Personality Pathology: Developmental Perspectives

Personality pathology is rooted in early development and affects a wide range of affects, behaviours and cognitive processes. Every year thousands of articles about the etiology pf personality pathology are published in various professional or scientific reviews. There is a growing distance between the generalist's practice and our increasingly precise scientific knowledge.However, no one can read everything and therefore, it behoves us to ask ourselves the following questions: is the most recent better than what came before? Is the measurable and demonstrable necessarily clinically interesting? Must what interests the clinician be measured and proved?Whilst theory and clinical research are becoming increasingly precise, innumerable socio-economic forces are pressing for a simplification in clinical practice. "Shrinks" are fashionable! They are everywhere: in the workplace, on television, on the radio. Their services are paid for by private or company insurance, provided that it is a "quick fix", not too expensive, and that we do not indulge in vague meanderings round "mal de vivre"! Dissatisfaction with life!In short, the generalist today finds himself torn between two opposing forces. He seeks to practise from a secure base and to keep his knowledge up to date, while being aware that this in turn will give rise to an increasingly varied clinical practice, in which he deals with serious pathologies as well as working with patients requesting help in more ordinary situations. Whatever the profile of his practice the generalist has to be able to work with personality disorders and understand how they arise. This essential competence enables him to make informed clinical decisions.So, the modest aim of this book is to be of use to the generalist in his daily practice. Of course it does not exempt anyone from thinking and doing his own reading according to his interests and particular queries.The integrative structure which is the basis of this work is known both as Relational Psychotherapy and as Object Relational Gestalt-therapy. It is written for all psychotherapists interested in finding out about developmental issues. The reader who is not familiar with the clinical theory of relational psychotherapy will find in the first chapters, a synthesis of its main features. This should allow him to read and make wise clinical use of the chapters on the main developmental issues.

About the Author :
Gilles Delisle, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and associate professor of psychology at the University of Sherbrooke. He is director of clinical training at CIG in Montreal, and a guest trainer at several institutes abroad. He is the director of Neurogestalt, a specialist group in the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society. In 2010, he was appointed President of the State Advisory Council on Psychotherapy and was awarded the Noel-Mailloux Prize by the Quebec College of Psychologists in recognition of lifetime achievement in clinical psychology. Having gained a BA degree in Modern Languages from Exeter University, Dinah Ashcroft pursued a successful career in education. She later qualified in humanistic psychology and in gestalt psychotherapy, in which she holds an MSc degree. She has been a trainer and examiner at several institutes. For five years she was an associate editor of the British Gestalt Journal. She is an examiner for MSc in gestalt psychotherapy at Metanoia Institute in conjunction with Middlesex University. She worked for 12 years in Primary Care, and now has a private practice offering psychotherapy and supervision near Winchester in Hampshire, UK. Anne Kearns trained in psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the USA and in Transactional Analysis and Gestalt Therapy in the UK. She is a former Chair and Teaching and Supervising member of the Gestalt Psychotherapy and Training Institute. In 1999 she founded The Growing Edge, a consortium of psychotherapists and other professionals who are interested in the development of the profession of psychotherapy through post-qualification training and consultation. Anne has an MSc in Integrative Psychotherapy and was Course Director of the training in Integrative Group Therapy at the Metanoia Institute from 1994-96 and a Primary Tutor on the Integrative Psychotherapy training from 1994-1999. Lynne Rigaud holds an MSc in Gestalt Psychotherapy from the Metanoia Institute and Middlesex University. She works in France as a bi-lingual psychotherapist. Her specific interests are in Gestalt therapy and addiction. She splits her working time between the regional psychiatric hospital, an out patients clinic for people with addiction problems and her private practice in the Dordogne.

Review :
'This book summarizes Gilles Delisle's original research of nearly twenty years trying to integrate a very original synthesis of Gestalt approach and object relation theory. He analyses many researches of psychoanalysts and theorititians of attachment theory, quoting Freud, Klein, Winnicott, Fairnberg, Kohut, Kernberg, Bowlby, and many others. He is also trying to integrate comtemporary research in neurosciences. So it is really a very new original contribution to psychotherapy.'- Serge Ginger, founder of Paris School of Gestalt (EPG) and of the International Federation of Gestalt Training Organisations (FORGE), Honorary President of the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP)'For more than three decades, Gilles Delisle has been an invaluable figure of Gestalt therapy in Quebec. He has developed a sophisticated, systematic, and empirically supported model of psychotherapy combining Gestalt therapy and the richness of object relation theory. Since 1995 he has taught Object Relational Gestalt therapy in several countries around the world. In this outstanding book, Gilles Delisle has succeeded in the monumental task ofintegrating, in an original, unique, and clinically inspiring way, the theoretical and clinical contributions of leading authors in personality pathology. The result is a compelling new approach in the treatment of personality disorders.'- Marc-Simon Drouin, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Universite du Quebec'This is a beautifully crafted book and a major scholarly addition to the existing literature on personality disorders. Gilles Delisle offers a theoretically rich, compassionate framework for understanding the complex matrix of factors which contribute to personality pathology. Drawing on years of research and a rich seam of clinical experience, Delisle's in-depth case studies and transcripts illuminate the significance and effectiveness of a relational approach to this therapeutic work. This engaging, accessible text is a breath of fresh air and an essential read for all practising counsellors and psychotherapists.'- Belinda Harris, PhD, UKCP Psychotherapist, Associate Professor, University of Nottingham