General Psychiatric Management for BPD

Lois W. Choi-Kain, MEd, MD, is the director of the Adult Borderline Center and Training Institute at McLean Hospital, now the Gunderson Personality Disorder Institute, renamed in memory of John Gunderson, MD, the former director. In 2009, she developed the Gunderson Residence, an intensive, specialized residential program for adult women with severe personality disorders which uniquely integrates multiple evidence-based treatments for borderline personality disorder (BPD) in a rigorous and scientifically informed way. Apart from the Gunderson Residence, the Gunderson Institute includes another intensive, specialized program, the Gunderson Outpatient Program, as well as three insurance-based adult outpatient training clinics for mentalization-based treatment (MBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), and DBT for post-traumatic stress disorder (DBT-PTSD). Dr. Choi-Kain also founded the BPD Training Institute in 2013, a major center for proliferating evidence-based treatments for severe personality disorders. By providing education to clinicians, it aims to increase access to and quality of care for patients with BPD and related comorbidities. Courses offered include Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT), Transference Focused Psychotherapy (TFP), Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (DBT-PTSD), and General Psychiatric Management (GPM). In addition, as an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Choi-Kain actively conducts research and publishes original studies, reviews, and clinical perspectives on BPD and its evidence-based treatments. Her research focuses on personality disorders, attachment, psychotherapy, and accessibility and implementation of care.

Dr. Gunderson is widely recognized as the “father” of the borderline diagnosis. His seminal studies on the diagnosis, families, psychodynamics, treatment and pathogenesis of borderline personality disorder helped transform the diagnosis from a psychoanalytic construct into an empirically validated and internationally recognized disorder. He chaired the DSM-IV work group on personality disorders, and has led several major NIMH-funded studies, including the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study (CLPS) and a study on the family transmission of borderline personality disorder and its phenotypes. He was responsible for conceptualizing the borderline patient’s core problem as interpersonal hypersensitivity, and for pioneering collaborative involvement and compassionate attitudes towards their families. Dr. Gunderson authored 250 papers, 100 reviews, and 12 books and has been internationally recognized for his work, earning more than 30 national and international awards. His books on treatment have established standards of care that have been the primary resource for clinicians since 1984. He wrote a manual for an empirically-validated model of treatment for borderline patients called Good Psychiatric Management that promises to elevate their level of care from all clinicians.

Dr. Palmer is interim Vice President, Mental Health and Addiction Services, Allina Health, Minneapolis, MN. He completed medical school at Mayo Clinic School of Medicine before serving as National President of the American Medical Student Association in Washington, DC. He completed his psychiatry residency at Massachusetts General Hospital / McLean Hospital and joined the staff of McLean Hospital, specializing in the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. He transitioned to the staff of Mayo Clinic in 2011 and served in a number of roles, including Vice Chair for Education and Medical Director for the Transitions Program. He continued his academic interests in BPD and is an Official Trainer for Good Psychiatric Management. He is the author or co-author of over 35 peer-reviewed papers and 10 book chapters, and he is the co-editor, with Brandon Unruh, MD, of Borderline Personality Disorder: A Case-Based Approach, a book that takes a generalist approach to common issues encountered in BPD treatment.