Early Affect Confusion: Relational Psychotherapy for the Borderline Client

What makes this book a profound and practical read for any therapist or counsellor is the shift in perspective – Dr Erskine does not believe in pathologizing his clients’ condition. Instead, he focuses on his clients’ unmet relational needs and with great empathy and compassion, he works through the various traumas and setbacks they faced during different developmental stages of their childhood and teenage years. He prefers to use the term Early Affect Confusion and through detailed case studies of clients that he worked with in his practice, he shows how it is possible to help these individuals overcome their condition to go on to lead more fulfilled lives. His clients were able to form better and lasting relationships, both at work and in their personal lives, understand their traumas, accept them, learn from them and move on in their lives.

Through in-depth case studies, he shows how he, as a therapist, facilitated change through a deeply empathic response, how he grappled with the practical dilemmas, how he navigated delicate points in their therapeutic relationship where a rupture could have been imminent and derailed the whole process. If there is one book you choose to read to understand how to work in a relationally-focussed way with clients suffering from BPD, there is perhaps no better option than this one.

Richard Erskine describes himself as “a Developmentally-based, Relationally-focused Integrative Psychotherapist”. He is a licensed Psychoanalyst, a certified Transactional Analyst, internationally recognized Gestalt therapist, and a certified group psychotherapist. He is the author of nine books and numerous articles on the theory and methods of psychotherapy. Some of the articles are available on his website at www.IntegrativePsychotherapy.com

In 1972, as a professor at the University of Illinois, Dr. Erskine developed the initial concepts of a developmentally-based, relationally-focused integrative psychotherapy. By 1976, he established the Institute for Integrative Psychotherapy in New York City and, along with members of the Professional Development Seminars, continued the development, research, and refinement of a relational and integrative psychotherapy

Throughout his professional career he has specialized in the treatment of severely disturbed children, run a therapeutic community in a maximum- security prison, and conducted his psychotherapy practice in New York City, specializing in the treatment of borderline clients, dissociative identity disorder, narcissism, and schizoid processes.

Dr. Erskine is currently Professor of Psychology and Education at Deusto University, Bilbao, Spain. Each year Richard Erskine teaches formal courses and experiential workshops on the theory and methods of integrative psychotherapy in several countries around the world.

We are delighted to present his groundbreaking work in this book.

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