Transference focused psychotherapy  Transference focused psychotherapy (TFP) is a highly structured, twice-weekly modified psychodynamic treatment based on Otto F. Kernberg's object relations model of borderline personality disorder. It views the individual with borderline personality organization (BPO) as holding unreconciled and contradictory internalized representations of self and significant others that are affectively charged. The defense against these contradictory internalized object relations leads to disturbed relationships with others and with self. The distorted perceptions of self, others, and associated affects are the focus of treatment as they emerge in the relationship with the therapist (transference). The treatment focuses on the integration of split off parts of self and object representations, and the consistent interpretation of these distorted perceptions is considered the mechanism of change. TFP has been validated as an efficacious treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD), though too few studies have been conducted to allow firm conclusions about its value. TFP is one of a number of treatments that may be useful in the treatment of BPD; however, in a study which compared TFP, dialectical behavior therapy, and modified psychodynamic supportive psychotherapy, only TFP was shown to change how patients think about themselves in relationships. TFP is a treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD). Patients with BPD are often characterized by intense affects, stormy relationships, and impulsive behaviors. Due to their high reactivity to environmental stimuli, patients with BPD often experience dramatic and short-lived shifts in their mood, alternating between experiences of euphoria, depression, anxiety, and nervousness. Patients with BPD often experience intolerable feelings of emptiness that they attempt to fill with impulsive and self-damaging behaviors, such as substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, uncontrolled spending, or binge eating. Further, patients with BPD often exhibit recurrent suicidal behaviors, gestures, or threats. Under intense stress patients with BPD may exhibit transient dissociative or paranoid symptoms. According to an object relations model, in normal psychological development mental templates of oneself in relation to others, or object representations, become increasingly more differentiated and integrated. The infant's experience, initially organized around moments of pain ("I am uncomfortable and in need of someone to care for me") and pleasure ("I am now being soothed by someone and feel loved"), become increasingly integrated and differentiated mental templates of oneself in relation to others. These increasingly mature representations allow for the realistic blending of good and bad, such that positive and negative qualities can be integrated into a complex, multifaceted representation of an individual ("Although she is not caring for me at this moment, I know she loves me and will do so in the future").