His long psychoanalytical career consists of major contributions in his theoretical and clinical work in the field of personality disorder and borderline personality disorder, as well as the pathologies of narcissism. He designed an intensive form of psychoanalytic psychotherapy known as transference-focused psychotherapy, strongly orientated and highly proven to be effective at treating borderline personality disorders.

 

When talking to ESCAP he agrees that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a therapy extremely effective at treating several mental health disorders; however, he states that psychotherapy still holds a strong structural and functional approach in therapy. “CBT is a very effective symptom-orientated therapy. Psychotherapy is focused more on the total personality and modification of the personality. But empirical research on the modification of personality is mainly missing. My institute is focusing on changes in basic personality functions, two main areas; 1. relation to work and profession and 2. the relation to love and sex. It is an area psychoanalysis contributed very importantly to. CBT is good at reducing symptoms but has not covered in depth the pathology of love relation”.

Otto Kernberg will speak further as a keynote speaker at the ESCAP congress in Vienna about where psychoanalytical treatments sit in today's psychiatric setting.

 

Here, he briefly explains the essential contributions of Freud's original theories and methods, and what needs to be done for the future of psychoanalysis.

 

 

 

 

On YouTube, by using Otto Kernberg as a search criterion there are many interesting talks and interviews he has done on his field.