Deborah L. Cabaniss - Psychodynamic Formulation

This edition first published 2013, 2013 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Psychodynamic formulation / by Deborah L. Cabaniss ... [et al].

p. ; cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-119-96234-2 (cloth)

I. Cabaniss, Deborah L.

[DNLM: 1. Mental Disordersdiagnosis. 2. Mental Disorderstherapy. 3. Patient Care Planning. 4. Psychoanalytic Therapymethods. WM 141]

616.89dc23

2012047255

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Cover image: Nicki Averill Design & Illustration

Cover design by Nicki Averill Design & Illustration

For our families:
Thomas, William and Daniel
Marc, Rebecca and Ruth
Jon, William and Ben
Michael, Sam and Jacob
Eric, Lena and Maia

This book may be seen as a companion to Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A clinical manual. For details, see www.wiley.com or scan this QR code:

Constructing a psychodynamic formulation is one thing, but trying to teach someone else to construct one is something else entirely. It's like trying to teach someone to tie a shoe. You know how to do it, but what are the steps? How do you put things together? What do you have to know in order to do it? This is what my coauthors and I tried to figure out. The result is our DESCRIBE/REVIEW/LINK method and a curriculum that helps students learn why psychodynamic formulations are important and how to construct them from the bottom up. Along the way, Sabrina Cherry and I wrote formulations and discussed our thought process over countless phone calls; Carolyn Douglas helped to keep us balanced between nature and nurture; Ruth Graver helped to devise a wonderful, dimensional way to describe function; and Anna Schwartz reminded us of the centrality of trauma and the utility of formulations in multiple settings. Both Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Clinical Manual and Psychodynamic Formulation would not be what they are if not for this incredible team of women who are outstanding clinicians, educators, and writers. I am, as ever, grateful for their time, effort, creativity, and friendship.

The beta version of this book was road-tested by our terrific Columbia residents, and I thank them for putting up with early drafts riddled with typos. Having the opportunity to teach them day in and day out, year after year, keeps us asking the important questions about education. I owe many thanks to Justin Richardson, who helped me to conceptualize new ways of teaching formulation and with whom I taught for 5 years. David Goldberg, Deborah Katz, and Volney Gay are world-class psychodynamics educators whom I have come to rely on for their wisdom and guidanceeach of them carefully read the entire manuscript and gave us invaluable comments that helped us to shape the final product. Sarah Paul offered insightful comments as well. Steven Roose kept me on track to think about function rather than disorders, and Roger MacKinnon made sure that psychodynamic formulation would always be a central part of psychiatric training at Columbia. Joan Marsh, our editor at Wiley, has become a friend and I am grateful for her enthusiasm about our work. Maria Oquendo and Melissa Arbuckle continue to support our teaching at Columbia, without which none of this would be possible.

I'd also like to thank the many students and educators who are using and enjoying Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Clinical Manual. The overwhelmingly positive response we got to the Manual energized us write this companion volume. We are delighted that it has helped to make psychodynamic technique more understandable, and we hope that this book does the same for psychodynamic formulation.

Older and wiser than they were when we wrote the first book, my children William and Daniel are now resigned to the idea that their mom likes writing on nights and weekends. I know that they are proud of me and of the work I'm doing. They will be ready to edit the next book. And, once again, Thomas read every wordsometimes twiceand kept the faith even when I didn't. I couldn't do any of it without him.