’ll walk away with
- Language for talking to a client about a BPD diagnosis in a way they can receive, which he says works nine times out of ten
- How to have that conversation when you are not the diagnostician, which covers a great many people who will never be trained for it
- What separates a personality disorder from the other diagnoses it gets mistaken for, and why the distinction was drawn in the first place
- Differential diagnosis against bipolar disorder and PTSD specifically, which is where most of the error sits
- Treatment setup, and why how you begin changes the odds more than which model you choose
- Seven evidence-based treatments for BPD, and how two or three of them integrate into one coherent approach
- The eighteen maladaptive schemas that drive the destructive behaviour
- Behavioural pattern-breaking interventions for cycles a client has run for decades
- Eight motivations behind suicidal and parasuicidal behaviour, and what each one calls for
- The role of individual therapy against group work, and what each is for
- Skills training interventions, and cognitive strategies for entrenched thought patterns
- Relapse warning signs and prevention planning
Watch the course trailer
CPD Information For Mental Health Professionals
Enjoy complete flexibility with 100% self-paced learning you can access anytime, anywhere, and on any device. This course is included with your Tatra Training membership, along with every other course in the library.
Where this sits: this is the full BPD course. A shorter course focuses specifically on suicidality and self-injury in BPD, and a longer one surveys all ten personality disorders.
Course Duration: [N] learning hours
Certificate and CPD hours: On completion you’ll receive a Certificate of Completion to support your CPD records. Your certificates are yours to keep.
Assessment: Complete a short quiz at the end (80% pass mark), which you can resit as many times as needed.
Revisit Anytime: Come back to the course as often as you like while your membership is active, whenever you want a refresher for practice.
CPD Eligibility: This program may be suitable for CPD for professionals such as:
- Psychologists
- Counsellors and Psychotherapists
- Social Workers
- Community Workers
- Mental Health Nurses
- General Practitioners (GPs)
- Occupational Therapists
CPD requirements vary between professional bodies, so please check with your association or credentialing body to confirm you can claim CPD hours/OPD points for this program and what evidence they require.
Course Content
Meet Your Instructor
High-conflict personalities, treatment-resistant clients, and complex cases involving borderline personality disorder can leave clinicians feeling frustrated and ineffective - but these challenging presentations don't have to derail therapeutic progress. Jeff Riggenbach has spent over 20 years developing practical, evidence-based tools that help transform how practitioners work with their most difficult cases, earning him international recognition as "the practical tools guy" and becoming one of the world's most sought-after trainers in cognitive behavioral interventions.
As a three-time bestselling, award-winning author and Diplomat of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, Dr. Riggenbach brings unparalleled expertise in translating complex therapeutic concepts into immediately usable clinical tools. His books The CBT Toolbox and The BPD Toolbox (Amazon #1 new release) have become essential resources for practitioners worldwide, while his latest work Disarming High Conflict Personalities addresses one of the most challenging aspects of clinical and organisational work. His training at the Beck Institute of Cognitive Therapy and Research, combined with 20 years directing CBT-based treatment programs in psychiatric hospitals where he served over 3,000 clients, gives him deep understanding of what actually works with resistant populations.
Dr. Riggenbach's expertise spans Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Schema-Focused Cognitive Therapy, personality disorders treatment (especially Borderline Personality Disorder), trauma and addiction, and high-conflict personality management. His approach bridges the gap between academic research and frontline clinical reality, showing practitioners how to adapt evidence-based techniques for clients who don't fit textbook presentations. He specialises in cases where traditional therapy approaches have failed, particularly with clients who are hostile, manipulative, or treatment-resistant.
What sets his training apart is practical applicability under real-world conditions. Riggenbach doesn't just teach theory - he shows clinicians exactly what to say and do when facing their most challenging moments. His international training reach across all 50 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico, UK, Malta, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa demonstrates his ability to adapt techniques across diverse populations and practice settings.
For your practice, expect to gain specific intervention scripts for difficult situations, tools for managing your own emotional responses to challenging clients, and frameworks for maintaining therapeutic progress with treatment-resistant cases. His approach particularly benefits clinicians working in high-stress environments, those dealing with personality disorders, or practitioners who feel burned out from difficult cases.
Quick Win: Riggenbach's "emotional regulation interrupt" technique helps clinicians quickly de-escalate volatile therapeutic situations while maintaining professional boundaries - helping to prevent session ruptures and keeping treatment on track.
Qualifications
- Ph.D., Christian Counseling
- Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Oklahoma, current
- Diplomat of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy
- Certified Cognitive Therapist, Beck Institute of Cognitive Therapy and Research, Philadelphia
- John Maxwell Team Certified Speaker/Trainer/Coach
- Certified Behavioral Consultant
- 20+ years clinical experience
Authored Books
- Disarming High Conflict Personalities: Dealing with the 8 Most Difficult People in Your Life Before You Burnout (latest release)
- The BPD Toolbox: A Practical Evidence-Based Guide to Regulating Intense Emotions (2016, Amazon #1 new release, award-winning)
- The CBT Toolbox: A Workbook for Clients, Clinicians and Coaches (2012, 1st and 2nd editions, bestseller)
- Seven total publications
Professional Experience
- International Speaker/Trainer/Coach, John Maxwell Team, current
- Clinical Director, Private Practice/Consulting, current
- Award-Winning Author & Behavioral Consultant, Tulsa, OK, current
- APA & NBCC/ACEP Approved Provider, Continuing Education Credits, current
- Director, CBT-based treatment programs, Two psychiatric hospitals (20 years, served 3,000+ clients)
- Treatment Program Developer, Mood Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, BPD programs, Two psychiatric hospitals
- Staff Member, Brookhaven Psychiatric Hospital, Tulsa, OK
International Training Reach
- Trained audiences in all 50 United States, Canada, Mexico, UK, Malta, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland
- Conference keynote addresses and specialised workshops worldwide
Ready to work confidently with your most challenging clients? Discover how Dr. Riggenbach's practical, evidence-based tools can help transform your ability to achieve breakthrough results with treatment-resistant cases while maintaining your own professional well-being.
Feedback & Reviews
This course includes:
- Lessons 5
- Topics 0
- Duration 7 hours
- Quizzes 1
- Language English