. Handbook of Personality Disorders. New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2004.

THE INSPIRATION FOR this volume emerged from my work over the past 20 years conducting psychodiagnostic assessments and practicing psychotherapy with children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly, first in an inpatient and then outpatient settings. What struck me was that across the spectrum of individuals and families that I encountered presenting with complex clinical syndromes was how many struggled with self-defeating and self-destructive personality patterns that were so difficult to impact with standard methods and techniques