Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
In this important new volume, Otto F. Kernberg, M.D., of Weill Cornell Medical College, offers an updated vision of psychoanalytic object relations theory, revealing its application to transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP), a treatment approach derived from, and related to, psychoanalysis.
Collecting previously published articles and new material based on empirical studies carried out by the Personality Disorders Institute of Weill Cornell, the book illustrates TFP's applicability in scenarios that include:
• Schizoid personality disorders
• Psychotic personality organization
• Disturbances in sexuality and love relations in cases of narcissistic personalities
• Inpatient hospital treatment
• Large group regression in organizational and political settings as a consequence of malignant narcissism
Hatred, Emptiness, and Hope also devotes a chapter to the implications of new developments in neurobiology on psychoanalytic object relations theory, examining the relationship between neurobiological dispositions and their interaction with psychodynamic developments.
Besides offering a detailed look at the application of TFP to severe personality disorders, this book also examines the practice of TFP itself, tackling controversial issues regarding the supervision of psychoanalysis and its derived psychotherapies, the challenges for the future of psychoanalysis, and innovations that may serve to strengthen its role as a profession, a treatment approach and a social organization within mental health sciences.
The book is intended to describe contemporary psychoanalytic object relations theory as a general theoretical frame of treatment allowing us to conceptualize both normal personality functioning and the very nature of personality disorders. It meets these objectives by assembling the author's extensive research and experience in object relations. The book makes a strong case for the use of object relations to understand personality structure and therapeutically treat individuals with personality disorders, where other methods of psychoanalysis may be limited.
The book is directed toward practicing clinicians, especially those working with individuals with personality disorders. The material is very detailed and will be best understood by those with some foundational understanding of object relations theory, which the book expands upon. The author, Dr. Kernberg, is a prominent figure in the field of psychoanalytic object relations.
This book provides an in-depth look at object relations in psychoanalytic theory from an expert in the field. The author builds upon his previous work by discussing research, exploring the neurobiological basis to support psychoanalytic object relations, and providing compelling evidence regarding the usefulness of this framework while working with individuals with severe personality disorders. The book requires some foundational understanding of object relations theory, but provides great depth and new insights on the subject and its application beyond the traditional psychotherapy setting.
— Matthew Koster, DO, MBA
Otto F. Kernberg, M.D., is Director of the Personality Disorders Institute at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Westchester Division, a Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research in New York.
Part I: Theory
Chapter 1: Object Relations Theory and Transference Analysis
Chapter 2: Implications of Developments in Neurobiology
Part II: Technique
Chapter 3: Extension of Psychoanalytic Technique
Chapter 4: Transference Structures in Personality Pathologies
Chapter 5: Affective Dominance, Dyadic Relationship, and Mentalization
Chapter 6: Reflection on Supervision
Part III: Specific Psychopathologies
Chapter 7: Schizoid Personality Disorders
Chapter 8: Psychotic Personality Structure
Chapter 9: Narcissistic Pathology of Love Relations
Part IV: Applications
Chapter 10: Inpatient Treatment of Personality Disorders
Chapter 11: Malignant Narcissism and Large Group Regression
Chapter 12: Challenges for the Future of Psychoanalysis