Handbook of Dynamic Psychotherapy for Higher Level Personality Pathology

Offering a sophisticated introduction to a contemporary psychodynamic model of the mind and treatment, this book provides an approach to understanding and treating higher level personality pathology. It describes a specific form of treatment called "dynamic psychotherapy for higher level personality pathology" (DPHP), which was designed specifically to treat the rigidity that characterizes that condition. Based on psychodynamic object relations theory, DPHP is an outgrowth of transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) and is part of an integrated approach to psychodynamic treatment of personality pathology across the spectrum of severity -- from higher level personality pathology, described in this volume, to severe personality pathology, described in a companion volume, Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality: Focusing on Object Relations. Together, they provide a comprehensive description of an object relations theory-based approach to treatment of personality disorders, embedded in an integrated model of personality.

PrefaceAbout the AuthorsChapter 1. Introduction and overviewPart I: Theoretical Understanding of Higher Level Personality PathologyChapter 2. A psychodynamic approach to personality pathologyChapter 3. Internal object relations, mental organization, and subjective experience in personality pathologyPart II: Psychotherapeutic Treatment of Higher Level Personality PathologyChapter 4. The basic elements of DPHPChapter 5. The strategies of DPHP and the treatment settingChapter 6. The techniques of DPHP, part 1: listening to the patientChapter 7. The techniques of DPHP, part 2: interveningChapter 8. The tactics of DPHPPart III: Patient Assessment, Phases of Treatment, and Combining DPHP With Other TreatmentsChapter 9. Patient assessment and differential treatment planningChapter 10. The phases of treatmentChapter 11. Combining DPHP with medication management and other forms of treatmentChapter 12. Concluding commentsReferencesIndex