Description
Book SynopsisThe mechanism of emotional change is central to the field of mental health. Emotional change is necessary for healing the long-standing pain of character pathology, yet is the least studied and most misunderstood area in psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. Changing Character at its heart is about emotion,how to draw it out, recognize it and make it conscious, follow its lead and, equally important, use cognition to guide, control, and direct our emotional lives. This treatment manual teaches therapists time-efficient techniques for changing character and helping their patients live mindfully with themselves and others through adaptive responses to conflictual experiences.Leigh McCullough Vaillant, a nationally recognized expert on short-term dynamic psychotherapy, shows therapists how to identify and remove obstacles in one''s character (ego defences) that block emotional experience. She then illustrates how the therapist can delve into that experience and harness the tremendous adapt
Table of Contents* Introduction and Overview of the Treatment Model * Assessment and Treatment on the Basis of Patient Level of Functioning * Determination of the Core Psychodynamic Conflict Formulation and Its Resolution * First Major Objective of Defense Restructuring: Defense Recognition * Second Major Objective of Defense Restructuring: Relinquishing of Defenses * First Major Objective of Affect Restructuring: Affect Experiencing * Specific Affects in Clinical Work * Second Major Objective of Affect Restructuring: Affect Reintegration, Expression, and Reconnection * Restructuring the Inner Representations of Self and Others * The Flow of Treatment * Disorder-Specific Modifications of the Short-Term Anxiety-Regulating Model * Theory and Research * Epilogue: Future Directions
