Charles Cohen and Vance Sherwood focus on the first stage of therapy with borderline patients, the "preconstancy" stage - the time during which a constant attachment must be formed between the patient and therapist. This first phase of treatment is neither quick nor easy to resolve. This book traces the issues facing the therapist during that time, which is usually a very stormy period. The authors propose a treatment approach built around broadening the patient's time sense. The patient's experience of self and other is characterized by urgency and crisis, and affect is experienced with a now-is-forever quality. This book aims to clarify the issues borderline patients face in their daily lives and the attendant treatment dilemmas therapists confront. The authors avoid language and categories that are abstracted form life; hence, the book offers therapists a clear and concise stance for engaging this troubled and troublesome population.