THE MASTERSON GROUP, P.C.

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
of the Personality Disorders

Descriptions of Books by James F. Masterson, M.D.

DISORDERS OF THE SELF, New Therapeutic Horizons, The Masterson Approach

In this incisive new volume, the study and treatment of the disorders of the self have been carried forward by Dr. James Masterson and his students, who have now become his colleagues. Disorders of the Self: New Therapeutic Horizons - The Masterson Approach is comprised of writings by the current generation of clinicians who carry on and expand the horizons of the Masterson Approach. Their initial collaboration was presented in Psychotherapy of the Disorders of the Self, (published in 1989), also by James F. Masterson, M.D. and Ralph Klein, M.D., Editors.

This latest volume, Disorders of the Self, addresses four new areas of great clinical importance from the perspective of developmental, self, and object relations theory.

In Part I, Ralph Klein, Clinical Director of the Masterson Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, combines the work of Fairbairn and Guntrip with the Masterson Approach to develop an updated, broader, original, and clinically useful concept of the Schizoid Disorders of the Self.

The force of Dr. Klein's approach is illustrated by the focus on the schizoid dilemma and the schizoid compromise, vividly depicted with detailed clinical applications. In Part II, Candace Orcutt, member at the Masterson Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, then applies the Masterson Approach to the controversial topic of early abuse - physical and/or sexual - to the developing self.

In the book's first section, the Editors introduce the Masterson Approach and its applications to personality disorders and differential diagnosis.

Section II on The Scope of Psychotherapy demonstrates through extensive case presentations the application of the Masterson Approach to a wide range of borderline and narcissistic disorders, including shorter-term therapy and work with adolescents.

Diagnosis and treatment of narcissistic pathology is the focus of Part III. This section refines and expands how the disorders of the self triad - self activation leads to anxiety and depression which lead to defenses - operate in both the patient's life and in the therapeutic relationship.

The contributors to this section identify and illustrate critical points in treatment, detail the technical approach to the closet narcissistic personality disorder, and address the therapeutic management of devaluation and disappointment reactions along with the countertransference reactions they evoke.

Part IV concludes by delving into arenas beyond individual psychotherapy for disorders of the self. In an innovative approach to couples therapy, Richard E. Fischer, Ph.D., combines the Masterson Approach to couples therapy. David Grubb, M.D., also examines the complexities of drug therapy and comorbidity and their interaction with psychodynamic forces.

Disorders of the Self will be a vital resource for any clinician who works with personality disorders. It demonstrates the continued expansion and evolution of a profound theoretical and clinical paradigm - the Masterson Approach - aimed at penetrating and healing the disorders of the self.

JAMES F. MASTERSON, M.D., is Director of The Masterson Group for the Treatment of the Personality Disorders (Adult and Adolescent) and of The Masterson Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. He is Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Dr. Masterson conducts workshops and supervision seminars throughout the United States.

RALPH KLEIN, M.D., is Clinical Director of The Masterson Group for the Treatment of the Personality Disorders (Adult and Adolescent) and of The Masterson Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. He was trained in both pediatrics and psychiatry at the New York Hospital. Dr. Klein was formerly Head of the Outpatient Department at the North Shore Hospital division of Cornell University Medical College.