Dear colleagues, the Ukrainian edition of the book has finally been published!
In the spring of 2024, Rostyslav Burlaka, head of one of Ukraine’s leading publishers of psychological literature, reached out to us with a proposal to organize the translation and scientific editing of Otto Kernberg’s Severe Personality Disorders: Psychotherapeutic Strategies into Ukrainian. We agreed without hesitation — after all, our work is focused on developing Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) in Ukraine, and this book is one of the first systematic presentations of the research project led by Otto Kernberg himself.
Despite our workload being at 150%, we felt that hundreds of hours spent studying with Dr. Kernberg gave us the foundation to create a truly high-quality and deeply thoughtful translation and editorial version of this work — a collection of his key ideas and clinical concepts.
The scientific editors of the book are Olha Kalashnikova and Oleksii Lemeshchuk. The translation was completed by Nataliia Esmurzaieva.
While Oleksii acted primarily as the methodologist of the translation and editing process, Olha Kalashnikova carefully examined and refined the translation in detail.
During the process, we noticed how inaccurate the previous Russian translation — through which many of us first encountered Kernberg’s ideas — had been. Because of that version, his texts are still often perceived by therapists as complex or hard to understand.
To be fair, even in English his writing isn’t easy: Otto Kernberg’s written language (unlike his spoken one) is full of long, layered sentences.
But the real challenge is not the syntax — it’s the depth of meaning in every line. Sometimes, a single paragraph can take days of reflection and evoke vivid memories of clinical work that then becomes much clearer. Yet, despite these challenges, this is a must-read book. It is the foundation for understanding borderline personality organization, as well as borderline and narcissistic personality disorders.
In translating the book, we aimed to convey every idea of Otto Kernberg exactly as he expressed it. And I believe we succeeded. It was truly a careful and meticulous work on every single sentence.
This book is not merely theoretical. It is a guide to the complex world of personality pathology, where Dr. Kernberg, with characteristic depth, shows how object relations theory and investigative psychotherapy (later called Transference-Focused Psychotherapy) help bring order to chaos, understand the inner world in both health and pathology, and restore the capacity for mature emotional bonds.
We are truly happy to share this achievement and believe it will mark a significant milestone in the development of psychodynamic thought in Ukraine.
More translations, educational programs, and opportunities are ahead — for those who wish not only to learn about TFP, but to master it as a living, effective, and profound psychotherapeutic practice.
(c) Yuliia Holopiorova,
Ukrainian Association of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy