Customer Reviews

Cognitive Therapy of Personality Disorders, Second Edition

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I love Becks work in the field of Cognitive therapy. I have long had the trouble of finding a modality that effectivly works with personality disorders. I bought this book in an attempt to bridge my knowledge from purely Axis I to include Axis II disorders.

The book goes through each and every personality disorder one at a time. This made it very easy to research one specific problem without having to sift through pages and pages of irrelevant information for the task at hand.

Within each chapter Beck defines the typical automatic thoughts, or faulty reasoning, that is commonly associated with the personality disorders. He then gives broad treatment plans and goals to deal with the symptoms.

Beck is very well organized and succienct. You will walk away from even a short reading of this book feeling more confident and better equipped to deal with the disorders without the usually doubts that maybe you didnt get the whole gist of what the author was trying to say.

I felt that this was extremely well done. I also appreciate that Beck does not promise more then he can deliver and he is the first one to say that outcomes for Axis II disorders are still poor compared with Axis I.

This is a great book! It has a lot of practical information on how to approach treatment for a client who has a personality disorder. Included are case examples and problems that a therapist may have in treating clients. Additionally, the book includes specific intervention strategies and recommendations on how to develop a good working relationship. This is especially important, because a client's interpersonal problems will be played out during session with the therapist. I have used the information in this book to anticipate and prepare for specific issues that have arisen in session.

Beck has done a great job describing a very pragmatic, common sense cognitive-behavioral methodology for the treatment of challenging personalities. The research he has done builds confidence in practitioners interested in and using these methods. Each personality style is well-described, and several strategies are provided for addressing these problematic dispositions. The book is very well-organized and easy to read. Assignments and case examples further add to the utility of this text.

As someone who is avoidant co morbid with OCPD spent perhaps 40 years depressed more than not before reaching out for any professional help I would like to say especially in the chapter on avoidants the book is pretty much dead on. The chapter on avoidants is the one I can most closely relate to but I see myself in others as well my OCDP us most apparent in hoarding issues a spot my therapist and I are having a hard time pushing me through I've been working with a therapist for about a year and half now making progress even if it's slow. My therapist knows I am a person who likes to try and understand my disorders and reads as much material as I can. We have both learned a lot together she being my motivator and supporter. She has been outstanding doing her research to help develop plans of actions that have helped knock down some long standing self built walls. She likes to kid me that I could teach a graduate class in personality disorders with all the reading I have done.

To sum this up as a someone who has to deal with these issues as part of my daily life the book is right on with much of the way my thoughts/reactions are if I don't work actively to keep ahead of them to continue on my road to a happier life. And yes even as someone who came to therapy at a high functioning level in many aspects of my life I know at times I can be a frustrating client. But for me the knowledge that both my therapist and I are feeing increasing levels of frustration has been something I have been able to use to finally find the courage to knock down some long standing walls. So a special than you to those of you who choose to try and help those of us who present some special difficulties.

Beck and his group have written a classic in cognitive therapy with clear conceptulization of personality disorders. This is a difficult population to treat and Beck's work is clear and on target. Clincal examples enrich the theory making it an essential reference.

I didn't know much about personality disorders, so a psychologist recommended this book to me. It's brilliant. Some of it is detailed information about the cognitive approach however I focussed on the chapters on each personality disorder and I learned so much reading this. Highly recommend.

The book came in a timely manner and arrived in new condition exactly as I ordered it. Very pleased.