About the AuthorIntroductionAcknowledgmentsPART I: Severe Personality DisordersChapter 1. Identity RECENT FINDINGS AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONSChapter 2. Psychoanalytic Individual and Group Psychotherapy THE TRANSFERENCE-FOCUSED PSYCHOTHERAPY (TFP) MODELChapter 3. Mentalization, Mindfulness, Insight, Empathy, and InterpretationChapter 4. Countertransference RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND TECHNICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH SEVERE PERSONALITY DISORDERSChapter 5. The Almost Untreatable Narcissistic Patient Chapter 6. The Destruction of Time in Pathological NarcissismChapter 7. Supervision THE SUPERVISOR'S TASKSPART II: Reflections on Psychoanalytic Theory and Its ApplicationsChapter 8. Psychoanalytic Affect Theory in the Light of Contemporary Neurobiological FindingsChapter 9. The Concept of the Death Drive A CLINICAL PERSPECTIVEChapter 10. Some Observations on the Process of MourningPART III: The Psychology of Sexual LoveChapter 11. The Sexual Couple A PSYCHOANALYTIC EXPLORATIONChapter 12. Limitations to the Capacity to loveChapter 13. Sexual Pathology in Borderline PatientsPART IV: Contemporary Challenges for PsychoanalysisChapter 14. Psychoanalysis and the University A DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIPChapter 15. "Dissidence" in Psychoanalysis: A PSYCHOANALYTIC REFLECTIONPART V: The Psychology of Religious ExperienceChapter 16. Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Religious ExperienceChapter 17. The Emergence of a Spiritual Realm Index

Otto Kernberg is a towering figure in the field of psychoanalysis and has accomplished seminal work in object relations and the treatment of borderline and narcissistic patients. This volume collects his recent work in several areas: severe personality disorders, couples in conflict, and religious experience. In each area, he explores the relationship between the psychoanalytic, clinical psychiatric, and neurobiological approaches, yielding insights and analysis that are compelling, thought-provoking, and at times startling in their penetrating brilliance. In addition, the book addresses the challenges that psychoanalysis faces in the current medical environment, and the need to strengthen its ties with academic institutions.

Beautifully written, the book is designed to both provoke questions and provide enlightenment on a variety of critical issues within psychotherapy. Specifically, the volume: ¿ Explores new approaches to diagnosis and new psychotherapeutic techniques to treat the most severe personality disorders, particularly severe narcissistic psychopathology, based on new research findings;¿ Relates psychoanalytic theory to neurobiological findings by illuminating the influences of neurobiological structures and intrapsychic conflicts on the development of the personality;¿ Examines the psychoanalytic and neurobiological underpinnings of sexual love, from the organization of brain structures and neurotransmitters to the overall systems of erotic activation, attachment and bonding. This systematic approach provides insight into the nature of passionate love and the psychodynamic features of the love relationship; ¿ Addresses psychodynamic factors in the religious experience and the search for universal ethical values, and explores the crucial function of religious experience in dealing with the ideological challenges of social life; and¿ Identifies the serious problems facing psychoanalytic education, institutions, and the profession of psychoanalysis, and proposes solutions to energize the field and increase its contributions to scientific research and progress.

In The Inseparable Nature of Love and Aggression: Clinical and Theoretical Perspectives, Kernberg demonstrates his belief that the collaboration of psychoanalysis and neurobiology has the potential to significantly advance our understanding of the human mind. The full spectrum of mental health clinicians, as well as educated general readers, will find this to be a work of creativity and substance.