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Risa B. Burns, MD; Erin E. Hartman, MS
From the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Ave, LY318, Boston, MA 02215.

JAMA. 2003;289:1026.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

At Psychiatry Grand Rounds in September 2001, John M. Oldham, MD, discussed a 44-year-old woman with borderline personality disorder.¹ Ms J reported an extensive psychiatric and comorbid medical history with numerous, prolonged hospitalizations. At the time of the conference, Ms J had made tremendous strides with a marked reduction in the number of hospitalizations and medications she required. She attributed her improvement to a good working relationship with her therapist and a dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills training group.

Dr Oldham defined borderline personality disorder and reviewed how the diagnosis is made, along with its natural history and course. He stated that treatment should include psychotherapy augmented by symptom-targeted pharmacotherapy. Dr Oldham explained that if patients with borderline personality disorder adhere to treatment and overcome high-risk behavior, they may ultimately do quite well. Exposure to healing relationships can also contribute to improvement. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

MS J, THE PATIENT