Personality-guided therapy for depression.

Abstract

R. Bockian describes a promising new approach to treating complicated depression, cases in which progress is painfully slow, elusive, or followed by relapse. The causes and experience of depression are influenced by personality style, or deeply rooted patterns of functioning in the world. Depression in a person with a dependent style, for example, differs markedly from that in someone with an antisocial personality. This volume demonstrates how, drawing insights from major theoretical orientations, psychotherapy can be tailored to address patients' varying issues and communication styles. As treating personality disorders alleviates depression, and vice versa, this approach offers new hope for progress in both realms.Using Theodore Millon's personality-guided therapy as framework, Bockian illuminates how specific personality types play into depression, and how taking personality into account enables psychologists to tailor their interventions to the patient and thus improve the prospects for long-term recovery. For each personality type, the author explores how prevalent depression is, what promotes and maintains it, how psychological, biological, and social factors contribute to it, and the role of medications and of therapist reactions to the patient. This groundbreaking book offers practitioners, researchers, and students a framework for understanding how personality factors increase vulnerability to depression or help buffer against it. 2006. 328 pages. Hardcover.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Improves Physical Function and Fatigue in Mild and Moderate Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Consecutive Randomized Controlled Trial of Standard and Short Interventions

“…Moreover, underlying beliefs are identified and challenged. The treatment was based on a biopsychosocial model ( 49 ) in which elements from interpersonal cognitive therapy ( 50 ) and personality-guided therapy ( 51 ) were integrated. It assumes that treatment must be individualized to match the prominent personality style of the patient.…”

Synergistic dependencies in partner and elder abuse.

“…1 Beyond interpersonal dependency, psychologists, gerontologists, and others have examined the intra-and interpersonal dynamics of functional dependency (typically stemming from physical or cognitive limitations; Ansello & O'Neill, 2010), and of economic dependency as well-one person's reliance on another for financial support to meet life's basic needs (Scott, London, & Myers, 2002). Bockian (2006), Bornstein (2012), Disney (2013), and others (e.g., Lowe, Edmundson, & Widiger, 2009) have reviewed the theoretical and empirical literature on dependency, and though a number of noteworthy conclusions emerge from these analyses, in the present context, two stand out. First, although dependency is strongly linked with submissiveness and passivity in the minds of researchers, practitioners, and members of the public, evidence confirms that dependent people are capable of behaving activelysometimes quite assertively-in various contexts and settings (e.g., in seeking medical help following symptom onset, in competing for the support of caregivers; see O 'Neill & Bornstein, 2001;.…”

“…Bockian (2006), Bornstein (2012), Disney (2013), and others (e.g., Lowe, Edmundson, & Widiger, 2009) have reviewed the theoretical and empirical literature on dependency, and though a number of noteworthy conclusions emerge from these analyses, in the present context, two stand out. First, although dependency is strongly linked with submissiveness and passivity in the minds of researchers, practitioners, and members of the public, evidence confirms that dependent people are capable of behaving actively—sometimes quite assertively—in various contexts and settings (e.g., in seeking medical help following symptom onset, in competing for the support of caregivers; see O’Neill & Bornstein, 2001; Porcerelli, Bornstein, Markova, & Huprich, 2009).…”

The trait–type dialectic: Construct validity, clinical utility, and the diagnostic process.

“…Variability is also reflected in the fact that some traits and PDs may be adaptive in certain contexts even as they are problematic in others. To date dimensional frameworks—which emerged in part from research on normal personality functioning—have done better than categorical models in addressing this issue, though in recent years there has been increased exploration of the adaptive elements of existing PDs (see, e.g., Bockian’s [2006] writings on histrionicity in social contexts, and Bornstein’s [2012] studies documenting the health-promoting features of dependency in medical and psychological treatment). Research on the adaptive features of personality and personality pathology should proceed on three levels: trait, symptom, and syndrome (see Bornstein, 1998, 2012, and Hopwood et al, 2011, for discussions of this process).…”