Interpersonal Diagnosis and Treatment of Personality Disorders

Second Edition

Lorna Smith Benjamin
Foreword by Allen Frances

Paperback

December 18, 2002

ISBN 9781572308602

Price: $58.00

431 Pages

Size: 6⅛" x 9¼"

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This groundbreaking work presents a unifying theory of personality disorders with vital implications for clinical practice. Lorna Smith Benjamin presents the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB), a dimensional model elucidating the interpersonal and intrapsychic patterns that give rise to and reinforce symptomatic behaviors. The interpersonal dimensions of each DSM-IV personality disorder are discussed in depth and innovative procedures for assessment and diagnosis described. Benjamin’s widely studied interpersonal approach helps the clinician resolve the problem of overlap among diagnostic categories, predicts problems that are likely to occur in the therapeutic relationship, and provides recommendations for effective treatment. Richly illustrated with clinical examples, the book is solidly grounded in empirical research.

“After reading this book, therapists...will likely find their diagnostic skills enhanced and their conceptualization efforts more sophisticated, experience a heightened sense of empathy for their patients' difficulties in living, and find their treatment efforts more efficacious.”

—Contemporary Psychology

“For those of us who practice psychotherapy and especially who work with the personality disorders, this book will be an invaluable tool.”

—American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis

I. Basic Concepts

1. Introduction and Overview

2. History and Assumptions of the Approach

3. The Harmonics of Therapy

4. The Interviewing and Treatment Methods

II. DSM Cluster B, the Dramatic, Erratic Group

5. Borderline Personality Disorder

6. Narcissistic Personality Disorder

7. Histrionic Personality Disorder

8. Antisocial Personality Disorder

III. DSM Cluster C, the Anxious, Fearful Group

9. Dependent Personality Disorder

10. Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder

11. Negativistic Personality (Disorder): Personality Disorder, NOS

12. Avoidant Personality Disorder

IV. DSM Cluster A, the Odd, Eccentric Group

13. Paranoid Personality Disorder

14. Schizoid and Schizotypal Personality Disorders

V. Divergences

15. Category Overlap, Residual Categories, and Other Issues

Appendix: Summary of Diagnostic and Differential

Indicators

About the Author

Lorna Smith Benjamin, PhD, is Professor Emerita of Psychology at the University of Utah and Founder of the Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy Clinic at the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute (UNI). She has a small private practice, serves as a consultant at UNI, and gives workshops on psychotherapy with difficult cases.

Audience

Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, residents in psychiatry, and graduate students in clinical psychology and social work.

Serves as a text for courses in psychopathology, personality, and personality disorders.

Course Use

Serves as a text for courses in psychopathology, personality, and personality disorders.

New to this edition:

Updated to DSM-IV.
Expanded coverage of antisocial personality disorder, including a new case.
Incorporates advances in knowledge of passive-aggressive disorder.