Family Dynamics and Personality Disorders: How Narcissistic and Border.....

Overview
This seminar provides clinicians with a structural framework for understanding and treating Borderline (BPD) and Narcissistic (NPD) Personality Disorders in individual therapy and within the family context. Rather than focusing solely on overt behaviors, this training helps practitioners how to identify the "core content", the deep-seated attachment fears and identity structures, that drive treatment resistance and relational chaos. Participants will learn to integrate DBT, MBT, CBT, and Interpersonal modalities to stabilize symptoms while targeting the underlying personality drivers. Attendees will gain practical strategies for managing high-conflict parental dynamics, protecting the therapeutic space for children of parents with NPD or BPD, and preventing the common "misdiagnostic traps" that stall clinical progress.

Learning Objectives

1. Differentiate BPD and NPD using a core-content versus surface-content diagnostic framework.

2. Identify common misdiagnostic traps that occur when mood, trauma, or behavioral symptoms overshadow personality structure.

3. Apply treatment sequencing principles to stabilize surface symptoms while addressing core personality drivers.

4. Implement effective evidence based strategies (DBT, MBT, CBT, and Interpersonal modalities) for working with parents with BPD or NPD traits while maintaining ethical and clinical boundaries in the treatment of children of parents with NPD or BPD.

5. Recognize and manage therapeutic derailment patterns common in BPD and NPD presentations

Speaker Bio
Daniel J. Fox, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist, award-winning author, and international speaker based in Texas. With over 20 years of experience, he specializes in personality disorders, ethics, and emotional intelligence. Dr. Fox has worked in state and federal prisons, universities, and private practice, and is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Houston. He is the author of several bestselling books and tools, including The Borderline Personality Disorder Workbook, The BPD Card Deck, and Antisocial, Borderline, Narcissistic, and Histrionic Workbook. His work is widely used by clinicians and clients around the world and has been translated into multiple languages. Dr. Fox also hosts a popular YouTube channel dedicated to mental health and personality disorders.

Seminar Schedule/Outline (7 CEUs):

• 7:30am - 8:00am - Registration/Check-in
• 8:00am – 9:30am - The Structural View of PDs
  Exploring the enduring, pervasive, and ego-syntonic nature of personality pathology. Introduction to the "Core Content" vs. "Surface Content" framework.
• 9:30am – 9:45am - Morning Break (15min)
• 9:45am – 11:15am - The Diagnostic Maze
  Identifying common errors and confirmation bias.
• 11:15am – 12:30pm - NPD: Under the Veneer of Perfectionism
  Understanding why NPD is "Treatment Rejecting". Analyzing grandiose vs. covert presentations and clinical steps to get underneath the veneer of perfectionism.
• 12:30pm – 1:30pm - Lunch Break (Lunch on your own)
• 1:30pm – 2:45pm - BPD: The Roadmap of Chaos
  Examining "Treatment Seeking" patterns. Exploring the developmental roadmap, attachment dysfunction, and the cycle of self-mutilation for relief.
• 2:45pm – 3:00pm - Afternoon Break (15min)
• 3:00pm – 4:30pm - Parents with BPD & NPD
  Managing core family dynamics, triangulation, and the "Loyalty Bind" in children of parents with NPD or BPD. Strategies for therapeutic containment and managing countertransference.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Nystrom & Associates