1 Answers
Interpersonal reconstructive therapy is a psychotherapy for treating people with personality disorders, especially those who have not been helped by other therapies or medication. It was developed by Lorna Smith Benjamin, a retired professor at the University of Utah.
IRT is based on understanding of how early attachment patterns affect the patient's later behavior. When the human infant experiences "good enough" early care, it forms a secure attachment to parental figures that serves as a base from which to interact with the world.If early care is less than optimal, the infant must nonetheless attach to caregivers, but the patterns that form may be maladaptive in later life, leading to personality disorders.
These patterns form when an infant internalizes the interactions between itself and caregivers. The internalizations follow one or more of three copy processes:1. The child acts as the caregiver did. 2. The child acts as if the caregiver is still in control. 3. The child treats himself/herself as the caregiver did.
For instance, if a patient was ignored as a child, the patient may ignore his/her spouse and children, wall off from them as if still being ignored, or neglect himself/herself.