A basic text for the understanding of patients with pathological narcissism.

The basic text for the understanding of patients with pathological narcissism.

An essential collection on leading psychoanalyses of narcissism Narcissism has recently been the focus of debate among professionals, in large part due to the controversies surrounding the world of Heinz Kohut and Otto Kernberg. Yet much has been written about narcissism throughout the history of psychoanalysis and this carefully selected collection brings together the essential work on narcissism. The book first puts forth the major theoretical formulations - self-psychology, object relations, psychodynamics - and then explores diagnostic and therapeutic applications. The book offers landmark classic and contemporary contributions by authors such as Annie Reich, Heinz Kohut, Otto Kernberg, Alice Miller, Arnold Modell, and many others.

Dozens of Frequently Asked Questions regarding Pathological Narcissism, relationships with abusive narcissists and psychopaths, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

The author clarifies the many uses of the term borderline personality and offers an ego-psychological approach approach to the understanding of the borderline conditions. He focuses on diagnostic, psychodynamic and treatment issues. reference is made to four major diagnostic categories: normal-neurotic, borderline, psychotic, and narcissistic. He demonstrates that an in-depth study of a patient's ego functioning can lead to diagnostic clarity, accurate assessment and prognostic appraisal, and therefore to an informed selection psychotherapeutic conditions.

Filling a crucial gap in the clinical literature, this book provides a contemporary view of pathological narcissism and presents an innovative treatment approach. The preeminent authors explore the special challenges of treating patients--with narcissistic traits or narcissistic personality disorder--who retreat from reality into narcissistic grandiosity, thereby compromising their lives and relationships. Assessment procedures and therapeutic strategies have been adapted from transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP), a manualized, evidence-based treatment for borderline personality disorder. Rich case material illustrates how TFP-N enables the clinician to engage patients more deeply in therapy and help them overcome relationship and behavioral problems at different levels of severity. The volume integrates psychodynamic theory and research with findings from social cognition, attachment, and neurobiology.