Psychoanalytic Case Formulation 1st Edition

Few books on *psychoanalytic* therapy offer such an excellent combination of theory and *application*. Want to know what to do in therapy once you recognize your patient's defenses, patterns, level of self-esteem, issues with affect, etc? Get this book. You do not know basic psychoanalytic tenets? The theory is there as well.Some people think this book is only for beginners. I disagree. It seems simple because McWilliams is a gifted writer and teacher, and has a knack to explain the most difficult concepts with everyday language that a 6 year old would understand. If you want an easy read with a lot of substance, read McWilliams. If you want a painful read with little substance, read Lacan (haha.) I am a beginner therapist, and this book has helped me immensely. The professor that recommended it has been practising for 35 years and *still* finds it useful. (Note: he is a renowned clinician and scholar... not just anybody)Every sentence counts. There is no superfluous material here. You get your every penny's worth of information. The book is also a page-turner--since when is a textbook supposed to be this enjoyable??? And McWilliams, who is obviously comfortable in her own skin, does not show the dogmatism that is typical in other writers. She is open to admit the usefulness of other approaches to therapy, and this very openness makes this text a useful resource for anyone interested in psychotherapy, even if they are coming from a different approach (cognitive behavioral, humanistic...).

As a student of counseling techniques, the perspective on psychoanalytic practice from non-analytic authors has been absolutely dreadful. Textbooks on psychotherapy seem to agree that psychoanalytic therapy is only making someone lie on a sofa and then not talking to them, while pocketing fees -- but the reality is that psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a rich and diverse body of practices with literally thousands of published scientific studies to back up the interventions and case formulations. McWilliams is at the forefront of the integrative psychoanalytic profession, bridging various schools of psychodynamic and psychoanalytic research and practice, and she writes beautifully.This is a great text to orient the beginning therapist in building a nuanced multi-faceted evaluation of the factors influencing the clients or patients one sees. Without a broad and large perspective, you can't deliver effective therapy of any sort -- and McWilliams goes a great job of reminding us to look at the clients from all angles, social or psychological or medical, as well as the dimension of personality and personality functioning.

Piercing insights in a simple, straightforward and crisp language.Nancy’s tone of voice is refreshingly honest and above all unassumingly humble and humane.

The author has a special talent to write guidelines and manuals. I do not know analogous books written in English or in French, either German. Here we have an excellent manual for psychoanalytic candidates, who naturally have difficulties to verbalize, to explicit, and to structure their first clinical cases presentations. The book is extremely valuable not only for the psychoanalytical candidates, but also for teaching psychoanalyst, even for those from other, than the author, psychoanalytical schools: it's always easier to interweave your specific threads, when somebody so talented already weaved such a rich and clear canvas.

When I was in graduate school, everyone kept saying "Read Nancy McWilliams!" I'm sad that I ignored the suggestion until later. Had this been the first book I read in school, my education would have felt a lot more organized and I would have had a solid foundation. Mental health fields pull from so many disparate foundations that students can easily become confused. What people say about McWilliams' ability to take convoluted, even archaic, concepts and make them meaningful and accessible is absolutely on point.

Nancy Williams is a great writer. I've used this and another one of her books to teach students about psychodynamic theory and case formulation. Dr. Williams writes about this dense and difficult information in a way that's easily accessible to even a novice. She provides plenty of examples so the material is clearly illustrated and comes to life. Definitely recommend!

Unveil what a psychoanalytic therapist does in the intake session What a concise book to show the importance and effectiveness of psychoanalytic approach. Enrich in case analyses and bridging different fields of study for the benefits of helping different clients. The only con is a so expensive book.

I absolutely LOVE this book! I am a psychology student who wants to expand my knowledge outside the classroom and I have come across a few bad psychology books but this is a really good one. It is written and organized really well. She portrayed her ideas very well and gave great examples to back them up. It was very interesting and definitely made me want to keep reading. Definitely one to keep for a long time.

Great help for a Psychodynamic counselling and practice foundation degree assignment on assessment and case formulation. I would recommend to others :-)

This book illustrates the approach clearly. I recommend it to those who are interested in this approach. It won't fail you!

C'est un excellent complément au livre Psychoanalytic diagnosis (PD). McWilliams reprend son style simple et incarné d'écriture, cette fois-ci en reprenant chapitre par chapitre les thèmes et aspects à évaluer en clinique pour à en arriver à un diagnostic au niveau de la structure du client/patient, ainsi qu'à une compréhension dynamique de sa psyché.J'ai trouvé qu'elle va plus loin dans le dévoilement de soi, de ses convictions et de ses axiomes de travail que dans PD. En ce sens, le livre m'apparaît plus clinique ; les exemples de cas donnés sont plus concrets. Pour le meilleur et pour le pire: j'ai trouvé ce livre moins solide que PD; peut-être parce que mes attentes étaient trop élevées?McWilliams revient avec la théorie Control Mastery (voir Joseph Weiss, 2015 : San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group: Clinic and Training Center sur le Web) avec beaucoup plus de détails que dans PD, dans le chapitre sur les pensées iatrogènes (pathological beliefs), où elle se montre moins orthodoxe et présente en quoi des considérations plus liées à la tradition cognitiviste peuvent éclairer une compréhension psychanalytique d'un client/patient.Ce que j'ai surtout aimé de ce livre est que je trouve plus facile d'organiser mes observations selon chacun des thèmes proposés.Merci Nancy!

I really enjoyed this book. I think it is best to also buy Psychoanalytic Diagnosis from the same author in complement to this reading. I read both and they go together very well, leading to a great basic psychoanalytic understanding of personality types and what to assess with your patients.

As a psychodynamic counsellor learning to do assessment interviews, I found this book enormously helpful. Engagingly written with a personal tone - as opposed to a dry, textbook approach - this book is clear, concise, practical and full of inspiration. I found I was immediately making use of McWilliams' ideas in counselling sessions as well as assessments.