LFU:online

This seminar aims to provide fundamental knowledge about the personality, its disorders and diagnostic approaches. It gives an overview of central dimensional concepts towards the personality that are crucial for its understanding, diagnostic, and psychotherapy. Thematically, the concepts of personality structure, personality functioning, attachment, and narcissism will be lectured. For each thematic complex, theoretic concepts, diagnostic approaches (clinical intervies) and clinical case examples will be discussed and furthermore practically applied. By using a clinical interview, own experiences with the dimensional approach can be gained. The unterstanding of the personality is of central importance for the clinical psychological work especially for an accurate diagnostic and dealing with challenges over the course of psychotherapeutic treatment. Therefore, this seminar will help with gaining fundamental knowledge about dimensional diagnostic approaches of the personality, discussion of different theoretical concepts and empirical studies on the personality, gathering insights in the chances and challenges of psychotherapy with patients with personality and attachment disorders.

The understanding of central aspects of the personality are of high clinical and diagnostic importance and their disregard can lead to severe misjudgments and problematic therapy courses. Although this seminar has a psychodynamic theoretical background, superior knowledge and competences will be conveyed since the dimensional approach has already been implemented in the DSM-5 Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (Criterion A: Personality Functioning).

The first block will be focusing on the concept of the personality structure and personality functioning and the discussion of categorical and dimensional diagnostic approaches towards personality disorders. Patient videos will be showen and practical experiences with the application of a clinical interview will be offered.

The second block will be focusing on the concepts attachment, defense mechanisms, and narcissism. After a conceptual introduction to attachment theory, different clinical manifestations of attachment stlyes will be demonstrated by short video sequences. For the analysis of the attachment styles, the identification of unconscious defensive processes is of crucial importance. Finally, (pathlogical) narcissism as a central facet of the personality will be discussed. Theoretical concepts will be taught, clinical manifestations demonstrated, and the diagnostic dimensions grandiose and vulnerable narcissism will be introduced.

Theoretical introduction of the concepts personality structure, personality functioning, attachment, and narcissism. Empirical background will be given. Demonstration of various clinical videos of psychotherapy patiends and diagostic methods. Practical application of a clinical interviews by the students.

referat

Buchheim, A. (2018). Bindungsforschung und psychodynamische Psychotherapie. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Hörz-Sagstetter, S. & Kampe, L. (2018). Strukturdiagnostik. In A. Gumz & S. Hörz-Sagstetter (Eds.), Psychodynamische Psychotherapie in der Praxis. Weinheim: Beltz.

Kampe, L., Bohn, J., Remmers, C., & Hörz-Sagstetter, S. (2021). It's not that great anymore: The central role of defense mechanisms in grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Frontiers in Psychiatry.