A Concise Guide to Personality Disorders

Clients with personality disorders (PDs) present special challenges to clinicians. Nonetheless, successful treatment is possible, and a rapidly growing research base can inform diagnosis and intervention.

This book reviews what we know and what we don't know about PDs, and what this implies for clinical practice. It integrates a large body of research findings into a concise, highly practical approach to managing difficult clients. Rather than advocating a single method of treatment, Joel Paris promotes an integration of all evidence-based psychotherapies, as well as effective case management. The evidence base for pharmacotherapy is reviewed as well. Focusing particularly on borderline, antisocial, and narcissistic PDs, the author also reviews other PD categories. His extensive experience and clinical wisdom illuminate the discussion, demonstrating how to work productively and empathically with these clients.