Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual PDM-3

Fully updated and restructured with 70% new material, PDM-3 presents important advances in multiaxial mental health diagnosis from a psychodynamic perspective, in dialogue with neuroscientific and cognitive-behavioral perspectives. Used worldwide, this authoritative manual offers an empirically based, clinically useful alternative or supplement to DSM and ICD descriptive and symptom-oriented diagnoses. PDM-3 guides the practitioner to develop a multilayered dimensional understanding of each patient, leading to a rich case formulation and flexible treatment plan. Leading international experts systematically address personality functioning, mental capacities, and symptomatic impairment in infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age, including jargon-free descriptions and clinical examples. The companion website provides additional case illustrations and five downloadable and reproducible PDM-derived rating scales.

New to This Edition

• Restructured to follow development chronologically.
• Conceptual refinements, updated assessment tools, and expanded case material. 
• Chapters on the transition from infancy to childhood and from adolescence to adulthood.
• Chapters on psychological experiences throughout the lifespan that are not captured by a diagnosis, but may require clinical attention. 

Supporting associations include the International Psychoanalytical Association, Division 39 of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy, the American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work, and other organizations.

PDM-2 won the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis Book Prize (Clinical Category)

Vittorio Lingiardi, MD, is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He is Full Professor of Dynamic Psychology and past Director of the Clinical Psychology Specialization Program in the Faculty of Medicine and Psychology of Sapienza University of Rome in Italy. He is Senior Research Fellow in the Sapienza School for Advanced Studies and runs the Sapienza Counseling Hub for professors and administrative staff. Dr. Lingiardi’s research interests include diagnostic assessment and treatment of personality disorders, process–outcome research in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, and gender identity and sexual orientation. He is the author of several books and many articles published in leading international journals of psychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis. Dr. Lingiardi has served as president (2020–2024) of the Society for Psychotherapy Research–Italy Area Group. He is the recipient of the Ralph Roughton Paper Award from the American Psychoanalytic Association, the Cesare Musatti Award from the Italian Psychoanalytic Society, the Research Award from the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (Division 39 of the American Psychological Association), the Sigourney Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychoanalysis, and the Scientific Dissemination Award from the Italian Psychological Association. 

Nancy McWilliams, PhD, ABPP, is Visiting Professor Emerita at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and has a private practice in Lambertville, New Jersey. She is author or editor of acclaimed books, including Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, Second Edition, and has published widely in professional journals. Dr. McWilliams is a past president of the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology, Division 39 of the American Psychological Association (APA). She is the recipient of honors including the Gradiva Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, the Erikson Scholar Award from the Austen Riggs Center, the Goethe Scholarship Award from the Section on Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychology of the Canadian Psychological Association, the Rosalee Weiss Award from the Division of Independent Practitioners of the APA, the Laughlin Distinguished Teacher Award from the American Society of Psychoanalytic Physicians, the Hans H. Strupp Award from the Appalachian Psychoanalytic Society, and the International, Leadership, and Scholarship Awards from APA Division 39. She is an honorary member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy of Turin, Italy, and the Warsaw Scientific Association for Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. Dr. McWilliams’s writings have been translated into 20 languages.