Object Relations Brief Therapy combines practical techniques with the depth of object relations theory, the wisdom of previous brief therapy writers, and, most notably, an emphasis on the unique therapeutic relationship. This new paperback edition includes a preface reviewing more recent developments in the area of brief therapy.

Brief therapies have become popular-indeed a necessity-in today's managed care environment. Perhaps because it is one of the more complex psychoanalytical models, object relations theory for couples has not been adapted to a short-term model until now. In this volume, James Donovan provides a model for short-term object relations couples therapy, while at the same time offering an easy-to-read primer on object relations that gives the practitioner a step-by-step model replete with examples for using object relations in practice. The goal of this short-term therapy is that couples emerge with an awareness of these internalized object relations and their significance. This book builds on previously successful couples work by advising the therapist to focus on the core, recurring impasse that threatens the couples relationship and stirs old wounds, and gives detailed intervention strategies that focus on the mediation and resolution of the core fight. The five-step model outlines the ways to dismantle the conflict at the levels of the individual and the couple. Donovan integrates aspects of other successful couples therapies into his model in order to broaden its applicability to a greater diversity of treatment situations.

Offers an indepth and thoughtful exploration of the relevance of psychoanalysis to family therapy.

Explains object relationships theory, describes the four stages of therapy, and discusses the personal side of psychotherapy

"Glickauf-Hughes and Wells present a clear and well-organized review of personality development according to object relations theorists. They offer an explanation and critique of each major theorist, note issues on which there is disagreement (along with areas of investigation not fully explored), and present implications for treatment. Concepts are well defined, and one gets the sense of a cohesive body of knowledge (possibly more cohesive than it actually is). Those unfamiliar with object-relations theory will have a good outline; those who know enough to be confused will find some clarification." —Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research

Emphasizing the transformational possibilities that grow out of their relational model of therapy, David E. and Jill Savege Scharff invite us into the territory of interactive journeys with individual patients. A contemporary classic.

Self and Others is addressed to students and practitioners of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Its 19 chapters are divided into five evenly balanced parts. The first rubric, "Self, Others, and Ego," introduces us to the units of the intersubjective constitution we have come to know as object relations theory. The second rubric, "Developing Object Relations," is a confluence of lessons derived from infant studies and the psychotherapeutic process, specifically from the work of Mahler and Kernberg. Third, Hamilton integrates into an "Object Relations Continuum" Mahler's developmental stages and organizational series with nosological entities and levels of personality organization. Under the penultimate rubric, "Treatment," levels of object relatedness and types of psychopathology are grounded in considerations of technique in treatment, and generous clinical vignettes are provided to illustrate the technical issues cited. Last, the rubric of "Broader Contexts" takes object relations theory out of the consulting room into application areas that include folklore, myth, and transformative themes on the self, small and large groups, applications of object relations theory outside psychoanalysis, and the evolutionary history and politics of object relations theory. This volume thus presents an integrative theory of object relations that links theory with practice. But, more than that, Hamilton accomplishes his objective of delineating an integrative theory that is quite free of rivalry between schools of thought. An indispensable contribution to beginning psychoanalytic candidates and other practitioners as well as those who wish to see the application of object relations theories to fields outside of psychoanalysis. —Psychoanalytic Books: A Quarterly Journal of Reviews A Jason Aronson Book