Psychotherapy Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Psychotherapy, including details on psychiatry, psychoanalysis, methods, outcomes.

Red beavers and building bridges between assessment and treatment.

Lerner PM

P.O. Box 800, 7-9 Washington Street, Camden, Maine 04843-1533, USA.

In this article, I present a case involving early object loss in which I both assessed the patient and treated her. Assessment revealed a particular object relational defensive structure-a false self. The concept false self was then used as a bridge to treatment. The case is discussed from several perspectives including the clinical inference process, the relationship between assessment and treatment, and the vicissitudes of early object loss.

Published 1 December 2005 in J Pers Assess, 85(3): 271-9.
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