Practitioner's Guide to the Alternative Model for Personality Disorders

Bo Bach, PhD, DMSc, is Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, and leads the Center for Personality Disorder Research in Slagelse Psychiatric Hospital, Denmark, where he also works as clinical practitioner. Dr. Bach serves on the editorial boards of Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment and the Journal of Personality Assessment. He received the 2021 Theodore Millon Grant in Personality Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation. Dr. Bach's research interests revolve around new dimensional models of personality dysfunction, maladaptive traits, and related mental health issues, with an emphasis on clinical assessment, differential diagnosis, and treatment planning.Christopher J. Hopwood, PhD, is Professor of Personality Psychology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Dr. Hopwood is Associate Editor of the Journal of Personality Assessment and the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Psychology of Human–Animal Intergroup Relations. He is the 2018 recipient of the Theodore Millon Grant in Personality Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation, among other honors. Dr. Hopwood's research interests include personality assessment and development, interpersonal processes, psychopathology, and human–animal relations.Erik Simonsen PhD, MD, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, and former Director of the Psychiatric Research Unit of Region Zealand, Denmark. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Personality Disorders and Early Intervention in Psychiatry. With Theodore Millon, Dr. Simonsen cofounded the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders, for which he served as General-Secretary and later as President. He is a past chair of the Section of Personality Disorders of the World Psychiatric Association. Dr. Simonsen has received numerous international awards and has published mainly on early detection, psychotherapy, assessment, and classification of first-episode psychosis and personality disorders.Robert F. Krueger, PhD, is Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. Coeditor of the Journal of Personality Disorders, Dr. Krueger has been named a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher, and is ranked by Research.com as one of the top 100 most impactful psychologists in the world. Dr. Krueger is the 2006 recipient of the Theodore Millon Grant in Personality Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation, among other honors. His research interests center on personality and personality disorders, psychopathology, health, aging, and genetics.

"This book could easily be called the Rosetta Stone of personality disorders. For clinicians treating clients with severe and persistent mental disorders, or those in training for such work, this guide is indispensable. It expertly synthesizes and clarifies existing diagnostic systems, unifying them into a single, practical model. Offering clinician-focused guidelines, the volume integrates the latest research and provides solutions to most diagnostic challenges in this complex field. Comprehensive, well organized, and filled with clinical vignettes, this book is an invaluable resource for both students and seasoned practitioners. A much-needed and highly recommended resource."--Peter Fonagy, CBE, FMedSci, FBA, FAcSS, Head, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, United Kingdom"This book masterfully demonstrates the AMPD's clinical utility and provides a roadmap for realizing the model's potential to refine mental health treatment practices. The volume does an excellent job of showing how a dimensional approach can help us understand the full continuum of personality functioning, so we can describe persons, not just disorders. Laced throughout with examples of using the AMPD to guide clinical decision making, this is a needed book for practitioners seeking to understand and help people with any type of emotional or behavioral problems. In a graduate course in psychopathology, the book would provide a compelling illustration of why the field is tending to move away from strict categorical diagnosis."--Leslie C. Morey, PhD, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University“In this ambitious volume, Bach and colleagues provide the first practical guide to using the AMPD in clinical practice. With helpful case examples and cross-walk tables, the book provides an accessible introduction to the model and offers a valuable primer for clinicians wondering about ways to integrate AMPD thinking into their care for patients.”--Carla Sharp, PhD, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Clinical Psychology and Associate Dean for Faculty and Research, University of Houston"A uniquely comprehensive, clinically oriented, and practical guide to assessment and treatment using the AMPD. The book is chock-full of vivid case examples and replete with tables and diagrams summarizing key points. For students and early-career mental health clinicians, this book provides a solid foundation for learning about diagnosis and treatment of personality pathology in the classroom or on the job. For more experienced clinicians, the book eases the transition from traditional categorical personality disorder assessment models to the new, more clinically useful dimensional models embedded in DSM-5-TR and ICD-11. Readers from any theoretical or treatment orientation will find this guide an invaluable asset in the care of patients with personality pathology."--Andrew E. Skodol, MD, Research Professor of Psychiatry, University of Arizona College of Medicine-

• PrefaceI. Understanding the Client’s Personality1. How Can the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders Support Our Clinical Work?2. Levels of Personality Functioning3. Personality Traits4. General Human Factors and Whole-Person-AssessmentII. Psychological Treatment Informed by the AMPD5. Assessment and Reporting in Clinical Practice6. Providing Feedback and Forming Alliance7. Treatment planning, Psychotherapy, and EvaluationIII. Specific Clinical Applications of the AMPD8. Application with Neurotic and Restrictive Patterns9. Application with Dramatic and Negativistic Patterns10. Application with Impulse-Control Problems and Addictions11. Application with Psychopathy and Forensic Evaluation12. Application with Other Persistent Mental DisordersConclusionReferencesIndex