Golan Shahar argues that the dynamic relationship between personality and social factors, which he terms "ecodynamics," is the root cause of complex depression and leads to severe consequences, including suicide. Dr. Shahar examines foundational psychoanalytic research on depression, particularly Melanie Klein's object relation theory and her depressive position. He elaborates upon these concepts with a transtheoretical lens that accounts for key factors, including affect (primarily self-criticism); affect regulation; schemas and scripts that reinforce self-criticism; projections of the self into the future; and externalization of depressive feelings that creates a vicious cycle. Shahar explores specific ecodynamic patterns that lead to complication like chronicity, heterogeneity, comorbidity with other disorders, health and legal problems, and suicidality. Methods and guidelines for assessing and treating depression that account for ecodynamic factors are provided, including three new measures developed by Shahar for this book. Case examples help readers understand the causes and consequences of complex depression, including Shahar's deeply personal investigation of his stepfather's suicide.
Golan Shahar, PhD, is professor of clinical-health psychology, Zlotovsky chair of neuropsychology, and adjunct professor of public health at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev where he also heads the Stress, Self & Health (STREALTH) research lab. He is also adjunct professor of child study and adult psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine. Prof. Shahar's research focuses on the links between stress, depression and suicidality, and psychosomatics. He authored Erosion: The Psychopathology of Self-Criticism. Professor Shahar is also internationally known as a leading clinical theorist and practitioner, advancing an integrative framework for assessment and psychotherapy in complex psychopathological and psychosomatic conditions. Visit his ResearchGate page.
Foreword Thomas Joiner An Introduction to the Personality and Social Dynamics of Complex Depression Acknowledgments Part I. Depression and Personality Chapter 1. The Complications of Depression Chapter 2. The Role of Personality in Complex Depression Part II. Psychodynamics and Ecodynamics Chapter 3. Reformulating Klein's Object Relations Theory and the Depressive Position Chapter 4. Human Ecology and Development Within Social Contexts: The Theory of Ecodynamics Part III. The Ecodynamics of Complex Depression Chapter 5. Applying the Reformulated Depressive Position and Ecodynamics to Complex Depression Chapter 6. Suicidal Depression: A Case Study of Complex Depression's Most Severe Consequence Chapter 7. Practical Implications for Assessment: Evaluating Complex Depression Via the Reformulated Depressive Position and Ecodynamics Chapter 8. Practical Implications for Psychotherapy: Specific Interventions for Treating Complex Depression References Index About the Author
