Defense is the name given to the brain mechanism of shutting elements of feelings out of consciousness. Defenses are sort of like circuit breakers, acting to relieve overwhelming emotions, sometimes adaptively, sometimes not so adaptively.

There are two basic defenses: repression, the mechanism that shuts out thought content, and isolation of affect, which shuts out sensations from consciousness. The other 99 listed in this book are essentially "helper" defenses.

When defenses are maladaptive, they create symptoms such as phobias, compulsions, and depressions. They can also contribute to character problems like chronic passivity, obnoxiousness, shyness, and hypersexuality.

101 Defenses, aside from describing each defense and giving multiple clinical examples, also includes chapters on constellations of defenses in pathological states. In addition, other chapters discuss methods for finding defenses, the ways of approaching the defenses both supportively and interpretively, and how to use defense theory in determining suicide risk.

Get the Diagnosis Right explains how to make an accurate diagnosis when people have emotional problems. The DSM manuals contain collections of symptoms and complaints that can be organized to form a preliminary diagnosis. The observer, however, can do more than collect and arrange complaints. Assessment should also be done regarding deficits in important mental functions (including organizing thought and checking reality), in basic capacities for containing emotions and impulses, in abilities to sustain close relationships, and in the intactness of the conscience. If deficits are not found, then internal conflicts among wishes, guilt, emotions, and defense mechanisms become more important.

Get the Diagnosis Right is divided into two sections: "Part I: The Quick and Dirty" and "Part II: The Rest of the Story." Part I, about 50 pages, sets out the major concepts necessary to determine what type of treatment a person with emotional problems should obtain. Part II, about 200 pages, enlarges on Part I, giving more detail and discussing the complications. Both Sections include a template for completing an evaluation, along with charts, tables, clinical examples, and references for further study.

Therapists inevitably feel more gratified in their work when their cases have better treatment outcomes. This book is designed to help them achieve that by providing practical solutions to problems that arise in psychotherapy, such as:

Do depressed people need an antidepressant, or psychotherapy alone? How do you handle people who want to be your "friend," who touch you, who won't leave your office, or who break boundaries? How do you prevent people from quitting treatment prematurely? Suppose you don't like the person who consults you? What if people you treat with CBT don't do their homework? When do you explain defense mechanisms, and when do you use supportive approaches?

Award-winning professor, Jerome Blackman, answers these and many other tricky problems for psychotherapists. Dr. Blackman punctuates his lively text with tips and snippets of various theories that apply to psychotherapy. He shares his advice and illustrates his successes and failures in diagnosis, treatment, and supervision. He highlights fundamental, fascinating, and perplexing problems he has encountered over decades of practicing and supervising therapy.