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The Self Psychology of Addiction and Its Treatment

Narcissus in Wonderland

• By Richard B. Ulman, Harry Paul

• Price: $39.95 $35.96
• Binding: Hardback
• Pages: 552
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 9th June 2006
• ISBN: 978-1-58391-307-9

About the Book

In the time of Freud, the typical psychoanalytic patient was afflicted with neurotic disorders; however, the modern-day psychotherapy patient often suffers instead from a variety of addictive disorders. As the treatment of neurotic disorders based on unconscious conflicts cannot be applied to treatment of addictive disorders, psychoanalysis has been unable to keep pace with the changes in the type of patient seeking help. To address the shift and respond to contemporary patients’ needs, Ulman and Paul present a thorough discussion of addiction that studies and analyzes treatment options. Their honest and unique work provides new ideas that will help gain access to the fantasy worlds of addicted patients.

The Self Psychology of Addiction and Its Treatment emphasizes clinical approaches in the treatment of challenging narcissistic patients struggling with the five major forms of addiction. Ulman and Paul focus on six specific case studies that are illustrative of the five forms of addiction. They use the representative subjects to develop a self psychological model that helps to answer the pertinent questions regarding the origins and pathway of addiction. This comprehensive book links addiction and trauma in an original manner that creates a greater understanding of addiction and its foundations than any clinical or theoretical model to date.

Reviews

"As a psychiatrist, who specializes in clinical psychopharmacology and the neuropsychiatric exploration of both the functioning and malfunctioning of the brain, I found Ulman and Paul's The Self Psychology of Addiction and Its Treatment a truly groundbreaking work." - Francis Mas, M.D., DFAPA, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, New York University Medical School

"…a tour de force in elucidating our understanding of the five major forms of addiction. This volume is an important benchmark of our significant theoretical and clinical knowledge of addiction, written by two mature clinicians and scholars with extensive relevant clinical as well as personal experience. I believe that it will serve as a major resource for clinicians who work with a variety of addicts, as well as with the many patients who present with addiction issues as part of their underlying psychopathology." - Gerald Adler, M.D., Training and Supervising Analyst, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute , USA

"An important book on addiction. Ulman and Paul show how the addictive person becomes dependent on megalomaniac fantasies and illusions, in effect becoming addicted to his or her own mind as well as behavior. A book packed with knowledge and first-hand experience." - Michael Eigen, Ph.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology, New York University ostdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis; Senior Member, National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis

Table of Contents

Narcissus in Wonderland: An Introduction. A Self-psychological Model of Addiction. The Theoretical Origins of a Self-psycholgical Model of Addiction. The Narcissus Complex: Case Studies. A Psychoanalytic Phenomenology of Addiction. The Phenomenology of Addiction. The Etiology and Pathogenesis of Addiction. The Bipolar Self Typology of Addiction. The Self-psychological Treatment of the Addicted Patient. Conclusion.

About the Author(s)

Richard B. Ulman, Ph.D., is a psychoanalyst in private practice in New York, and President and founding member of the Training and Research Institute for Self Psychology. Previously he has been an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at New York Medical College, Senior Researcher at the Center for Psychosocial Studies in New York, and Staff Clinical Psychologist at the FDR Veterans Administration Medical Center in New York.

Harry Paul, Ph.D., is a psychoanalyst in private practice in New York, and Vice President and founding member of The Training and Research Institute for Self Psychology. He has formerly been Research Affiliate for the Center of Psychosocial Studies in New York, Staff Psychologist at the FDR Veterans Administration Medical Center in New York.