Customer Reviews

Psychodynamic Psychiatry in Clinical Practice : The DSM-IV Edition

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I teach those evil, mean behavioral and cognitive courses that all of you hate. Bwaaahahahahaaaaah. Even so...

Add me to the list of people who heartily endorse this new edition of a classic. I use it as a teaching tool and as a reference, and clinical psychology students generally rave about it. A book like this one is essential at a time when psychodynamic approaches are fighting for their proverbial lives. It keeps pace with the DSM-IV-TR, and with rapid advances in neuroscience and clinical research. As before, it is enormously practical. It continues to provide clinical examples, insight, and wisdom related to each DSM diagnosis. As before, its style is accessible to students and clinicians alike, including those who are not psychodynamically oriented. If I was teaching an introductory course on psychdynamic psychology, this is the text I would use.

Gabbard's book contains the following: (1) A lucid introduction to the foundations of dynamic psychiatry. Topics covered include the patient's subjective experience, the role of the unconscious, psychic determinism, expression of the past in the present, resistance, and the role of neurobiology; (2) An introduction to theory, including ego psychology, object relations theory, self psychology, and attachment theory; (3) A multi-chapter discussion of clinical assessment and treatment, including sections on psychodynamic considerations of medication and hospitalization; (4) Coverage of Axis I disorders (schizophrenia, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders, sexual dysfunctions, substance-related disorders and eating disorders, and cognitive disorders); (5) Coverage of Axis II disorders, with emphasis on the cluster B This is disorders. There are separate chapters for borderline, narcissistic, antisocial, and hysterical-histrionic disorders. The clinical chapters begin by discussing presentation as it relates to the 4 major dynamic schools, and then discuss assessment, and management. In this new edition, relevant biological research is integrated into the discussion. My kind of book: it takes old-time theories, case studies, and new research, and integrates them in a way that enhances clinical practice.

As a third year resident in psychiatry, the utilization of dynamic therapy in the treatment of my patients was daunting. To fully understanding them, would I need to read all of the works of Freud and Jung (and numerous other masters in the field). Dr. Gabbard succintly puts all of the current theories of dynamic therapy into one crisp, easy to read text. The only unfortunate thing about this book is that a third edition is arriving in stores soon.

this is a wonderful book. it is well-organized and puts the often elusive concept of psychodynamic theory into real, practical considerations and methods. it includes basic principles, information on defense mechanisms (very useful), and a great deal of information on various psychodynamic theoretical perspectives. the chapters on understanding and treating personality disorders were my favorite, and the author spent a great deal of time on cluster b personality disorders, probably the most often seen and difficult to treat of the personality disorders. i particularly liked the chapter on borderline personality disorder. throughout the book, the theory and concepts are easy to read and understand, and the interventions are practical and well-explained.

Gabbard's Third Edition of Psychodynamic Psychiatry keeps an already classic psychodynamic analysis of the DSM IV up to date with the lastest revisions of the DSM IV. It is what we have come to expect from Gabbard and more. Listening to and hearing our patients remains as necessary now, and even more necessary now, precisely because of the chemical interventions which are now available.

This text is a wonderfully clear and easily understood book. Gabbard looks at the fundamentals of dynamic psychiatry and explains the principles behind the major schools of psychodynamic theory in such a way that even I can understand! In this edition, he adds some of the latest findings on neurobiology, offering a compelling integration of biological and psychological theories. This is the second edition I have bought, and for someone who usually avoids buying even one textbook, to have bought two of the same is saying something.

This book offers a great perspective by examining psychological disorders from a dynamic approach. It provides the reader with a new way of looking at various disorders from the DSM-IV-TR.

This is a well written book which requires thought and some previous and accompanying understanding. I can not wait to read the in depth book about psychotherapy by Dr Gabbard.

this is a very good text. well written and useful. i'm just getting a little tired of paying a hundred bucks a pop for books that start to fall apart soon after i get them. in the case of the gabbard book, the binding holding the pages together was truly cheap and coming apart. just cheap production. i'm less concerned if the sideboards are on the less than totally solid and reliable side of production but don't produce a book and charge a hundred bucks for it and have the binding start to split at the first reading. really insulting to the buyer and the author. i'm sure apa could afford to forgo an additional ten cents per book and actually have their contracted book manufacturer use glue in the binding.

Glen Gabbard does an excellent job making this difficult subject easier to understand from the psychoanalytic point of view. I typically find reading information about diagnoses dry and fairly meaningless. Gabbard is able to keep my attention and help me to understand a person's character structure from a less medical-model point of view.

Psychodynamic Psychiatry in Clinical Practice is a very dense book. A considerable amount of material is covered in the 630 pages. Basic principles of dynamic therapy, the basic theories of psychodynamics, and forms and adaptations of psychodynamic treatment are covered in the opening chapters. Following that, each major disorder area (mood, psychotic, anxiety, dissociative, substance, paraphilia, personality) are covered in a similar, logical format: introduction of disorder, historical background, theoretical formulations (psychological and biological), treatment considerations. The book is well researched and well written.

So what's to criticize?

Dr. Gabbard has, in this most recent edition, incorporated a considerable number of findings from neuroscience and it makes this book a valuable resource on integration of factors leading to psychiatric problems. Where it falls short for me, is that the integration is not complete (likely more related to the research in the area) and that muddies the discussion of the understanding of some disorders. For example, in the discussion of borderline personality disorder, a large amount of the text is devoted to citing studies in neuroimaging (which, make no mistake, is cutting edge and furthers our understanding of the disorder). Later, a portion of the text deals with the historical, psychoanalytic understanding of borderline personality disorder. However, these areas, for me, were not linked and didn't provide an integrated theoretical understanding of what causes these disorders and that is where the book fell short. Earlier editions, while less up to date in terms of research, were far easier to integrate and understand.

So, in my opinion, this book is a great resource for the current state of research, less so for clinical understanding of patients.