Interpersonal Diagnosis and Treatment of Personality Disorders, Second Edition

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. 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.