The continuum between Bipolar Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder.
(17/28)
INTRODUCTION: Several studies have been carried out regarding the possible overlap between Bipolar Disorder and borderline personality disorder. Up to now, it is not possible to provide a definitive picture. In fact, there is currently significant debate about the relationship between Borderline Personality Disorder and Bipolar Disorder. METHODS: MEDLINE searches were performed to identify the latest studies of these disorders, considering psychodynamic aspects. DISCUSSION: Bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder share common clinical features, namely affective instability and impulsivity which however differ in quality. Consequently, to better understand these aspects, it is necessary to trace the stages of childhood psychological development. CONCLUSIONS: It has been claimed that Bipolar Disorder Type II can be divided into two subtypes: one stable and functional between episodes and one unstable between episodes which is related to Borderline Personality Disorder. However, better diagnostic theories, psychiatrist's empathy and patience remain the essential tool to understand and to face human suffering. (+info)
Insight in psychotherapy.
(18/28)
The same as with many other psychoanalytic constructs, it took a long time to theoretically conceptualize "insight". Throughout decades, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists of various techniques, observed and detail discussed transcripts of sessions so to get an insight into what leads to a change in structure of patients during psychotherapeutic treatment. In this article, authors attempted to integrate all developmental achievements on insight in psychoanalytic literature and further on. It is apparent that there are numerous models which contribute to a change in structure of a patient. Additionally, an outline of few situations was given, as a part of therapeutic process which contributes to insight. The aim of this article is to give readers insight into how there is more than one process which leads to insight; it is a complex work and various methods can be used, by using conscious and unconscious ways to help patient achieve liberation from difficulties for which they seek help. (+info)
The postpartum depressive state in relation to perceived rearing: a prospective cohort study.
(19/28)
Schizophrenia and the self: contributions of psychoanalytic self-psychology.
(20/28)
This article explores the unique contribution of psychoanalytic self-psychology to an indepth understanding of the subjective experience of the self in schizophrenia. The author makes the argument that with creative adaptation Kohut's experience-near concept of the primacy of the self--its development and vicissitudes of fragmentation/cohesion--and the salience and legitimacy of self-object needs in all human relationships can be applied to psychotic and schizophrenic experience. When so applied, there is reason to suspect that an important bridge to the subjective inner life of the schizophrenic patient will be achieved. (+info)
Balint reassessed: the doctor, his patient, and the illness: a reappraisal.
(21/28)
Psychoanalytical theories seek to explain human behaviour. I believe that they are not scientific, whereas it appears that Balint thought they were. I suggest instead that they are better regarded as myths and part of an artistic discipline. Whereas most of the problems brought by patients to general practitioners can be understood in scientific terms, others can be understood only in artistic terms.These two terms reflect fundamentally different kinds of problems, and different language must be used to discuss them. Neither the two sets of terms nor the two kinds of problem can be confused without giving rise to error. I argue that Michael Balint came to a false conclusion about the nature of the general practitioner's task, about the way the problems posed by his difficult patients may be identified, and about some of the training doctors should receive.Balint's main contribution remains. He showed us that scientific skills alone are not enough if we are to understand our patients fully. He also showed us how a descriptive science of human behaviour in the consulting room was possible.To these insights must be added new understanding. Popper (1963) has provided us with a clear line of demarcation between science and the rest of our knowledge. This idea suggests that general practitioners should reaffirm the importance to them of the intellectual discipline of science. If they wish their understanding and practice to be comprehensive they must also affirm the importance of the arts. What they must not do is to confuse one with the other. (+info)
The Schreber case revisited: schizophrenia as a disorder of self-regulation and of interactional regulation.
(22/28)
The Schreber case has been used by generations of psychoanalysts and psychiatrists to exemplify many features of the psychoanalytic conception of psychosis. It has generally been considered the origin of a great debate in psychoanalysis as to whether schizophrenia is a disorder of nature or of nurture. I seek in this contribution to proffer a newer theory of psychopathology, one which is based upon the conception of primary and secondary disorders of attachment (bonding) and which presents itself clinically as disorders of self-regulation and of interactional regulation. I attempt to explicate this theory in the Schreber case by demonstrating that his symptoms revealed: (a) failures of normal mental state regulations, (b) the emergence of symptoms which then secondarily and pathologically restore regulation in a pathological manner, and finally (c) his/her very symptoms seem to regulate a state in the family system and/or in the system of the culture at large. (+info)
Diagnosis of borderlines: a discussion.
(23/28)
In a discussion of two reviews of the literature on borderline conditions by Liebowitz (1979) and Rieder (1979), the author briefly describes his own research on clinical aspects of the borderline syndrome. Each of the investigators involved in the study of borderline conditions seems to have his own theoretical position and diagnostic evaluation procedures. There seems to be a consensus, however, that the syndrome represents a basic developmental defect with relatively "stable instability" within four subcategories. (+info)
The present status of hypnosis.
(24/28)
In this brief survey of the medical uses of hypnosis the author attempts to clarify the various theories of hypnosis, indications for its use in medical practice, and applications in the treatment of psychosomatic disorders, psychiatric disorders and in miscellaneous cases. Brief descriptions of a variety of induction methods are given, and the potential hazards of hypnosis are explored. It is the author's impression that the practice of hypnosis has, through the years, been misunderstood and often unjustly discredited. The reputation gained for it by charlatans and well intentioned, though untrained, practitioners, has obscured its value as a therapeutic tool in the eyes of a large segment of the medical profession. Hypnosis, when judiciously utilized by a qualified therapist, may be a valuable addition to the armamentarium of psychotherapeutic treatment methods. (+info)