This influential work helps clinicians resolve questions of overlap among diagnostic categories, offers specific and sensible suggestions for treatment interventions, and describes common transference problems in therapy. The new edition, completely updated to DSM-IV, features a new preface by the author, a revised and expanded chapter on anti-social personality disorder, updated coverage of passive-aggressive disorder, and completely up-to-date references to the literature. This book will be of value to psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, residents in psychiatry, and graduate students in clinical psychology and social work. It serves as a text for courses in psychopathology, personality, and personality disorders.

Table of Contents

Part I: Basic Concepts: Introduction and Overview. History and Assumptions of the Approach. The Harmonics of Therapy. The Interviewing and Treatment Methods. Part II: DSM Cluster B, the Dramatic, Erratic Group. Borderline Personality Disorder. Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Histrionic Personality Disorder. Antisocial Personality Disorder. Part III: DSM Cluster C, the Anxious, Fearful Group. Dependent Personality Disorder. Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. Passive Aggressive Personality Disorder (Negativistic Personality Disorder): Personality Disorder, NOS. Avoidant Personality Disorder. Part IV: DSM Cluster A, the Odd Eccentric Group. Paranoid Personality Disorder. Schizoid and Schizotypal Personality Disorders. Part V: Divergences. Category Overlap, Residual Categories, and Other Issues. Appendix: Summary of Diagnostic and Differential Indicators.

Author Biography

After many years of clinical work in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, Lorna Smith Benjamin moved to the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah to collaborate with graduate students in the research study of psychosocial factors in mental disorder. A past president of the International Society for Psychotherapy Research and an advisor to the DSM-IV work group on personality disorders, she is author of over 50 professional publications. Her SASB model of interpersonal relations has been translated into ten different languages. The associated coding system, questionnaires, and software are widely used in efforts to enhance scientific understanding of the practice of psychotherapy. Her dream is to use the concepts described in this book to guide development of a high-quality, low-cost research and training center that emphasizes efficacy in psychosocial treatment of major mental disorders.