Fatal Flaws : Navigating Destructive Relationships With People With Disorders of Personality and Character

Featuring case vignettes from nearly 30 years of Dr. YudofskyAs clinical practice and incorporating the knowledge of gifted clinicians, educators, and research scientists with whom he has collaborated throughout that time, Fatal Flaws: Navigating Destructive Relationships With People With Disorders of Personality and Character uniquely captures the rapidly increasing body of clinical and research information about people with severe and persistent personality and character disorders. Within these pages, the author brings to life the psychopathologies of personality and character disorders through vivid vignettes based on composites of his many patients and their most important relationshipsAwhile meticulously changing the identifying facts and relevant details to protect confidentiality. Covering the clinical course, treatment, genetics, biology, psychology, and destructive consequences of hysterical (histrionic), narcissistic, antisocial, paranoid, obsessive-compulsive, addictive, borderline, and schizotypal personality disorders, Fatal Flaws stands out in the literature for these powerful reasons: -It is written for an unusually broad audience, from mental health students and trainees of all disciplines, to highly experienced clinicians, to patients who suffer from or are in destructive relationships with people with personality disorders. -It is a hybridApart psychiatric textbook for clinicians and part self-help manual for patients and clients with personality and character disorders. -It is designed to supplement treatment by providing patients with practical, evidence-based information about personality disorders and character flaws. -It is particularly valuable to patients who are in psychotherapy, in part, because they are entangled in destructive relationships with people with disorders of personality and/or character. -It is written in the first person, with the author directly communicating with a patient who either has a personality or character disorder or is in an important relationship with a person who has such a disorder. -It is useful for people who are uncertain whether they or their loved ones have personality or character disorders, and who want to know more about these conditions and their treatments before making a decision about securing the help of a mental health professional. Fatal Flaws: Navigating Destructive Relationships With People With Disorders of Personality and Character is a compelling volume that provides the essential information and a realistic sense of the clinical experience required to inform, orient, and support novice mental health professionals and seasoned practitioners alike as they face the ongoing challenges of treating patients or clients with personality or character disorders. It should also prove to be an invaluable resource for those who wish practical and effective help in understanding and changing their destructive relationships with people who have severe and persistent disorders of personality and/or character.

Featuring case vignettes from nearly 30 years of Dr. Yudofsky’s clinical practice and incorporating the knowledge of gifted clinicians, educators, and research scientists with whom he has collaborated throughout that time, Fatal Flaws: Navigating Destructive Relationships With People With Disorders of Personality and Character uniquely captures the rapidly increasing body of clinical and research information about people with severe and persistent personality and character disorders.

Within these pages, the author brings to life the psychopathologies of personality and character disorders through vivid vignettes based on composites of his many patients and their most important relationships—while meticulously changing the identifying facts and relevant details to protect confidentiality.

Covering the clinical course, treatment, genetics, biology, psychology, and destructive consequences of hysterical (histrionic), narcissistic, antisocial, paranoid, obsessive-compulsive, addictive, borderline, and schizotypal personality disorders, Fatal Flaws stands out in the literature for these powerful reasons:

• It is written for an unusually broad audience, from mental health students and trainees of all disciplines, to highly experienced clinicians, to patients who suffer from or are in destructive relationships with people with personality disorders.
• It is a hybrid—part psychiatric textbook for clinicians and part self-help manual for patients and clients with personality and character disorders.
• It is designed to supplement treatment by providing patients with practical, evidence-based information about personality disorders and character flaws.
• It is particularly valuable to patients who are in psychotherapy, in part, because they are entangled in destructive relationships with people with disorders of personality and/or character.
• It is written in the first person, with the author directly communicating with a patient who either has a personality or character disorder or is in an important relationship with a person who has such a disorder.
• It is useful for people who are uncertain whether they or their loved ones have personality or character disorders, and who want to know more about these conditions and their treatments before making a decision about securing the help of a mental health professional.

Fatal Flaws: Navigating Destructive Relationships With People With Disorders of Personality and Character is a compelling volume that provides the essential information and a realistic sense of the clinical experience required to inform, orient, and support novice mental health professionals and seasoned practitioners alike as they face the ongoing challenges of treating patients or clients with personality or character disorders. It should also prove to be an invaluable resource for those who wish practical and effective help in understanding and changing their destructive relationships with people who have severe and persistent disorders of personality and/or character.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Patricia E. Murphy, PhD(Rush University Medical Center)
Description:Using 30 years of experience as a successful therapist in the psychoanalytic tradition, the author provides rich information about personality disorders through cases that illustrate symptoms and treatment.
Purpose:The book is hard to put down, attesting to the author's achievement of his goal of providing information about persons with these disorders in a clear and interesting way.
Audience:The style of the book lends itself well to the targeted audience of those who are beginning or are in training to provide therapy for persons with personality disorders as well as for patients themselves or their families who want a better understanding of these "flaws."
Features:Each chapter on a specific disorder provides both biological and psychodynamic explanations of the origin of problems of a fictitious patient. Plenty of information depicts how the person interacts at work, with a spouse, and with children. Although the title "Fatal Flaws" sounds a bit pessimistic, the author wants to highlight the fact that if a person is unwilling to address symptoms in treatment, there are serious limitations to relationships. The material includes ways for the reader to recognize these limits and to take important self-protective steps.
Assessment:The experience and expertise of the author makes this a worthwhile bookz` for persons who are in a setting that calls for or allows psychodynamic treatment. It could also be instructional for those who use other methods in therapy. A value of the book is its inclusion of what is currently known about biology and genetics related to the disorders addressed. The author's inclusion of research does not address information about outcome-based studies to support his contention of the efficacy of his methods. His claim that only a therapist with no affiliation with organized religion can effectively treat spiritual issues of patients might also be checked against research on the topic. The reader will enjoy time spent with this book.

Featuring case vignettes from nearly 30 years of Dr. Yudofsky's clinical practice and incorporating the knowledge of gifted clinicians, educators, and research scientists with whom he has collaborated throughout that time, Fatal Flaws: Navigating Destructive Relationships With People With Disorders of Personality and Character uniquely captures the rapidly increasing body of clinical and research information about people with severe and persistent personality and character disorders.

Within these pages, the author brings to life the psychopathologies of personality and character disorders through vivid vignettes based on composites of his many patients and their most important relationships -- while meticulously changing the identifying facts and relevant details to protect confidentiality.

Covering the clinical course, treatment, genetics, biology, psychology, and destructive consequences of hysterical (histrionic), narcissistic, antisocial, paranoid, obsessive-compulsive, addictive, borderline, and schizotypal personality disorders, Fatal Flaws stands out in the literature for these powerful reasons: • It is written for an unusually broad audience, from mental health students and trainees of all disciplines, to highly experienced clinicians, to patients who suffer from or are in destructive relationships with people with personality disorders.• It is a hybrid -- part psychiatric textbook for clinicians and part self-help manual for patients and clients with personality and character disorders. • It is designed to supplement treatment by providing patients with practical, evidence-based information about personality disorders and character flaws.• It is particularly valuable to patients who are in psychotherapy, in part, because they are entangled in destructive relationships with people with disorders of personality and/or character.• It is written in the first person, with the author directly communicating with a patient who either has a personality or character disorder or is in an important relationship with a person who has such a disorder. • It is useful for people who are uncertain whether they or their loved ones have personality or character disorders, and who want to know more about these conditions and their treatments before making a decision about securing the help of a mental health professional.

Fatal Flaws: Navigating Destructive Relationships With People With Disorders of Personality and Character is a compelling volume that provides the essential information and a realistic sense of the clinical experience required to inform, orient, and support novice mental health professionals and seasoned practitioners alike as they face the ongoing challenges of treating patients or clients with personality or character disorders. It should also prove to be an invaluable resource for those who wish practical and effective help in understanding and changing their destructive relationships with people who have severe and persistent disorders of personality and/or character.

Featuring case vignettes from nearly 30 years of Dr. Yudofsky's clinical practice and incorporating the knowledge of gifted clinicians, educators, and research scientists with whom he has collaborated throughout that time, Fatal Flaws: Navigating Destructive Relationships With People With Disorders of Personality and Character uniquely captures the rapidly increasing body of clinical and research information about people with severe and persistent personality and character disorders. Within these pages, the author brings to life the psychopathologies of personality and character disorders through vivid vignettes based on composites of his many patients and their most important relationships — while meticulously changing the identifying facts and relevant details to protect confidentiality. Covering the clinical course, treatment, genetics, biology, psychology, and destructive consequences of hysterical (histrionic), narcissistic, antisocial, paranoid, obsessive-compulsive, addictive, borderline, and schizotypal personality disorders, Fatal Flaws stands out in the literature for these powerful reasons: • It is written for an unusually broad audience, from mental health students and trainees of all disciplines, to highly experienced clinicians, to patients who suffer from or are in destructive relationships with people with personality disorders.• It is a hybrid — part psychiatric textbook for clinicians and part self-help manual for patients and clients with personality and character disorders. • It is designed to supplement treatment by providing patients with practical, evidence-based information about personality disorders and character flaws.• It is particularly valuable to patients who are in psychotherapy, in part, because they are entangled in destructive relationships with people with disorders of personality and/or character.• It is written in the first person, with the author directly communicating with a patient who either has a personality or character disorder or is in an important relationship with a person who has such a disorder. • It is useful for people who are uncertain whether they or their loved ones have personality or character disorders, and who want to know more about these conditions and their treatments before making a decision about securing the help of a mental health professional. Fatal Flaws: Navigating Destructive Relationships With People With Disorders of Personality and Character is a compelling volume that provides the essential information and a realistic sense of the clinical experience required to inform, orient, and support novice mental health professionals and seasoned practitioners alike as they face the ongoing challenges of treating patients or clients with personality or character disorders. It should also prove to be an invaluable resource for those who wish practical and effective help in understanding and changing their destructive relationships with people who have severe and persistent disorders of personality and/or character. Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction......Page 12 Prologue......Page 16 Part I: FATAL FLAWS......Page 20 1 What Are Fatal Flaws?......Page 22 2 Does This Person Have a Fatal Flaw?......Page 30 3 Nine Principles for Dealing With People With Fatal Flaws......Page 36 Part II: PERSONALITY DISORDERS......Page 44 4 Hysterical (Histrionic) Personality Disorder......Page 46 5 Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Part I: Untreated Narcissism......Page 106 6 Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Part II: Treated Narcissism......Page 158 7 Antisocial Personality Disorder......Page 180 8 Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder......Page 248 9 Paranoid Personality Disorder......Page 306 10 Borderline Personality Disorder......Page 348 11 Schizotypal Personality Disorder......Page 408 12 Addictive Personality Disorder......Page 440 Part III: CONCLUSION......Page 478 13 Getting Help......Page 480 A......Page 494 B......Page 496 C......Page 497 D......Page 499 E......Page 500 F......Page 501 H......Page 502 J......Page 503 M......Page 504 O......Page 505 P......Page 506 R......Page 508 S......Page 509 T......Page 511 W......Page 512 Z......Page 513 What are fatal flaws? Does this person have a fatal flaw? Introduction to the fatal flaw scale Nine principles of fatal flaws Hysterical (histrionic) personality disorder Narcissistic personality disorder, part I. Untreated narcissism Narcissistic personality disorder, part II. Treated narcissism Antisocial personality disorder Obsessive compulsive personality disorder Paranoid personality disorder Borderline personality disorder Schizotypal personality disorder Addictive personality disorder Getting help Encompassing case vignettes based on composites of numerous patients from Dr. Yudofsky's 30 years of clinical practice, this book captures essential clinical and research information that brings to life the psychopathologies of people with the "fatal flaws" of personality and character. It reviews comprehensively the course, treatment, genetics, biology, psychology, and destructive consequences of different types of personality disorders Part psychiatric textbook and part self-help manual for patients and clients, Fatal Flaws reviews comprehensively the course, treatment, genetics, biology, psychology, and destructive consequences of hysterical (histrionic), narcissistic, antisocial, paranoid, obsessive-compulsive, addictive, borderline, and schizotypal personality disorders.