Disorders of Narcissism: Diagnostic, Clinical, and Empirical Implications [Hardcover]

Elsa F. Ronningstam (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0880487011 | ISBN-13: 978-0880487016 | Publication Date: January 15, 1998 | Edition: 1

Within the last few decades, important clinical, theoretical, and empirical findings have stimulated enormous discussion and controversy regarding the nature of pathological narcissism and the definition and treatment of narcissistic personality disorder. The results of systematic studies of narcissistic personality disorder and the characteristics of pathological narcissism have clarified a number of diagnostic issues and precipitated changes in the diagnostic criteria set, but also provoked challenges to narcissistic personality disorderAs diagnostic status and its validity as a long-term personality disorder. Written by a distinguished group of experts who have made important contributions to our understanding in this field, Disorders of Narcissism: Diagnostic, Clinical, and Empirical Implications is the most comprehensive overview of narcissistic pathology and narcissistic disorders to date. Combining the latest empirical evidence, clinical diagnostic observations, and advances in treatment, this volume addresses important subjects at the forefront of the study of narcissism, including cognitive treatment, normal narcissism, pathological narcissism and suicide, and the connection between pathological narcissism, trauma, and alexithymia. The book is divided into four parts. The authors discuss relevant areas of development in the field, highlight specific theoretical rationales, pinpoint differences in diagnostic and technical approaches to the study of narcissism, and illuminate areas for further clinical and empirical investigation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

If you work with or are interested in patients with NPD, and desire a deeper understanding of this disorder, this text is an essential read. -- Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic

Reading this volume is like being a privileged guest at a meeting of the people whose work is synonymous with the study of narcissism today. -- Robert Michels, M.D., Walsh McDermott University Professor of Medicine, Professor of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York

This book is exceptionally clear and approachable -- Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal

This book is obligatory for those who treat in this field...highly recommended. -- Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research

What is particularly satisfying about the book is its interdisciplinary perspective -- Joseph T. Coyle, M.D., Eben S. Draper Professor of Psychiatry and of Neuroscience, Chair of the Consolidated Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, Massachusetts

About the Author

Elsa F. Ronningstam, Ph.D., is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School, The Psychosocial Research Center at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, and a Candidate at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute in Boston. She is also Associate Clinical Psychologist at McLean Hospital and at Two Brattle Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 483 pages
• Publisher: Amer Psychiatric Pub; 1 edition (January 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880487011
• ISBN-13: 978-0880487016
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,386,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must!, August 17, 2001

By 

Sam Vaknin (Skopje, Macedonia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Disorders of Narcissism: Diagnostic, Clinical, and Empirical Implications (Paperback)

Pathological narcissism has been the topic of heated discussion for a hundred years now. Freud, Kohut, Klein, Winnicott, Kernberg - have all contributed their point of view. Roningstam belongs in this august company as a major theoretician and practitioner. This book - an anthology of writings about this intractable and maddening phenomena - is both whole and partial. It is whole is that it provides a magnificent overview and an efficient launching pad to the understanding of narcissism. It is partial in that it presents only the views of the psychodynamic object relations school of psychology and largely ignores advances in other fields. But it is a great read and provides hope that treatment may finally be getting there and breaching the narcissistic barrier. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited".