Psychoanalytic Diagnosis (and Why It Matters) | Nancy McWilliams

[@smithpsychotherapy]

This book changed my life. Both as a clinician and as a client. Truly incredible work by Dr. McWilliams.

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Agreed!

[@markmarki9511]

Btw, if someone's interested, there are pretty long interviews on youtube with Nancy McWilliams, including about this topic.

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Yes, thanks for drawing attention to this. Her interviews are excellent. I hope one day to be brave enough to ask her for an interview myself 🙈

[@don-eb3fj]

​@@PsychodynamicPsychologyMy first exposure to Dr. McWilliams was through an interview series released on Schizoid Vision KZbin channel, and as someone who self identifies as Schizoid I was impressed with her knowledge (and appreciation) of the Schizoid personality, and with her empathetic approach to understanding the underlying dynamics of the architecture of the Self, which I find reminiscent of the perspective taken by R.D. Laing. I was also impressed by her polite but authoritative rejection of the rather shallow and hubristic taxonomic approaches that merely list arbitrarily determined categories of "disorder" that serve as little more than an indifferent judgement of people as broken automatons on the basis of their nonconformity with the expectations of consensus reality. I haven't read this book yet, but I have begun a study of Dr. McWilliams' Psychoanalytic Diagnostic Manual, which this book seems to be a more accessible summary of, which I hope to obtain a copy of soon. As a non-professional without access to professional assistance, the resources made available by Dr. McWilliams and a few others who challenge the current standards are a rare light in the dark - for any professional or student pursuing psychology practice, I BEG you, for the sake of your clients' welfare, to study Dr. McWilliams' work and implement the wisdom of her perspective. Remember the admonishment of Hippocrates : "First, do no harm." Schizoid Vision is a very small and very nichè channel, but Dr. McWilliams was very gracious and generous with her time in the interview she did with the channel creator (Penzy), and she seems to be very amenable to opportunities to discuss her work. I hope you will ask her for an interview Alina, her voice needs to be heard as widely as possible - if a Schizoid amateur can do it, surely a bright-eyed psychoanalyst in training can. C'mon, I dare you! 😉 Thanks Alina, your reading recommendations are very helpful (also, consider reviewing Dr. Elinor Rosenberg's work on BPD, NPD, and SzPD?)

[@thijsdonk231]

Thank you for bringing this book to my mind would love to delve in straight away. Good content nice vibe, keep doing what u doing🙌

[@chachi958-rg8ju]

It will be interesting when further research is done on mixed personality styles. The same person can present differently depending on a whole host of factors. Love your channel ❤️

[@kingkefa7130]

I need to check out this book, hopefully it'll be helpful in life. When talking to someone, conversations can take a wildly wrong turn just by simple phrasing, especially when that person has issues. Sounds like this book can offer good insights into clearer communication.

[@nafeesa14]

I just finished this book!!! ❤ it's been a game changer for me in training ❤ I look forward to more videos❤

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Couldn't agree more. Thank you for your enthusiasm!

[@sarahk802]

I appreciate your video so much. I have only surface education on psychodynamic counseling but am predominantly a cognitive behavioral therapist. In the U.S., therapists are pressured to resolve mental health problems as quickly as possible (so it saves the health insurance companies money), and as a result the focus of treatment becomes managing or “coping” with symptoms rather than growing in self understanding. So, just managing the psychic fever and ignoring specific cause. This limits that healing power that is possible in therapeutic relationship and I believe it contributes to systems of social injustice by ignoring the “whys” certain groups of people experience higher prevalence of mental health problems. If I had supervision in psychodynamic counseling then I would reform my practice!

[@Broken_7Luck]

Thank you. Looking forward to it.

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Let me know how you like it :)

[@marvinbrown1717]

Thank you for sharing! I placed an order, along with McWilliams' Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: A Practitioner's Guide

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Thank you for your comment! I also read that one of hers (and also the one about case formulation) and it's reall good - just not as *omg* as Psychoanalytic Diagnosis ;)

[@amareamore1693]

This book is a must and a legend itself❤

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Absolutely!! Thank you for your comment :)

[@AquaFX]

I am currently reading this book, and I am enjoying it so far. I am not even an analyst/therapist/psychologist, just a patient that is interested in psychology/psychoanalytic theory. This book is really accessible (so far), wonderfully accompanied by clinical examples, but simultaneously doesn't dumb things down. It will probably become one of my favorites as well.

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Glad to hear it's interesting for non-professionals as well!

[@TarotReaderASMR]

Just wanted to say that your library is amazing, so many awesome book recommendations, for that alone it was worth subscribing to your mailing list :)

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Yeahyy! That was my goal all along. I'm so happy to hear it's helpful, I love putting together resources like that. Thank you for your kind words 🙏

[@talkingpsychology]

This was a wonderful video and it has peeked my interest in this book. Thanks as always for your work Alina!

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Thank you so much for your kind words, Kyd. It means a lot! How nice that we can both bring more awareness to psychodynamic literature :)

[@talkingpsychology]

@PsychodynamicPsychology I fully agree!

[@RayReklaw7993]

Thank you very much for this video. It has reminded me of the significance of the book and brought it to the top of my list. I also really appreciate you exploring the contents to make it less intimidating for the student. ❤

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

It's great to hear so many people love the book as well. Thank you for your kind words, it means a lot. I hope to make psychodynamic ideas and literature less intimidating for lots more people :) Best wishes

[@veganphilosopher1975]

I was literally just learning about Nancy McWilliams work last night when I was doing some research on modern psychoanalysis! Synchronicity!

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Love that! One of my teachers said: the unconscious knows no coincidence ;)

[@dominicspratley3661]

Thank you for the book recommendation.

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

I hope you'll enjoy reading it!

[@riogdlsff]

Definitely added to my list! I'd be really interested in hearing your journey to becoming a therapist - how did you become interested in it as a career and what was your career up until now? Would make a good video if you would be happy sharing x

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Thank you for your comment and interest, Rosie. I made a video about my journey some years ago but then it felt a bit too private. The short story is: I got half a degree in English, then switched to Business Administration, hated it and started over at 25 with my psychology degree. It took me a long time to summon the courage to become a psychotherapist (back then I thought only people who had it all figured out could become one - and that was certainly not me), I fell in love with psychodynamics during my studies and am now in training to become a psychotherapist for three years. And last year I decided to fully commit to my dream and add the curriculum to become a psychoanalyst as well!

[@riogdlsff]

@PsychodynamicPsychology thanks so much for your detailed reply. That's really interesting because I actually started an English degree as well. I've looked at studying psychology but know that it's psychodynamics/psychoanalysis that I want to study so not sure how relevent the whole degree would be. Studying psychoanalysis here in Scotland is a bit of a minefield so I'm taking my time to decide which route to go down. Thanks again for replying, I really enjoy your channel xx

[@gitterando]

I am not a psychologist but a patient of psychodynamic psychotherapy. I have listened to Nancy and it is truly interesting! Would you recommend this book also for patients?? Or it may interfere with my process? Thanks!

[@mollyringwerm9224]

It's truly seminal. It's one of my favorite books, top 3.

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Agreed! What are the other two for you?

[@sarahhajarbalqis]

My favourite author, psychoanalyst, and book.

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Same, same, same. One of my subscribers once said "Nancy McWilliams is our Taylor Swift" and I've lived by that ever since :D

[@nafeesa14]

@@PsychodynamicPsychology i love that "Taylor Swift"

[@mahnoor2775]

I am so interested in reading this now, based on your review!

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

I'd be so curious to hear how you like it! Please, let me know if you ever do read it :) Thank you for your comment 🙏

[@mahnoor2775]

I totally will ❤​@@PsychodynamicPsychology

[@sixteenstringjack]

Yes, it is excellent!

[@johnandersson8258]

Started to read recently. Looks very promising even for layman.

[@barefootfiona]

Fascinating! What does she have to say about borderline personality disorder? I didn't hear you mention that in the diagnoses and found that curious.

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

You're right, at first I was also surprised to see something like "dissociative personality" (which I had never heard of) and not a chapter on "borderline personality disorder". If I understood McWilliams correctly, she prefers to talk about people in the borderline-level of organization (of a particular personality style), rather than about THE Borderline Personality Disorder. To my understanding her point is that we otherwise miss "quiet" borderliners with a more schizoid or obsessive type if we only focus on the "loud", more dramatic histrionic presentations of the borderline level.

[@Merisao9]

Wie schön, wieder ein sehr inspirierendes Video, das Lust macht auf die eigene, bald beginnende Ausbildung :) Deine Faszination ist ansteckend! Es freut mich ungemein, dass es Deinen Kanal gibt und du regelmäßig Videos hochlädst! Das von dir besprochene Buch gibt es übrigens ab Ende März auf Deutsch und ich werde es mir unbedingt bestellen und lesen! Vorfreude hoch 10 !!! Btw.: Wessen Kopf steht da auf deinem Bücherregal? Ist es eine bekannte Analytikerin oder jmd. anderes?

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Vielen Dank für deine lieben Worte (wieder mal)! Ich wusste nicht, dass das Buch bald auf Deutsch erscheint, wie schön. Ich bin gespannt, was du davon hältst und wünsche dir Spaß bei deiner bald beginnenden Ausbildung. Das ist ja wirklich eine aufregende Zeit. Haha, das ist leider nur eine "Standard" Frauenfigur, aber jetzt hast du mich auf die Idee gebracht mal nach einer anderen Büste zu gucken ;)

[@aoibhinnking]

This is a great book.

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

It really is!

[@Pawełczytapsalm40]

my favourite too :) (psychology student)

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

It's the best indeed :) I wish I had read this already when I was a student!

[@DrPotatoHead]

Would you recommend this for analysands undergoing Person-Centred psychotherapy who are curious to learn psychological theories (and of human nature in general), and wish to have some good conceptual understanding of psychoanalysis to apply for themselves ?

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

Hm... I don't know. This book is definitely more geared towards clinicians. For laymen interested in personality styles I tend to recommend "The New Personality Self-Portrait".

[@cescu2]

Is it safe for me to read this book as a non-professional who is just curious about psychology?

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

I'd say this is a book more geared towards professionals, so I don't know!

[@StevenReidbordMD]

Safe? Of course. I wish more of the public learned about psychodynamic and psychoanalytic ideas. The ideas in the book are very applicable to the people you meet in everyday life (and maybe even yourself).

[@gulgutz90]

I love to buy books :))

[@PunishedFelix]

is this a book you could recommend patients with some passing knowledge of PA?

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this to patients. For laymen who are interested in understanding different personality styles, I'd recommend "The New Personality Self-Portrait".

[@camfella647]

This video makes me think that A.I. chatbots could probably be very useful/effective for therapy for people if spoken words are all that’s needed

[@Gusgusfritz]

I think they could be helpful….but I think you would miss the major thrust of Psychodynamic Therapy … by orders of magnitude…without having an actual Therapuetic relationship with a psychodynamic therapist. This is where “the magic” lays…this is absolutely key…and this is why you need to find somebody who is good. Sadly, I have found that there are not many good therapists out there in life. Good luck though, I do not mean to come off as being too cynical.

[@camfella647]

@ that was kind of the point I was making, i dont recall any mention of the therapeutic relationship being discussed in the video(correct me if I’m wrong) hence “if spoken words are all that’s needed”

[@irenahabe2855]

This is top shit book, for sure! ❤❤❤

[@PsychodynamicPsychology]

YES! Absolute top shit :) Thank you for your comment!