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In this handbook, the authors aim to find the best strategies for diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders by focusing on how evidence-based approaches in psychoanalysis, psychodynamic psychiatry, and neuroscience impact clinical practice.
The Preface is written by Glen O. Gabbard, an eminent psychodynamic psychiatrist. The book's 14 chapters are divided into five parts with 41 contributing authors from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Empirical research in the efficacy and effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy is discussed in the Introduction, and further reviewed in Part 1 (Chapters 1-6) by Leichsenring. Part 1 also includes a review of Busch and Milrod's approach to the psychodynamic treatment of panic disorder, as well as other studies related to the treatment of patients who do not respond well to cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Thompson-Brenner, Weingeroff, and Westen present results of randomized controlled trials for eating disorders, strengthening the importance of a multifactorial and individual approach to patients, which is empirically supported in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Levy and colleagues debate, with evidence-based approaches, the long-term treatment with psychodynamic psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder, underscoring the complexity of this disorder, and discussing mentalization-based therapy and transference-focused psychotherapy. They suggest not only the need to try other psychotherapeutic models for patients with borderline personality disorder, but also the need to focus research on the identification of the mechanisms of therapeutic action.
In Chapter 6 (Part I), Perry and colleagues examine, in detail, the changes which occur in defensive functioning during the psychotherapeutic process, using the Defence Mechanism Rating Scales, and formulating questions about the conceptualization, hierarchy of defense levels, and the quantitative rating method for defenses. These authors formulate hypotheses for psyc