Stress Response Syndromes: Personality Styles and Interventions

For more than twenty years, Dr. Mardi Horowitz has set the standard for psychotherapy with victims of trauma. No other work has played so major a role in determining how we think about, diagnose, and treat the many patients responding to such trauma as abuse, bereavement, rape, and injury. In this revised and expanded edition, Dr. Horowitz incorporates the most recent advances in the understanding and treatment of stress response syndromes to date. He describes the general characteristics of stress response syndromes, including signs and symptoms, and elaborates on treatment techniques that integrate cognitive and dynamic approaches. Verbatim case material is used to illustrate how specific personality factors and preexisting conflicts contribute to different patients' reactions to stressful life events. For instance, the author contrasts the stance a therapist would take with an obsessional patient versus a patient with a narcissistic personality disorder. The expanded clinical material includes a phase-by-phase, "how to" approach that is particularly instructive and of invaluable help for less experienced therapists. This comprehensive treatment manual offers both an astute and empathic understanding of the impact of traumatic events in patients' lives and increased competence for professionals treating those with posttraumatic stress disorder, grief, and adjustment disorders.