THE MASTERSON GROUP, P.C.

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
of the Personality Disorders

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

PSYCHOTHERAPY OF THE DISORDERS OF THE SELF, The Masterson Approach

The Masterson Approach to disorders of the self has evolved from over 30 years of scientific inquiry, four extended research projects, nine published volumes, and some 75 papers. In addition, it has led to a postgraduate training institute and a nationwide society.

Through a unified view of the growth of self and object relations, the Masterson Approach provides a unique vicissitudes of developmental disorders of the self.

Now in this path-breaking volume a new generation of clinicians further extend and deepen the body of theoretical and clinical work encompassed in the Masterson Approach - particularly as presented in the volume The Real Self - by applying it across a wide range of clinical conditions.

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.

A basic tenet of the Approach is described in Section III on The Art of Confrontation with the Borderline Personality Disorder of the Self. Then the section on Countertransference vividly describes responses to the wide variety of acting out encountered with this difficult patient group.

The last section, New Perspectives, extends the approach in a number of areas, including pharmacotherapy, treatment of addictive behaviors, and the supervisory process.

This volume presents a powerful and viable approach that will be useful to all who treat these difficult patients. The clinician will find that this dynamic theoretical and clinical approach has two major advantages: it integrates developmental theory with both object relations theory and a psychology of the self, and it provides its own self-corrective tools since clinical hypotheses can immediately be tested in the treatment arena.

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.