Learning and Cognition-focused Psychiatric Texts

[DD214_DOC]

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Does anyone know of any texts/books that look at personality disorders and some of the defense mechanisms from more of a learning-cognitive approach? It seems essentially that, from what little psychodynamic stuff I have read so far, many of the maladaptive patterns seen in many PDs result from adaptive behvaiors/defenses/perception early in life which, in a certain environment were adaptive, but then get cemented and overgeneralized into environments and onto people where it is not appropriate or adaptive. My gist in reading some psychodynamic stuff is that these books sort of allude to this concept but it's mask with a lot of jargon. An example would be the concept of projection. We're taught that it represents an unwanted desire or impulse that is unconsciously split off from the individual and gets projected onto someone else. While I buy this concept in certain situations (such as accusing a friend of being too tired to go out with a group when you're the one who actually doesn't want to go, although this seems to be more conscious than anything) how it's applied in PD's doesn't really make sense, and I wonder how they can even postulate something like this? It seems more appropriate that they are treating someone who fits a previous archetype a certain way because it used to be adaptive but it no longer is. I completely realize that this is the basis of transference, but that system seems to approach it much less cognitively.

I feel like psych training is missing some of the important concepts and areas that I studied in undergrad psych. Any thoughts? (Please keep in mind we do not start ANY therapy/psychodynamic anything until PGY3 so I have very little exposure)

Also, it seems that a rudimentary understanding of social psychology would greatly benefit clinical practice. I have lost count of how many times I have seen attending psychiatrists make rash decisions based upon dispositional attribution errors.

Anyways, I'm rambling out loud now so I will stop.

 

[Rapunzel]

Personality disorders and defense mechanisms really are psychodynamic constructs, much more than they are cognitive. So it really makes sense that they are mostly addressed from a psychodynamic perspective. However, there are cognitive and behavioral treatment approaches such as Marsha Linehan's DBT ("Cognitive Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder"). Schema Therapy (Jeffery Young) uses cognitive behavioral techniques to address the core beliefs characteristic of personality disorders.

 

[billypilgrim37]

Aaron Beck has an easy to find book on cognitive therapy of personality disorders.

 

[PETRAN]

Does anyone know of any texts/books that look at personality disorders and some of the defense mechanisms from more of a learning-cognitive approach? It seems essentially that, from what little psychodynamic stuff I have read so far, many of the maladaptive patterns seen in many PDs result from adaptive behvaiors/defenses/perception early in life which, in a certain environment were adaptive, but then get cemented and overgeneralized into environments and onto people where it is not appropriate or adaptive. My gist in reading some psychodynamic stuff is that these books sort of allude to this concept but it's mask with a lot of jargon. An example would be the concept of projection. We're taught that it represents an unwanted desire or impulse that is unconsciously split off from the individual and gets projected onto someone else. While I buy this concept in certain situations (such as accusing a friend of being too tired to go out with a group when you're the one who actually doesn't want to go, although this seems to be more conscious than anything) how it's applied in PD's doesn't really make sense, and I wonder how they can even postulate something like this? It seems more appropriate that they are treating someone who fits a previous archetype a certain way because it used to be adaptive but it no longer is. I completely realize that this is the basis of transference, but that system seems to approach it much less cognitively.

I feel like psych training is missing some of the important concepts and areas that I studied in undergrad psych. Any thoughts? (Please keep in mind we do not start ANY therapy/psychodynamic anything until PGY3 so I have very little exposure)

Also, it seems that a rudimentary understanding of social psychology would greatly benefit clinical practice. I have lost count of how many times I have seen attending psychiatrists make rash decisions based upon dispositional attribution errors.

Anyways, I'm rambling out loud now so I will stop.

My thoughts exactly, psychiatrists should get more training in cognitive and social psychology-neuroscience, especially "high-level cognitive psychology" and social cognition (as you said causal perception/inference/ attributions, attitudes and attitude change, judgment and decision making, social/agency perception, theory of mind, self-regulation, "hot cognition"-emotion-cognition interactions etc. stuff like that). But this is why clinical psychology also exists i guess 😀


Also concepts such as "explicit/imlicit memory" are important IMO. A lot of the "psychodynamic unconscious" is in a way "automatized" (or "proceduralized") implicit memories which have a life of their own and "intrude" into the stream-of-consciousness/behaviour (mostly residing in sub-cortical structures such as basal ganglia-fronto-striatal circuits and the amygdala-hippocampal formation complex) This is what Eric Kandell believes actually.




Anyway, i'm rumbling as well, so here is a good cognitive book i know for personality disorders

http://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-The...4765/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334195653&sr=8-1


and this classic for Borderline


http://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Beh...onality-Disorder/dp/0898621836/ref=pd_sim_b_5


and this on social cognition (although now a bit old/outdated, its still an excellent introduction. Trust me, it will help you as a clinician as well)


http://www.amazon.com/Social-Cognit...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334195861&sr=1-1#_

a bit more modern and up-to-date authoritative textbook

http://www.amazon.com/Social-Cognit...=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334196039&sr=1-3


and this very good book by eric kandell bridging cognitive neuropsychology and concepts such as "implicit and explicit memories" with the psychodynamic principles

http://www.amazon.com/Psychiatry-Ps...=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334196456&sr=1-4

 

[DD214_DOC]

Thanks, I will give these books a look