This acclaimed clinical guide and widely adopted text has filled a key need in the field since its original publication. Nancy McWilliams makes psychoanalytic personality theory and its implications for practice accessible to practitioners of all levels of experience. She explains major character types and demonstrates specific ways that understanding the patient’s individual personality structure can influence the therapist’s focus and style of intervention. Guidelines are provided for developing a systematic yet flexible diagnostic formulation and using it to inform treatment. Highly readable, the book features a wealth of illustrative clinical examples. New to this edition:
- reflects the ongoing development of the author’s approach over nearly two decades.
- incorporates important advances in attachment theory, neuroscience, and the study of trauma.
- material on the contemporary relational movement in psychoanalysis.
- additional case vignettes.
This book will be important reading for clinicians and graduate students in all of the mental health disciplines, including clinical psychology, social work, psychiatry, and counseling. It will also serve as a text in graduate-level psychotherapy courses and in psychoanalytic institutes.
Introduction. Part I: Conceptual Issues. Why Diagnose? Psychoanalytic Character Diagnosis. Developmental Levels of Personality Organization. Implications of Developmental Levels of Organization. Primary Defensive Processes. Secondary Defensive Processes. Part II: Types of Character Organization. Psychopathic (Antisocial) Personalities. Narcissistic Personalities. Schizoid Personalities. Paranoid Personalities. Depressive and Manic Personalities. Masochistic (Self-defeating) Personalities. Obsessive and Compulsive Personalities. Hysterical (Histrionic) Personalities. Dissociative Psychologies. Appendix. Suggested Diagnostic Interview Format.
Author/Editor Biography
Nancy McWilliams, PhD, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA
