Understanding Psychosis

Psychoanalytic clinicians and scholars have outlined theoretical and therapeutic pathways to psychotic illnesses. In this book, these pathways are integrated into a genuine factor model that allows us to assess the relevant psychodynamic dimensions in the diagnosis of psychotic disorders.

Joachim Küchenhoff, MD, is a psychoanalyst and member of the IPA and of the Swiss and German psychoanalytic societies. He is a specialist in psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychosomatic medicine, and is Professor of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Basel, Switzerland. He has been working as the medical director of the department of adult psychiatry in Baselland, Switzerland, since 2007. He is editor-in-chief of the SANP (Swiss Archives of Neurology, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy), president of the supervisory board at IPU (International Psychoanalytic University) Berlin and member of many other advisory boards. He is author and editor of many previous publications.

Introduction. Psychiatry, Psychopathology and Psychodynamics. Psychoanalytic Theories about Psychosis. Conditions of Psychotic Experience: A Psychodynamic Factor Model. Psychotherapeutic Work with Psychotic Patients. Psychotherapeutic Engagement with Psychotic Patients: Concluding Remarks.