Search For The Real Self : Unmasking The Personality Disorders Of Our Age [Paperback]

James F. Masterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1990

Personality disorders - borderline, narcissistic and schizoid - have become the classic psychological disorders of our age. Outwardly successful, charming and powerful, personality-disordered individuals have long confounded their colleagues, family, lovers and employees - as well as mental health professionals. The author helps the reader understand them. After describing how the healthy real self develops and functions, he explains what can go wrong. Drawing on case histories, he shows how the false self behaves in relationships and on the job, and then delineates appropriate treatments, offering real hope for cure.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (March 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0029202922
• ISBN-13: 978-0029202920
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #96 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Personality Disorders

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A bit academic, but will help your self discovery, May 15, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Search For The Real Self : Unmasking The Personality Disorders Of Our Age (Paperback)

This is the book that Dr. Drew on "LoveLine" recommends to his listeners.

This book will help you understand your behaviours in relationships and the driving force behind your behaviours. Primarily it deals with narcissism disorder, borderline peronality disorder, fear intimacy, abandonment depression and separation anxiety and how these underlying disorders manifests itself in your relationships. He describes the theories which explain the behaviour and then describes real life cases of people with these disorders and how they conduct themselves in relationships. After reading this, you will better understand your defenses that help the false self prevail over the real self and how to develop the real self so that you can express yourself genuinely in your life. You will also know how to recognize these behaviours in others and know which people to watch out for and know when you are engaging in descructive relationships. It really gives you some insight into yourself and others' actions. This is a great book for anyone looking to engage in some self therapy and discovering oneself. I highly recommend it.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I found it very enlightening, January 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Search For The Real Self : Unmasking The Personality Disorders Of Our Age (Paperback)

After reading this book and picking it up to read passages over again I found it very close to heart. It made me understand why I may not be leading a fulfilling life, why I date a certain type of woman, and why I fail at relationships. Whether its truly "the answer" to all negative and self-defeating behavior I don't know. But it certainly makes one pause.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best book I've read on psychiatry, January 11, 2007

By 

Bonnie Steinbock (Albany, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Search For The Real Self : Unmasking The Personality Disorders Of Our Age (Paperback)

Masterson is extremely insightful about two common, and until recently considered untreatable, personality disorders: borderline spectrum and narcissism. He helps the reader to understand the etiology of these disorders and how both involve the creation of a false self. What I liked most about this book is that he doesn't treat people with these disorders as if they're an alien species ("crazy people"), while the rest of us are "normal". We all have a little borderline or narcissism in us. This is a compassionate and intelligent book.