Depression and Personality Dysfunction (eBook)

This book analyses the clinical interaction between depression and personality dysfunction to help clinicians better understand and treat patients with complex depression. It proposes an innovative perspective to clinical work that moves away from a disorder-centered approach to a person-centered approach by analysing complex depression through the lens of functional domains related to personality functioning and applying Research Domain Criteria to diagnosis and treatment planning. By doing so, it aims to contribute to the development of precision psychotherapy by applying the principles of precision medicine to mental health care.

Depression and Personality Dysfunction: An Integrative Functional Domains Perspective is a scientific and clinical guide for the understanding and treatment of patients with depression complicated by personality dysfunction. It will be a useful tool for clinicians looking for resources to develop a more person-centered and evidence-based approach to mental health care.

Guillermo de la Parra, M.D., Ph.D.  is full professor of Psychiatry at the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Dr. De la Parra received his Ph.D. from Ulm University, Germany. He has developed three interest areas: First, he has been interested in offering therapeutic services to socioeconomically vulnerable patients. For this reason he has founded psychotherapy units in public institutions and at the University Outpatient Clinic, as a space for care, research, and teaching. Second, as former president of the International Society for Psychotherapy Research, he has been interested in bridging the gap between cultures and also between research and clinical practice, applying and assessing evidence-based models in Psychotherapy Units. Third, his research within the frame of the Millennium Institute for Research in Depression and Personality (MIDAP), in a country where depressive illness is relevant, has been devoted to the depressive patient, his/her personality style, and personality structure in its relation to depression, developing models for a better treatment of these patients in primary care.

Paula Dagnino, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and accredited supervisor. Assistant professor and head of the Faculty of Psychology clinical area at Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile. She received her Ph.D. in Psychotherapy from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universidad de Chile, and Heidelberg University, Germany. She has been interested in depression, personality, and process research, mainly due to its clinical impact. Other interests have been training psychotherapists for the clinical work on public health. She has received research grants on Depression and Personality, therapeutic focus, and brief psychodynamic process. She is also an adjunct researcher at the Millennium Institute for Research in Depression and Personality (MIDAP), and the Director of the Center for Psychotherapy Research, CIPsi in Chile.

Alex Behn, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in private practice and an assistant professor of psychology at the School of Psychology at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Dr. Behn received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University in the City of New York after completing a doctoral internship at Montefiore Medical Center. Dr. Behn is also a researcher at the Millennium Institute for Research in Depression and Personality (MIDAP), where he is also Director of Research. Dr. Behn's research focuses on Borderline Personality Disorder, Depression and using technology to aid in detection and treatment of personality dysfunction.