Main description:

This book shows clinicians how to use Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy (IRT) to change maladaptive patterns regarding safety and threat.

According to IRT theory, patients who suffer from maladaptive anger, anxiety, or depression are reenacting dysfunctional lessons in affect management modeled by parents and other early attachment figures. For example, a depressed woman who is afraid to assert herself can be described as reliving a childhood during which speaking up was dangerous, leading to rejection, even abandonment. IRT gives sufferers the tools to revise or replace internalized versions of attachment figures (the "family in the head") to create a more secure internal base.

IRT is integrative, drawing on any intervention relevant to the case formulation, and it is compatible with medications as needed for stress management. Evidence of effectiveness is provided for a treatment-resistant population. In this warm and engaging book, author Lorna Smith Benjamin shows how patients can more effectively cope with threat and find safety in their everyday lives.

Contents:

Preface
Chapter 1. Introduction and Overview
I. Foundational Concepts
Chapter 2. Natural Biology: Mechanisms of Psychopathology and Change
Chapter 3. Structural Analysis of Social Behavior: The Rosetta Stone for Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy Case Formulation and Treatment Models
II. The Case Formulation and Treatment Models
Chapter 4. The Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy Case Formulation Model
Chapter 5. The Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy Treatment Model
Chapter 6. Phases of the Action Stage of Change
III. Application of Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy to Specific Emotional Problems
Chapter 7. Anger
Chapter 8. Anxiety
Chapter 9. Depression
IV. Empirical Support
Chapter 10. Validity of the Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy Models and Effectiveness of Treatment
Glossary
References
Index
About the Author