From Breakdown to Breakthrough: Psychoanalytic Treatment of Psychosis

Reviews and Endorsements

While reading From Breakdown to Breakthrough, my highlighting pen rarely left my hand, so much was there to note and remember. With crystal clarity and great style, the authors thoroughly refute the despairing deficit model of psychosis by offering a brilliant theoretical synthesis supported with a wealth of references and tied to a potent and practical approach to understanding and responding to the language of the disorder. Their powerful arguments are given felt resonance through many profound and poignant case histories. This book is a victory for the psychoanalytic treatment of psychosis, and I found myself applauding nearly every page.Mental health practitioners of all types, especially early career psychotherapists, will be greatly helped in knowing how to treat those deemed unreachable as they learn to decipher and work with symptoms as forms of communication.
Francoise Davoine, Ph.D., French psychoanalyst and co-author of History Beyond Trauma

From Breakdown to Breakthrough is a passionate, responsive, and highly educated exploration and sharing of psychological work with psychosis, emphasizing intricacies of the therapy relationship, its nuances and possibilities. Psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, and relational perspectives open doors of contact, healing, and growth. This book is a beautiful exposition and affirmation of ways the human spirit connects with difficult, often seemingly intractable, states as it supports and mediates transformative processes.
Michael Eigen, Ph.D., is a psychoanalyst and author of The Psychotic Core, The Sensitive Self, and Contact with the Depths

This is a terrific book! Knafo and Selzer are master clinicians who work with the skill, determination, patience, and grace required to give patients who are in psychological retreat from consensual reality an opportunity to risk re-entering a world they came to find too difficult to bear. The authors present a persuasive case for regarding psychotic symptoms as essential sources of information that provide a foundation for the patient's treatment. They illustrate their approach with many clear and moving clinical examples. They share their intuitions, formulations, and decisions as their work unfolds with individual patients. The book is full of clinical wisdom, important ideas, and practical advice. It is certain to be of value to experienced clinicians and early-career psychotherapists alike.
Michael Garrett, M.D., psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author, Psychotherapy for Psychosis

From Breakdown to Breakthrough is a wonderful book based on extenstive knowledge and experience, which clearly outlines a potent psychodynamic approach to assist persons suffering psychosis in achieving a fuller life. Both novice and veteran mental health professionals will gain useful insights from any of the chapters.The book is written in a style that will readily engage the reader and, in doing so, also demonstrate much better ways of engaging with one's patients.
Brian Martindale, M.D., psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in the UK, past president of the International Society for the Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis (ISPS)

Table of Contents

Foreword by Orna Ophir
Introduction

1. Psychoanalysis meets Psychosis: Theory and Practice
2. Beginnings
3. Establishing a Pre-Alliance
4. Sample First Session: Psychosis and Cannabis
5. Outpatient Treatment with Psychosis: Managing Isolation and Creating Safety
6. "Don't Step on Tony!": Working with Psychotic Symptoms
7. Anybody Home? Working with Negative Symptoms
8. Alone in a Crowded Mind: When Psychosis Masks Loneliness
9. Coming Undone: Acute Decompensation and Creating a Narrative
10. Going Blind to See: A Case Study of Trauma, Regression, and Psychosis
11. Endings
12. Supervision

Customer Reviews

Our customers have given this title an average rating of 5 out of 5 from 1 review(s), add your own review for this title.

Dr Nikolaos Tzikas on 01/06/2024 21:43:23

(5 out of 5)

Creative and Inspirational
This book is a masterpiece for clinicians treating patients experiencing psychosis. It showcases the authors' profound depth, creativity, and inspiration in working with the most vulnerable and disturbed individuals. Detailed clinical examples vividly illustrate the significance of the therapeutic alliance and the transformative journey shared by therapist and patient. It is in this collaborative space, healing and change can occur. The authenticity of the authors' work is both inspiring and moving. This book is essential for anyone dedicated to psychoanalytic work with any patients.