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APA Psychotherapy Training Videos are intended solely for educational purposes for mental health professionals. Viewers are expected to treat confidential material found herein according to strict professional guidelines. Unauthorized viewing is prohibited.
Personality-guided relational psychotherapy offers a unified framework that encompasses four domains of human functioning to conceptualize personality dysfunction and focus treatment. These four levels begin at the microlevel of analysis and become increasingly more macroscopic in focus, and can be conceptualized as nested aspects of relational systems. The four levels are
All human psychopathology is an expression of a dysfunctioning personality system broadly conceived. Within each of these matrices there is an array of methods that can be incorporated to enhance differentiation and integration among the various component subsystems, and thereby create a more functional personality system. For example, the primary considerations when working in the biological–intrapsychic matrix are the interrelations among anxiety regulation, defensive operations, and emotion/cognition. Various strategies and techniques from an array of psychotherapeutic models can be incorporated, such as emotional identification, intensification, and processing; anxiety management techniques; cognitive restructuring; and so forth. All interpersonal processes and structures can be viewed as an expression of early relational schemata within the dyadic–interpersonal matrix. The main foci are relationships with the therapist and with significant others. Thus, while working in this matrix, therapeutic methods and techniques that assist in creating awareness and restructuring relational schemata are useful. In the relational–triadic configuration, we examine the processes that occur when a third party is triangulated to stabilize a dyad. These triangular configurations are commonly seen in child and adolescent disorders, as well as with couples engaging in affairs. Multigenerational processes are often transmitted in triangular configurations in that generational conflicts that have not been resolved are transmitted to successive generations. Various types of family systems can become dysfunctional and create a fertile environment for personality dysfunction in their members. The sociocultural system is composed of a number of mesosystems, such as family, social institutions, and community and political systems. Interventions can be made at any level to shape these systems and enhance functioning, such as community interventions, social change, education, and so forth. Using a unified framework, clinicians can orient their treatment interventions to the domains of functioning that are most amenable to change. |
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