This volume takes a multi-level approach to understanding and treating personality disorder, identifying core symptoms and problems that many patients share and providing a comprehensive framework for clinical intervention. Rather than presenting a particular model of therapy, W. John Livesley shows how a wide variety of empirically supported interventions can be used to manage specific components of an integrated treatment plan. Drawing on etiological knowledge as well as outcome research, the book identifies effective strategies for addressing key areas of the patient's psychosocial and biological functioning. The clinician learns how to conceptualize the phases of treatment and use the stages-of-change model as a guide for sequencing and selecting appropriate interventions. Pragmatic and flexible, the research-based strategies presented here are applicable in diverse settings, in therapies ranging from crisis intervention to long-term treatment.

W. John Livesley, MD, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, Canada. His research focuses on the structure, classification, and origins of personality disorder, and on constructing an integrated framework for describing and conceptualizing personality pathology. His clinical interests are directed toward developing a unified approach to treatment. Dr. Livesley is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is a past editor of the Journal of Personality Disorders.

1. Introduction
2. A Framework for Understanding Normal and Disordered Personality
3. The Origins of Personality Disorder
4. The Process of Change
5. Assessment
6. Treatment Planning and the Treatment Contact
7. General Therapeutic Strategies
8. Safety and Containment: Treating Symptoms and Crises
9. Regulation and Control: Treating Affects and Impulses
10. Regulation and Control: Treating Trauma and Dissociative Behavior
11. Exploration and Change: Treating Self and Interpersonal Problems
12. Exploration and Change: Treating Maladaptive Traits
13. Integration and Synthesis: Treating Core Pathology
14. Implementation and Concluding Comments
Appendix: Self-State Description