Supportive Therapy for Borderline Patients: A Psychodynamic Approach - Hardcover

Rockland, Lawrence Howard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0898621828 ISBN 13: 9780898621822

Publisher: The Guilford Press, 1992

Synopsis

``I have become convinced that many borderline patients are not helped by the psychiatric treatment they receive and even more troubling, that a fair percentage of them are made worse by it....Dr. Rockland's approach makes sense to me at a time when much of the literature on the psychotherapy of borderline personality does not....I have learned a great deal from this book and feel confident that it will have a pronounced beneficial effect on clinical practice.'' --From the Foreword by Allen J. Frances
Noting the potential dangers of uncovering approaches, early writers on borderline personality emphasized the value of supportive therapy. Despite these warnings, the preponderance of the current literature on borderline disorder is confined to exploratory psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Redressing this imbalance in the literature, this important new work is the first to present an organized and detailed description of how supportive interventions are accomplished with borderline patients. With a uniquely practical focus on ``how to do it,'' Lawrence H. Rockland applies the principles of Psychodynamically Oriented Supportive Therapy (POST)--an approach that he formulated--to patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
Divided in three sections, the book's opening chapters review the changing concepts of the borderline, vicissitudes in treatment recommendations, the general principles of POST, and the indications for applying this approach to BPD. The second section presents the 2 1/2-year psychodynamic supportive treatment of a patient with BPD. The four phases of treatment--evaluation and treatment planning, early phase, middle phase, and termination--are discussed in detail and illustrated with session dialogue and critical commentary by the author. The final section addresses two major problems--therapist countertransference and patient acting out. Other topics include continuous/intermittent supportive therapy, psychopharmacology in supportive therapy, and supportive aspects of inpatient treatments.
Filling a significant gap in the literature, this important new volume's systematic and comprehensive exposition of supportive therapy for borderline patients makes it an invaluable resource for all practitioners who work with this difficult population. Replete with clinically useful suggestions and guidelines, it is ideal for trainees in all mental health disciplines. It is relevant to any course on dynamic psychotherapy, and serves as a text for all students of borderline pathology and its treatment.

About this title

Review:

"An outstanding addition to the all too-slender catalog of works devoted to the psychotherapies, particularly supportive psychotherapy, in recent years...Rockland's book is a gem, one of the best four or five books on psychotherapy that I have seen recently. It is 'must' reading for psychiatric residents and should be used in case supervision and in psychotherapy seminars. Although it is only about 300 pages long, it presents theoretical and clinical material of import and has clinical utility. It is highly recommended." -- American Journal of Psychiatry "No manual that systematically approaches supportive psychotherapy for borderline patients has been available until the appearance of this superb new contribution by Rockland and some of his colleagues...The clear prose style and the cogency of the author's clinical illustrations make this a highly recommended book for beginning students and for experienced psychotherapists." -- Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic "The most impressive of the three contributions is Lawrence Rockland's manual that outlines a supportive psychotherapeutic approach for borderline patients....outlines the goals of supportive therapy and specific detail for the reader. He also provides a thoughtful section on the mechanisms of action and such techniques....case examples include excellent discussions...commentary (is) fair-minded and thoughtful....presents a plethora of useful and practical vignettes with which all therapists will resonate...Of the three (books reviewed), Rockland's contribution in particular deserves a wide readership by therapists who treat borderline patients."-- Psychoanalytic Books , .."well-written, easily readable...." -- Psychoanalytic Quarterly , .."this is a thought-provoking book on a topic which is inadequately discussed in the literature while widely practiced clinically." -- Psychoanalytic Quarterly "An outstanding addition to the all too-slender catalog of works devoted to the psychotherapies, particularly supportive psychotherapy, in recent years...Rockland's book is a gem, one of the best four or five books on psychotherapy that I have seen recently. It is 'must' reading for psychiatric residents and should be used in case supervision and in psychotherapy seminars. Although it is only about 300 pages long, it presents theoretical and clinical material of import and has clinical utility. It is highly recommended." --"American Journal of Psychiatry" "No manual that systematically approaches supportive psychotherapy for borderline patients has been available until the appearance of this superb new contribution by Rockland and some of his colleagues...The clear prose style and the cogency of the author's clinical illustrations make this a highly recommended book for beginning students and for experienced psychotherapists." --"Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic" "The most impressive of the three contributions is Lawrence Rockland's manual that outlines a supportive psychotherapeutic approach for borderline patients....outlines the goals of supportive therapy and specific detail for the reader. He also provides a thoughtful section on the mechanisms of action and such techniques....case examples include excellent discussions...commentary (is) fair-minded and thoughtful....presents a plethora of useful and practical vignettes with which all therapists will resonate...Of the three (books reviewed), Rockland's contribution in particular deserves a wide readership by therapists who treat borderline patients." --"Psychoanalytic Books" .,."well-written, easily readable...."--"Psychoanalytic Quarterly" .,."this is a thought-provoking book on a topic which is inadequately discussed in the literature while widely practiced clinically." --"Psychoanalytic Quarterly"

About this edition

• Publisher: The Guilford Press
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0898621828
• ISBN 13: 9780898621822
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 308