Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) Informed Care within an Outpatient Community-Based Multi-professional Psychiatric Service

The outpatient treatment of patients with severe personality disorders (SPD) within the community-based Departments of Mental Health (DMH) of the Italian National Health System is often complicated by (1) the absence of a clear treatment structure and goals, (2) the lack of a shared understanding, among various members of the multi-professional mental health teams who work in the DMH, of PD pathology and its mechanisms of change, and (3) the difficult relationships between patients and providers. This chapter illustrates how Transference-focused psychothearpy (TFP) principles can be taught to and then applied by a community-based Italian outpatient mental health team, comprising several professionals with different therapeutic backgrounds, roles, and orientations. A TFP-oriented approach may successfully improve the service’s standard of care for SPD, provide a coherent framework through which the unfolding of personality pathology can be observed and consistently addressed by various staff members, and ameliorate the staff’s attitudes toward patients with SPD.