Managing the clinical encounter with patients with personality disorder in a general psychiatry setting: key contributions from neuropsychoanalysis (Lee, 2024)

Lee, Tennyson, Solms, Mark,

BJPsych Advances. Sep2024, Vol. 30 Issue 5, p303-310. 8p.

Patients view their negative emotions as troublesome and they expect psychiatrists to deal with them, often wanting them taken away. We present a neuropsychoanalytical understanding of the essential biological function of emotion and how it influences behaviour. Through a vignette, we demonstrate how this understanding can contribute to the psychiatrist's management of the clinical encounter, in particular regarding the patient's expectations about their emotions and the pressures placed on the clinician.