Psychotherapy for Personality Disorders

John G Gunderson editor Glen O Gabbard editor John M Oldham editor Michelle B Riba editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:American Psychiatric Association Publishing

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Psychotherapy for Personality Disorders cover

Defined by stable, long-term, subjective distress and/or social impairment, personality disorders affect up to 18% of the population. Social impairment and health care usage are far more prevalent among people with personality disorders than among people with major depressive disorders. Personality disorders are highly prevalent, variable, and notoriously difficult to treat, and they continue to challenge the therapeutic community and represent a formidable public health concern.

This volume ably addresses personality disorders as one of the top priorities of psychiatry for the new millennium, offering a thorough and updated review and analysis of empirical work to point up the issues central to developing a therapeutic model for treatment as well as current research challenges. A review of extant research yields the heartening conclusion that psychotherapy remains an effective treatment for people with personality disorders. An examination of psychodynamic treatment for borderline personality disorder speaks to its efficacy. An analysis of the rationale for combining psychotherapy and psychopharmacology emphasizes the importance of identifying temperament and target conditions. A well-documented and reasoned treatise on antisocial personality disorder makes the crucial point that clinicians must acquire a depth of understanding and skill sufficient to determine what the cut-off point is for treatable versus nontreatable gradations. With the caveat that evidence supporting the efficacy of cognitive treatments for personality disorders is slight and that such approaches require tailoring, a strong case is made for their validity.

This timely volume both answers and reframes many stubborn questions about the efficacy of psychotherapy for treating personality disorders.

This is a succinct, focused volume in which only a few topics are covered, but which are covered quite well. Given the continuous advances in our understanding of the human mind as well as the myriad ways in which it can become disordered, this volume is not merely justified, but overdue.

* Doody's Health Science Journal *

This book successfully provides a solid, coherent update and selective review of priority topics. It is excellent reading for general psychiatrists, pre-exam psychiatric trainees, case managers and other mental health clinicians . . .In an area of controversy and limited research, the editors and authors have been remarkably successful in producing a clinically relevant and helpful book that is both authoritative and easy to read.

* Blackwell Science Asia *

All in all, this is a highly readable volume that elucidates a number of important topics related to psychotherapy with personality disordered patients.

-- Lynn E. Alden * Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Boo

ISBN: 9780880482738

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 13mm

Weight: 322g

192 pages