Not just for professionals who diagnose- The PDM will help you UNDERSTAND

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	• Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual: (PDM) Alliance of Psychoanalytic Organizations Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, 2006 - 600 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A magnificent compendium

I found this manual a useful resource for the evaluation and treatment of our consultants.
It's also an invaluable aid for teaching psychotherapy.
As it presents personality traits as a continuum, with emphasis in healthy functional patterns and healthy personality, the comprehension of psychopatology results a dynamic process, not a cold list of symtoms.

Surprising Here and There... and Well Worth the Price of Admission

I am not essentially a psychodynamicist (though I have written extensively on the Karpman Drama Triangle, codependence, and family of origin issues in the addictions.) I am fundamentally a cognitivist, and a rational-emotive one at that. Yet I found the PDM extremely enlightening and worthwhile, at least through the first 650 pages.

Rather than approach the topic as "better or worse than the DSM or ICD," I'm just going to touch upon some of the book's specific strong points:

Why else does the patient turn up in front of us? Because he is in pain. And he wants, first and foremost, to feel that he is -understood-. We could all use a little more empathy here. Odd, perhaps, that a "client-centered" notion seems to underly the principally psychodynamic creative effort here. But I'm gratefull that it does.

I found "The Internal Experience of Psychic Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress" on pages 100-106 to be some of the most accurately descriptive material I have run across on PTSD from the patient's perspective. I can assert that because I've spent quite a bit of time on both sides of the nursing station counter with this particular diagnosis. The PTSD sufferer really -suffers-; this section may help the practitioner understand precisely -how-.

In fact, the adaptation of the organizing principle of "The Internal Experience of..." to a range of diagnoses has lead to descriptions from pages 93-148 that struck me as some of the most-empathy-inducing I have encountered in the professional literature. I did not expect this from a "manual," and was very pleasantly surprised to find it.

While the section on "Infancy and Early Childhood" (pp. 320-375) is neither Brazelton & Cramer, Perry, Seigel, or Stern in terms of depth, detail or turn of phrase, I again found it to be surprisingly empathic for this format. The child is in front of us because he either hurts himself, causes his caregivers to hurt, or both. The descriptions of pretty much all that we have recognized thus far are effective, as well as discerning and discriminative.

The material on pp. 345-351 concerning the "Sensory Modulation Difficulties" will be an eye-opener for those who are not deeply grounded in early life research. Do parents over-stimulate their children into the doctor's office nowadays as much parents of two generations ago under-stimulated them? That is what I see in the real world, and it is well-addressed here.

Greenspan and Shanker's "Developmental Framework for Depth Psychology and a Definition of Healthy Emotional Functioning" on pp. 431-473 provides sufficient data for the psychodynamically-oriented therapist to understand at depth what he is seeing in front of him, and what needs to be done about it from a "re-developmental" perspective.

In it, I found myself able to construct a simple forumlation of remediation as a process of working back through the defense mechanisms of the psychotic-level demonstrations -- or truly "infantile" assessment of the environment -- then rebuilding through what may be developmentally incomplete, but hopefully temporary, borderline defenses, onto more developmentally complete, "societally normal neurotic" defenses... and even onto (if the patient is willing to foot the bill) -very- developmentally complete, reality-based, rational and empirical defenses.

Shevrin's "...Neurophysiological Frames of Reference to a Psychodynamic Nosology..." (pp. 483-506) helped me clarify the notion of specific "paths of dissociation" I have seen in so many adults molested as children, and other traumatees. I think van der Kolk, for one, would see the sensibility of Shevrin's "neuropsychological" theses here.

And for those looking for in-depth material on the increasingly popular SWAP diagnostic asssessment tool, there are 38 pages of it here (pp. 573-610) from Shedler and Westin themselves. Much of the article is a defense of the validity and reliability of the SWAP. But I was particularly taken with the adaptation of the SWAP concepts to a case history of borderline personality on page 591-592 in which BPD is effectively presented as a "defensive process" rather than as a set of traits.

This is, after all, what any of the personality disorders really are when we take a diagnostic snapshot over the course of an hour or two. Are we seeing any more than the lab results of the state of being at that particular moment? I think not, and that is vital for those who work with borderlines (and -any- of the other personality disorders, really) to understand.

In my view, the behavioral adaptations of the moment represent a point along an unfolding process of continuing, corrupted, Eriksonian development. No single assessment -- or diagnosis -- ever be cast in bronze. A "working hypothesis on this particular date" is more like it. I'm gratified, I suppose, to see that others understand this, as well.

I am not so taken with all the material that follows in the final 200 pages. But understanding the need to lay some empirical bedrock for the afforementioned theoretical constructs, I accept that it has to be there... even if it may do as much to put the afforementioned in question (for some readers) as it does to back it up.

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good

The PDM is very helpful and a good complement to the DSM-IV. Every good clinician should consult it...

Not just for professionals who diagnose- The PDM will help you UNDERSTAND

An Expert Look at Love, Intimacy and Personal Growth
I Love You Madly! On Passion, Personality and Personal Growth, second edition
Yes it is a masterpiece in nosology, but it is not just for professionals who need to diagnose for a living. ANYONE who wants to understand personality- I mean the FULL range of personality should read as least pages 1 to 31! You will read the non-dogmatic culmination of over 100 years of research, case study and wisdom that is applicable to all theoretic orienations. I have taught the PDM to non and even anti-psychodynamic psychologists. What happens? Except for very few defensive types, the all loved it. [...]

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Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual

I am very pleased with the product ordered. It arrived when expected, but I was somewhat dissatisfied with the product packaging. The PDM was shipped to me at the Book Rate, which takes an agonizingly long time! I am unaware if other, more expeditious shipping options were available. The packaging was torn in transit, but the product, although exposed, was not damaged. I'm very pleased with my purchase and will certainly consider future orders with this seller. I might insist on future orders on expedited shipping and more careful packaging. ANG

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

This manual is based on current neuroscience and treatment outcome studies that demonstrate the importance of focusing on the full range and depth of emotional and social functioning. Beginning with a classification of the spectrum of personality patterns and disorders found in individuals and then describing a profile of mental functioning that permits a clinician to look in detail at each of the patient's capacities, the entries include a description of the patient's symptoms with a focus on the patient's internal experiences as well as surface behaviors. Intended to expand on the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)and ICD (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems) efforts in cataloging the symptoms and behaviors of mental health patients, this manual opens the door to a fuller understanding of the functioning of the mind, brain, and their development.

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