Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy for Anger, Anxiety, and Depression

Lorna Smith Benjamin, PhD, is a psychotherapist creator of Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB), a model for describing interactions with self and others and creator of Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy (IRT), which was developed for amp ldquo treatment-resistant amp rdquo psychiatric patients on the basis of what she learned after decades of using SASB in research and clinical practice.Dr. Benjamin got her undergraduate degree at Oberlin College and her graduate degree at the University of Wisconsin. During her graduate studies, she got firsthand experience with the continuity between infrahuman primates and humans as a graduate student of Harry Harlow in his laboratory at the University of Wisconsin. Her specializations there also included learning theory, neurophysiology, and mathematical psychology. That was followed in the department of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, by internship, more clinical training, and then academic appointments that progressed from research associate to full professor.A skiing addict, Dr. Benjamin moved to Utah in 987, where she sponsored a dozen graduate students in the University of Utah department of psychology and concurrently held an appointment as adjunct professor in the department of psychiatry. Her assignment there was to consult for personality disordered cases at the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute (UNI). Her psychopathology practicum at UNI eventually became the IRT clinic in 2 2. Since then, she has collaborated extensively with Dr. Ken Critchfield, who joined Benjamin in the clinic first as a postdoctoral fellow, then as director of research, and later as director of the clinic until Benjamin retired in 2 2. Critchfield moved to James Madison University, where, as associate professor, he continues to harvest information from the IRT database and teach clinical skills related to IRT. Benjamin resumed work at UNI on a part-time contract and presently is active offering consultations and in-house mini-workshops about psychothearpy, analyzing data, and writing. She also provides day-long or multiday workshops for professionals on IRT and SASB, usually emphasizing personality disorders

This book is a beautiful and rare integration of biological, social, and psychodynamic treatment principles. Benjamin has combined these exceedingly complex ideas into simple, easily accessible terminology. The case examples are especially useful in slowly integrating the language of IRT throughout the early part of the book. This work is a masterpiece of both clinical treatment and psychopathology.- Timothy Anderson, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens Through her landmark Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB) and IRT, Benjamin has explored these foundations like few others. From advanced students to experienced clinicians and researchers, those unfamiliar with her work will find a fascinating overview of SASB and IRT. For the previously acquainted, this volume provides important new additions to Benjamin's work, especially its grounding in the developmental psychobiology of safety, threat and adaptation, and its detailed focus on the nature and treatment of anger, anxiety, and depression.- Timothy W. Smith, PhD, Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City

• PrefaceChapter . Introduction and OverviewPart I.  Foundational ConceptsChapter 2. Natural Biology: Mechanisms of Psychopathology and ChangeChapter 3. Structural Analysis of Social Behavior: The Rosetta Stone for Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy Case Formulation and Treatment ModelsPart II. The Case Formulation and Treatment ModelsChapter 4. The Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy Case Formulation ModelChapter 5. The Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy Treatment ModelChapter . Phases of the Action Stage of ChangePart III. Application of Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapyto Specific Emotional ProblemsChapter 7. AngerChapter 8. AnxietyChapter 9. DepressionPart IV. Empirical SupportChapter . Validity of the Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy Models and Effectiveness of TreatmentGlossaryReferencesIndexAbout the Author