Understanding and Treating Borderline Personality Disorder:
Guide for Professionals and Families
by John G. Gunderson, MD, Perry D. Hoffman, Ph.D.
Book Description
This book sets out to demystify borderline personality disorder and educate a wide readership on the disorder and its treatment. Besides providing information on the subject, this book is unique in its goal and ability to provide information in a way that is useful to patients, their families, and healthcare professionals.
This is not a light read or a good "first" read. The book is written by 16 experts on the topic with a mixed (and difficult) target audience of health professionals, patients, and family members of those with borderline personality disorder. It is written in such a way that allows for persons with varied levels of medical sophistication to gain better understanding of this frequently misunderstood disorder.
A valuable feature of the book is a section at the end of each chapter specifically labeled for family members but appropriate for all non-healthcare professionals to both reiterate the salient points of the chapter and to define technical terms in a glossary. The only shortcoming is the occasional section that is dense and relies heavily on technical terms, likely making it difficult for laypersons to comprehend.
The book is organized in two main sections. The first includes the current understanding of borderline personality disorder including information about the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment, while the second focuses on personal and family experiences with the disorder with chapters titled "Living with Borderline Personality Disorder (two anonymous first hand accounts), "Family Perspectives on Borderline Personality Disorder", "From Family Trauma to Family Support System", and "Family Involvement in Treatment".
About the Author
John Gunderson, MD, is a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. At McLean Hospital he is Director of Psychotherapy and of the Psychosocial Research Program. His seminal studies on the diagnosis, families, psychodynamics, treatment and pathogenesis of borderline personality disorder helped transform the diagnosis from a psychoanalytic construct into an empirically validated and internationally recognized disorder. He chaired the DSM IV work group on personality disorders, and currently chairs a major NIMH-funded collaborative study on the longitudinal stability of personality disorders. He is actively involved in treating borderline patients using all modalities and brings this experience to bear in his talks and writing.
Perry D. Hoffman, Ph.D., is President of the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder and Research Associate at Weill Medical College at Cornell University in New York, New York.
# Paperback: 192 pages
# Publisher: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.; 1 edition (February 2005)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 1585621358
# ISBN-13: 978-1585621354 |
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