Resolving Difficult Clinical Syndromes: A Personalized Psychotherapy Approach

Abstract

Dr. Theodore Millon and Dr. Seth Grossman are recognized experts in the field of personality disorders and psychopathology. Psychological test reports frequently cite the results of Dr. Millon's personality assessment inventories. Both gentlemen have coauthored numerous textbooks and research projects. Dr. Millon was on both the DSM-III and DSM-IV task forces. Thus, clinicians anticipate that any new publications by Drs. Millon and Grossman may clarify the difficult clinical arena of personality psychopathology. Resolving Difficult Clinical Syndromes: A Personalized Psychotherapy Approach is one of 3 books in a series. The other 2 books are Moderating Severe Personality Disorders: A Personalized Psychotherapy Approach and Overcoming Resistant Personality Disorders: A Personalized Psychotherapy Approach, both of which are also available from the publisher. Clinicians know that no two patients are exactly alike. A patient may remind us of someone we saw previously, but we know that the interplay of backgrounds, genetics, and experiences differ even for identical twins. Yet, most therapists have a “favored” form of therapy. Those trained in cognitive therapy approach most patients in a cognitive framework. Those trained psychodynamically look for psychodynamic factors. A psychopharmacologist will utilize medications. Even for those who claim an “eclectic” approach, background and training influence the clinician just as specific personal factors influence the patient. In the authors’ words, “Personalized psychotherapy is not a vague concept or a platitudinous buzzword in our treatment approach, but an explicit commitment to focus first and foremost on the unique composite of a patient's psychological makeup” (p. ix). Drs. Millon and Grossman authored this series to take all these factors into account. The first part of the book includes basic information about personalized psychotherapy and the Millon-Grossman Personality Domain Checklist (MG-PDC). The clinician completes the MG-PDC regarding the patient in the following areas: expressive behavior, interpersonal conduct, cognitive style/content, self-image, mood/affect, intrapsychic mechanisms, intrapsychic content, and intrapsychic structure. The inventory gives the therapist a tool for personalized psychotherapy. The second part of the book discusses therapy for specific syndromes. Chapter topics include mood disorders, anxiety symptoms, substance abuse disorders, and schizophrenia. Each topic area includes general clinical picture, prevailing treatment options, and personalized psychotherapy. The personalized psychotherapy section focuses on the specific disorder with different personality presentations. Case examples follow with domain analysis and therapeutic steps. The case presentations and discussion of psychotherapy elucidate the concepts presented in the book. Although the subject of personalized psychotherapy has a promising future, this book does not present the material in a manner and with terms familiar to most clinicians. Therapists and physicians familiar with DSM-IV terminology may find the text wording and concepts slightly esoteric. An appropriate audience for this book series would be clinicians familiar with other publications and psychometric assessment instruments by the authors. Mary Jo Fitz-Gerald, M.D. Health Sciences Center, Louisiana State University, Shreveport, Louisiana