The "holding function" of the therapist in the treatment of borderline patients.

In this paper, I have attempted to show that during crises in the therapy of borderlines it is crucial not to respond, needless to say in reality, but neither by confrontation nor with interpretation to the apparently impulse-ridden transference. To interpret to the patient, during such periods, the vicissitudes of the object hunger in the transference often intensifies the turmoil, confuses the issue, and precipitates further regression. It is of primal importance to recognize that during these crises the patient needs a holding environment to restore and enhance the observing, anxiety-containing, and integrative capacity of the ego. This holding environment rests not only on the stability of the therapeutic setting, including the reliability and acceptance of the therapist, but on helping the patient acknowledge and process the precipitants of the emotional crises.