This text brings together 37 nationally recognised psychodynamic psychiatrists who discuss in detail their understanding of how to work with specific types of patients. Separate chapters on clinical syndromes, including some of the most challenging that psychiatrists encounter - for example in self-destructive, post-traumatic and abused patients - provide both a historical review of dynamic perspectives and a discussion of differential diagnosis and treatment selection for each disorder. Clinical examples illustrating the underlying psychodynamic conflicts of patients with these disorders are presented as well. Also addressed in this volume are the psychological aspects of the settings in which therapy is practiced and the ways in which those settings affect both the psychiatrist and the patient. The final section contains chapters on current topics of particular relevance - the psychology of prescribing and taking medication, the meaning and impact of interruptions in treatment, and the provocative findings of new outcome research and cost-offset studies. The text closes with a recommended curriculum for training in psychodynamic psychiatry.
