Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

This unprecedented work is an invaluable resource for therapists treating patients with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), for individuals suffering from OCPD, and for friends, family, and coworkers of those with OCPD. Although a significant number of individuals suffer from obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), most of these people see themselves as being perfectly normal. In actuality, they are missing out in life due to their being compulsively prompt, counterproductively perfectionistic, and excessively penurious. This book explains what OCPD is, making it clear how it differs significantly from OCD; explains the thought processes and desires that give rise to the counterproductive defense mechanisms of OCPD; and identifies the approaches and methods that can allow such afflicted individuals to break through their character armoring and become rehumanized. In this book, Martin Kantor, MD, presents information to defuse the many manifested symptoms of OCPD: anxiety, indecision, unreasonable perfectionism, and difficulty in compromising. His explanations and methods will give the hopeless succor, move the stalled forward, and foster interpersonal cooperation and flexibility in the stubborn, while simultaneously enhancing the OCPD individual's social performance thus increasing his or her chances for interpersonal, relational, and occupational success. Kantor also identifies the social manifestations of OCPD and describes how to move idiosyncratic, rigid bureaucracies toward accomplishing what should be their most important mission: helping those who are in need and seeking comfort.

Martin Kantor, MD is a Harvard psychiatrist who has been in full private practice in Boston and New York City, and active in residency training programs at several hospitals, including Massachusetts General and Beth Israel in New York. He also served as Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical School and as Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School. He is currently a full-time medical author, the author of more than a dozen other books, including Homophobia, Second Edition (Praeger 2009); Uncle Sam's Shame: Inside the Veteran's Administration (Praeger 2008); Lifting the Weight: Understanding Depression in Men: Its Causes and Solutions (Praeger 2007); The Psychopathy of Everyday Life: How Antisocial Personality Disorder Affects All of Us (Praeger, 2006); Understanding Paranoia: A Guide for Professional, Families, and Sufferers (Praeger 2004); Distancing: Avoidant Personality Disorder, Revised and Expanded (Praeger, 2003), Passive-Aggression: A Guide for the Therapist, the Patient, and the Victim (Praeger, 2002), Treating Emotional Disorder in Gay Men (Praeger, 1999), and Homophobia (Praeger, 1998).

Introduction
Part I: Description
1 Selected Definitions
2 Mental Status (Excepting Thought and Behavior)
3 Mental Status: Thought
4 Mental Status: Behavior
5 The Interpersonal Venue: OCPD Fallout
6 Other Psychological Venues
7 The Social Venue
Part II: Causation
8 Causation
Part III: Treatment
9 Theoretical Considerations
10 Handling Specific Symptoms
11 Technical Aspects-Dealing with Resistances
12 Dealing with OCPD's Realistic Difficulties
13 Reasons to Triumph over Being OCPD-Self-Help
Notes
Index