Psychotherapy Of The Borderline Adult: A Developmental Approach

by James F. Masterson

First published in 1988. This volume brings diagnostic order, a comprehensible theory, and a clinical approach out of the confusion surrounding the borderline concept.

Genres: Psychology

392 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Na Tou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative! Dr. Masterson is a psychiatrist who studied borderline patients extensively. In this book, he presents the theory of the borderline personality and follows up with actual examples from some of his cases. He summarized years of therapy with several patients. His main technique was confrontation, which helped his patients see the cost of their destructive behavior. A lot of the material was taken from dreams and free association.

[Heiki Eesmaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read it as it appears in the bibliography of Hunter Beaumont's Toward a Spiritual Psychology. It seems the target audience for this book already has psychoanalytic training, which I don't.

So missing the prerequisites, it was hard to comprehend and the case studies seemed unnecessarily lengthy, detailed, and repetitive. Even so, I found the insights of the first few chapters where the theoretical model is presented, very helpful.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Older theory of BPD based on Margaret Mahler’s theory of infant development