Abstract
This portfolio represents the completed works towards the fulfilment of the Practioner Doctorate in Counselling and Psychotherapeutic Psychology (PsychD). The research dossier includes three research reports: a literature review, and two qualitative studies: one interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) and one critical discourse analysis (CDA). The literature review explored the use of dialectical behavioural therapy and mentalization-based treatment within inpatient settings for individuals given the label of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The first empirical study, which utilised an IPA methodology, analysed the experience of mentalization-based treatment for individuals given the diagnosis of BPD. The second empirical study, which employed a CDA methodology, analysed how individuals who identified with the label BPD constructed the label of BPD on Twitter.