Psychoanalytic Diagnosis Audiobook By Nancy McWilliams PhD cover art

Psychoanalytic Diagnosis

Understanding Personality Structure in the Clinical Process

Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Psychoanalytic Diagnosis

By: Nancy McWilliams PhD
Narrated by: Allison Posner
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.00

Buy for $25.00

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

This acclaimed clinical guide and widely adopted text has filled a key need in the field since its original publication. Nancy McWilliams makes psychoanalytic personality theory and its implications for practice accessible to practitioners of all levels of experience. She explains major character types and demonstrates specific ways that understanding the patient's individual personality structure can influence the therapist's focus and style of intervention. Guidelines are provided for developing a systematic yet flexible diagnostic formulation and using it to inform treatment. A wealth of illustrative clinical examples are featured.

Winner—Canadian Psychological Association's Goethe Award for Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Scholarship

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2011 The Guilford Press (P)2024 The Guilford Press
Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Mental Health Health
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_webcro805_stickypopup

Critic reviews

"This is a book for all clinicians who aspire to understand their clients deeply and help them live more richly and authentically. McWilliams synthesizes a century of cumulative clinical wisdom and offers it in a form that is accessible and useful to clinicians of any theoretical persuasion. The first edition of Psychoanalytic Diagnosis was an instant classic; the second edition is exceptionally lucid and masterful. This is McWilliams, master clinician and teacher, at her very best."—Jonathan Shedler, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine

"In revising Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, McWilliams has surpassed herself. The original—deservedly regarded as a classic—was an integrative tour de force; the second edition is even better. Informed by current advances in neuroscience and infant research, and reshaped in light of the 'relational turn' in contemporary psychoanalysis, this book distills a vast literature on development, psychopathology, and therapy into an extraordinarily useful map of the clinical terrain. It is at once an indispensable resource for beginning therapists, a valuable teaching tool, and a comprehensive reference for seasoned clinicians."—David J. Wallin, PhD, private practice, Mill Valley and Albany, California

"In this accessible and impassioned book, McWilliams provides organizing principles to help us understand psychopathology without oversimplifying or evading the difficult questions raised by diagnosis. Reading McWilliams's book will make you feel like you know her. Her extraordinary humanity, wisdom, deep sense of ethics, and steady concern for her patients are evident throughout. The second edition includes an updated presentation of attachment theory, addresses the contributions of relational theory and neuroscience research, and integrates a contemporary understanding of somatization and defense. A 'must read' for every clinician in training."—Joyce A. Slochower, PhD, Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York University

All stars
Most relevant  
Really clear, really extensive with stories and examples, a lot to get through but author makes it very manageable and organized

Thorough and in depth

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This is an excellent overview of the modern psychoanalytic theory of personality structure, based on the drive theory. Provides clear and cogent explanation of the relationship between psychodefenses, pathology and personality structure.

Excellent overview of personality

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

McWilliams does an excellent job focusing on clinical distinctions within disorders, within character organization, and in differential diagnosis that focuses the diagnostician on clinically (treatment) relevant distinctions. In other words, she answers elucidates not only how to distinguish types of presentation, but why it matters for the treatment course.

Fascinating and clinical useful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Contents of the book are 5/5
The chapter titles could easily be updated on the Audible side. This should be updated.

Incredibly Rich Text

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

She manages to explain very difficult theories in a very easy to understand way. She reminds me of Daniel Goleman in that sense. This book is truly comprehensive!! An outstanding piece of work!! I am looking forward to more audiobooks by Nancy McWilliams. The print editons are available on Amazon, but I also enjoy listening to excellent books like this one, over and over....

Absolutely fantastic!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

The reader is exceptional. The content is very well structured, very clear, and the most comprehensive book of psychoanalysis you will find in all of audible library. Worth reading twice.

Must read, best psy book in my library by far

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Pronunciation overall is good but the word "Important" is used too often. Soft "t" or hard "T" i don't care but there is no "D" in important. please stop the butchering of American English. Em-Poor-Dent is not a word.

Excellent so far but em-poor-dent is not an english word.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Well-structured, comprehensive, thoroughly explained, jam-packed with information but still an overview that invites further research. So impressed by McWilliams and her contributions to the field. The audio reading is a little stilted but was not at all hard to get used to and it’s not an easy work to perform warmly or conversationally. Highly recommend!

Dense and informative. Invaluable resource!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Psychoanalytic Diagnosis reads like The Notebook with a DSM glossary. It’s all feelings, no framework—therapeutic hand-holding where there should be clinical precision. If you’re in the business of actually treating people, not just exploring their vibes, this book is a waste of shelf space. Hug it if you want, but don’t try to practice with it.

When Psychoanalysis Forgets the Diagnosis

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.