Fatal Flaws: Navigating Destructive Relationships with People with Disorders... [Paperback]

Stuart C. Yudofsky (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1585622141 | ISBN-13: 978-1585622146 | Publication Date: March 2005 | Edition: 1

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[ "Fatal Flaws"] is readable, thorough, and unique practical sharing of the author's and the mentors' wisdom regarding personality disorders of all types delineated in the DSM-IV."-- "Journal of Clinical Psychiatry", "February 2007"

About the Author

Stuart C. Yudofsky, M.D., is D.C. and Irene Ellwood Professor and Chairman of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine. He is Chief of Psychiatry Services at The Methodist Hospital and is also responsible for oversight of academic activities in psychiatry at The Menninger Clinic and Hospital, the Ben Taub General Hospital, the Houston Veterans Administration Medical Center, the St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, and the Texas Children's Hospital. For the past seventeen years, Dr. Yudofsky has been Editor of the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, the official journal of the American Neuropsychiatric Association.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.; 1 edition (March 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585622141
• ISBN-13: 978-1585622146
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential book to understand personality disorders, July 15, 2005

By 

Dr. Suman Mukhopadhyay "Eternal Reader" (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fatal Flaws: Navigating Destructive Relationships with People with Disorders... (Paperback)

Stuart Yudofsky has done it again. He has written a book which not only has extensive clinical descriptions of the different personality disorders,he deals with the treatments which are standard,acceptable and evidence based. The language of the book is eloquent and easy to read -- readers do not stumble on the psychiatric jargons. I think APA and Stuart yudofsky has done a great service to the general public through publishing such a book. This book will also be extremely helpful for the psychiatric trainees because the case studies reflect the extensive knowledge and empathy of an astute and expert clinician.

I have a few criticisms -- Dr Yudofsky has not covered a few clinically important PDs like passive agressive or depressive personalities-- i am not exactly sure why that is the case. besides schema therapy and DBT seems to be underrepresented, but these therapies have a minor but significant and growing evidence base.

I wholeheartedly wish wide publication of this piece of work.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars eye opener, June 7, 2007

By 

anonymous (Miami Beach, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fatal Flaws: Navigating Destructive Relationships with People with Disorders... (Paperback)

I wish that I had read this book long ago. Persons with personality disorders can cause serious damage in the lives of those around them, yet most persons know far too little about these disorders. What I found most useful were the first three chapters, wherein Dr. Yudofsky offers valuable tools to discern whether others may have personality disorders and also nine helpful guiding principles. But the other chapters give the reader an overview of what each of the disorders may look like. Great intro to the topic.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, May 6, 2008

By 

Newwife/stepmother "Wife to my Husband, Mom t... (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fatal Flaws: Navigating Destructive Relationships with People with Disorders... (Paperback)

This book saved my marriage, I really began to understand my husbands ex-wife and her BPD, as well as how to keep her out of our lives with using the techniques described in the book.