Pharmacotherapy for Delusional Disorder and Associated Conditions.

This article presents a guide for conceptualizing psychological difficulties across the broad spectrum of personality and symptom disorders. A psychodynamic model is used to organize these disorders along a structural continuum of severity. The authors propose that seven key indices of personality functioning be evaluated: cognition, affect, self-object relations, interpersonal relations, defenses, superego functioning, and primary dynamics. The results are then employed to determine where the patient should be placed along a continuum of nine diagnostic categories of ego development and their associated disorders. These include "normal," neurotic trait, and neurotic symptom organization; high-, mid-, and low-level borderline organization; and affective, cognitive-affective, and cognitive psychotic organization. An accurate evaluation of the seven variables will permit a more precise formulation of the nature and severity of the patient's difficulties, which will hopefully result in more accurate and appropriate treatment planning. Examples of the application of this model to a common symptom complaint are provided.

show abstract

A 45-year-old Woman Who Had Been Sexually Abused

Seawell¹,

Dziuba²

2010

Psychiatric Annals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

CME Educational Objectives 1. Review the epidemiology and clinical manifestations of delusional disorders. 2. Discuss the challenges associated with diagnosing and treating delusional disorders, particularly delusional disorder of the somatic type. 3. Summarize the challenges faced in identifying and treating mental illness in medically ill patients.

show abstract

Pharmacotherapy for Delusional Disorder and Associated Conditions.

Cited by 3 publications

References 20 publications

Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders

Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders

Assessing psychopathology from a structural perspective: A psychodynamic model

A 45-year-old Woman Who Had Been Sexually Abused

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About