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Practical Management of Personality Disorder
This volume takes a multi-level approach to understanding and treating personality disorder, identifying core symptoms and problems that many patients share and providing a comprehensive framework for clinical intervention. Drawing on etiological knowledge as well as outcome research, the book identifies effective strategies for addressing key areas of the patient's psychosocial and biological functioning. The clinician learns how to conceptualize the phases of treatment and use the stages-of-change model as a guide for sequencing and selecting appropriate interventions. Pragmatic and flexible, the research-based strategies presented here are applicable in diverse settings, in therapies ranging from crisis intervention to long-term treatment.
420 pages, Hardcover
First published May 22, 2003
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April 21, 2011
As a therapist who works with teenage and young-adult females, most with trauma histories, I run into personality disorders from time to time. These patients are, and I'm not alone in this opinion, among the most challenging of all patients. Until fairly recently, in fact, the common thought was that personality disorder could not even be treated. Thus, when working with a patient with personality disorder, I am bound to run into varying obstacles. Frustration and self-doubt soon follow. In these situations, I have a fail-proof strategy: I buy a book! Ah, the book will give me all the answers, perhaps even a step-by-step guide on how to respond to every situation, right?
On one such occasion, I found PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT OF PERSONALITY DISORDER. I know, the cover clearly indicates a lack of panache, but I was taken in by the title. "Practical Management"--such promise!
Alas, I was once again disappointed. Not only did it not live up to my ridiculously fantastical expectations, but it was decidedly unhelpful all around. It gives a broad overview of personality theory, symptoms of personality disorders, assessment for, theories about, and on and on for almost 200 pages before getting to the crux of it. But the truth is, I abandoned the book long before that.
The author clearly did his research, and it is very comprehensive. (In fact it reads like an academic journal.) I feel bad giving this book only two stars. When all is said and done, however, I cannot figure out for whom this book was written. The material is too rudimentary for a practitioner, and too technical and academic for a layperson. I challenge anyone to make sense out of Figure 2.1 on page 23: The Personality System. This is an example of the main problem with the book: If something is too complicated to foster better understanding and mastery, then what’s the point?
On one such occasion, I found PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT OF PERSONALITY DISORDER. I know, the cover clearly indicates a lack of panache, but I was taken in by the title. "Practical Management"--such promise!
Alas, I was once again disappointed. Not only did it not live up to my ridiculously fantastical expectations, but it was decidedly unhelpful all around. It gives a broad overview of personality theory, symptoms of personality disorders, assessment for, theories about, and on and on for almost 200 pages before getting to the crux of it. But the truth is, I abandoned the book long before that.
The author clearly did his research, and it is very comprehensive. (In fact it reads like an academic journal.) I feel bad giving this book only two stars. When all is said and done, however, I cannot figure out for whom this book was written. The material is too rudimentary for a practitioner, and too technical and academic for a layperson. I challenge anyone to make sense out of Figure 2.1 on page 23: The Personality System. This is an example of the main problem with the book: If something is too complicated to foster better understanding and mastery, then what’s the point?
Displaying 1 of 1 review