The Neurotic Organization


Book Description

Is your organization obsessive-compulsive or passive-aggressive? Corporate neurosis expert Manfred Kets de Vries analyzes dysfunctional organizational behavior in terms of accepted psychoanalytic types and arrives at some genuine insights into why some companies are healthier than others.




Psychic Retreats


Book Description

Essentially clinical in its approach, Psychic Retreats discusses the problem of patients who are 'stuck' and with whom it is difficult to make meaningful contact. John Steiner, an experienced psychoanalyst, uses new developments in Kleinian theory to explain how this happens. He examines the way object relationships and defences can be organized into complex structures which lead to a personality and an analysis becoming rigid and stuck, with little opportunity for development or change. These systems of defences are pathological organisations of the personality: John Steiner describes them as 'psychic retreats', into which the patient can withdraw to avoid contact both with the analyst and with reality. To provide a background to these original and controversial concepts, the author builds on more established ideas such as Klein's distinction between the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions, and briefly reviews previous work on pathological organizations of the personality. He illustrates his discussion with detailed clinical material, with examples of the way psychic retreats operate to provide a respite from both paranoid-schizoid and depressive anxieties. He looks at the way such organizations function as a defence against unbearable guilt and describes the mechanism by which fragmentation of the personality can be reversed so the lost parts of the self can be regained and reintegrated in to the personality. Psychic Retreats is written with the practising psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists in mind. The emphasis is therefore clinical throughout the book, which concludes with a chapter on the technical problems which arise in the treatment of such severely ill patients.




Handbook of Dynamic Psychotherapy for Higher Level Personality Pathology


Book Description

Offering a sophisticated introduction to a contemporary psychodynamic model of the mind and treatment, this book provides an approach to understanding and treating higher level personality pathology. It describes a specific form of treatment called "dynamic psychotherapy for higher level personality pathology" (DPHP), which was designed specifically to treat the rigidity that characterizes that condition. Based on psychodynamic object relations theory, DPHP is an outgrowth of transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) and is part of an integrated approach to psychodynamic treatment of personality pathology across the spectrum of severity -- from higher level personality pathology, described in this volume, to severe personality pathology, described in a companion volume, Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality: Focusing on Object Relations. Together, they provide a comprehensive description of an object relations theory-based approach to treatment of personality disorders, embedded in an integrated model of personality. As a guide to treatment, Handbook of Dynamic Psychotherapy for Higher Level Personality Pathology provides a clear, specific, and comprehensive description of how to practice DPHP from beginning to end, presented in jargon-free exposition using extensive clinical illustrations. The authors offer a comprehensive description of psychodynamic consultation that includes sharing the diagnostic impression, establishing treatment goals, discussing treatment options, obtaining informed consent, and establishing treatment frame. Throughout, the book emphasizes fundamental clinical principles that enable the clinician to think through clinical decisions moment-to-moment and also to develop an overall sense of the trajectory and goals of the treatment. Among the book's benefits: Takes a diagnosis-driven approach, presenting a clear model of both the psychopathology and its treatment; Explains underlying theory and basic elements of DPHP for those first learning dynamic therapy; Offers an integrated, innovative synthesis of contemporary psychodynamic approaches to personality pathology and psychodynamic psychotherapy; Describes goals, strategies, tactics, and techniques of the treatment to demonstrate its flexibility over a relatively long course of treatment; Provides sophisticated discussion of integrating dynamic psychotherapy with medication management and other forms of treatment. DPHP offers a broad range of patients the opportunity to modify maladaptive personality functioning in ways that can permanently enhance their quality of life. Handbook of Dynamic Psychotherapy for Higher Level Personality Pathology provides experienced clinicians with a hands-on approach to that method, and is also useful as a primary textbook in courses focusing on the technique of dynamic psychotherapy or in courses on psychodynamics.




Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, Second Edition


Book Description

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. *Coverage of the contemporary relational movement in psychoanalysis. Winner--Canadian Psychological Association's Goethe Award for Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Scholarship







Leadership and Change Management


Book Description

Recognizing and responding to change is the oxygen of life for an organization, and leadership is fundamentally about focusing organizations on these new realities. Leadership and Change Management provides the reader with a practical, real-world understanding of several dimensions of leadership that are usually neglected in management textbooks, such as the nature of new realities and how managers can improve their insight into them, and how leaders can identify and overcome resistance to change. Drawing on a wide range of insightful, global real-life case studies to capture the imagination, the topics covered include critical systems thinking, philosophies of leadership, group dynamics, authority, ethics, personal character and the psychology of leadership. This comprehensive text will be of interest to anyone looking for a more thoughtful engagement with the key issues in leadership and change management.




Six Steps in the Treatment of Borderline Personality Organization


Book Description

In this volume, Dr Volkan uses precise, strong and sometimes poetic language to present a treatment approach for work with borderline patients. His entire treatment method is set forth in six steps that reflect the patient's actual sequential experience in the therapeutic process. Unlike many therapists who write about therapy approaches, Volkman presents his work with nine psychosis-prone borderline patients who underwent his specific treatment plan, as well as a detailed account of a six-year, seven-month analysis of Pattie, which the author described as a long journey into an intrapsychic world.




Organizational Pathology


Book Description

Organizational Pathology draws an extended metaphor that the life cycle of an organization is akin to the biological life cycle. Like all living things, organizations will encounter problems that lead to decline and eventual failure. This work discusses the basic problems and life threatening diseases responsible for organizations' failure and death, including organizational politics, organizational corruption, and organizational crime. The book also contains a critical look at crises and fixations; failure and survival; and processes of disbandment and closure of dying organizations. The consideration of these issues follows a diagnostic model of failure. Yitzhak Samuel argues that if the problems that lead to failure can be predicted or diagnosed early, their severity can be assessed and possible remedies can be implemented to avoid escalating crises. At the very least, an understanding of why and how decline happens can be gained from this analysis. This book offers facts about the causes and consequences of organizational downfall and clues about diagnoses of certain symptoms of abnormal behavior, and how to identify early signs of decline or failure. In order to illustrate these abstract arguments and concepts, Samuel uses various real-life examples of events that have occurred in cross-country contexts. In this way, Organizational Pathology: Life and Death of Organizations should serve a variety of readers. Although primarily intended for students and scholars in the social and behavioral sciences who are familiar with the study and the practice of organizations, this book's informal style makes it easily accessible to a wide range of readers. Just as Samuel's previous book on organizational politics led to new lines of research and theory, this book will encourage similar studies in organizational pathology and institutional malaise.




Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder


Book Description

Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: A Clinical Guide presents a model of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and its treatment that is based on contemporary psychoanalytic object relations theory as developed by the leading thinker in the field, Otto Kernberg, M.D., who is also one of the authors of this insightful manual. The model is supported and enhanced by material on current phenomenological and neurobiological research and is grounded in real-world cases that deftly illustrate principles of intervention in ways that mental health professionals can use with their patients. The book first provides clinicians with a model of borderline pathology that is essential for expert assessment and treatment planning and then addresses the empirical underpinnings and specific therapeutic strategies of transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP). From the chapter on clinical assessment, the clinician learns how to select the type of treatment on the basis of the level of personality organization, the symptoms the patient experiences, and the areas of compromised functioning. In order to decide on the type of treatment, the clinician must examine the patient's subjective experience (such as symptoms of anxiety or depression), observable behaviors (such as investments in relationships and deficits in functioning), and psychological structures (such as identity, defenses, and reality testing). Next, the clinician learns to establish the conditions of treatment through negotiating a verbal treatment contract or understanding with the patient. The contract defines the responsibilities of each of the participants and defines what the reality of the therapeutic relationship is. Techniques of treatment interventions and tactics to address particularly difficult clinical challenges are addressed next, equipping the therapist to employ the four primary techniques of TFP (interpretation, transference analysis, technical neutrality, and use of countertransference) and setting the stage for and guiding the proper use of those techniques within the individual session. What to expect in the course of long-term treatment to ameliorate symptoms and to effect personality change is covered, with sections on the early, middle, and late phases of treatment. This material prepares the clinician to deal with predictable phases, such as tests of the frame, impulse containment, movement toward integration, episodes of regression, and termination. Finally, the text is accompanied by supremely instructive online videos that demonstrate a variety of clinical situations, helping the clinician with assessment and modeling critical therapeutic strategies. The book recognizes that each BPD patient presents a unique treatment challenge. Grounded in the latest research and rich with clinical insight, Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: A Clinical Guide will prove indispensable to mental health professionals seeking to provide thoughtful, effective care to these patients.




Psychodynamic Therapy for Personality Pathology


Book Description

Deftly combining contemporary theory with clinical practice, Psychodynamic Therapy for Personality Pathology: Treating Self and Interpersonal Functioning is an invaluable resource for any clinician seeking a coherent model of personality functioning and pathology, classification, assessment, and treatment. This insightful guide introduces Transference-Focused Psychotherapy -- Extended (TFP-E), a specialized but accessible approach for any clinician interested in the skillful treatment of personality disorders. Compatible with the DSM-5 Section III Alternative Model for Personality Disorders -- and elaborating on that approach, this volume offers clinicians at all levels of experience an accessible framework to guide evaluation and treatment of personality disorders in a broad variety of clinical and research settings. In this book, readers will find: A coherent model of personality functioning and disorders based in psychodynamic object relations theory A clinically near approach to the classification of personality disorders, coupled with a comprehensive approach to assessment An integrated treatment model based on general clinical principles that apply across the spectrum of personality disorders An understanding of specific modifications of technique that tailor intervention to the individual patient's personality pathology Descriptions of specific psychodynamic techniques that can be exported to shorter-term treatments and acute clinical settings Patient assessment and basic psychodynamic techniques are described in up-to-date, jargon-free terms and richly supported by numerous clinical vignettes, as well as online videos demonstrating interventions. At the end of each chapter, readers will find a summary of key clinical concepts, making this book both a quick reference tool as well as a springboard for continued learning. Clinicians looking for an innovative, trustworthy guide to understanding and treating personality pathology that combines contemporary theory with clinical practice need look no further than Psychodynamic Therapy for Personality Pathology: Treating Self and Interpersonal Functioning.