THE MASTERSON GROUP, P.C.

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
of the Personality Disorders

Descriptions of Books by James F. Masterson, M.D.

THE SEARCH FOR THE REAL SELF

Some are outwardly charming, confident, and apparently successful; others are obviously struggling with feelings of inadequacy; while still others lead lonely, isolated lives. All of these individuals suffer from today's characteristic personality disorders - borderline, narcissistic, or schizoid - caught in a knot of self-destructive behavior that eventually sabotages their lives.

Many compensate for their inability to know themselves or establish meaningful relationships with others by forming superficial friendships and pursuing empty life-styles focused on competition for status rather than personal satisfaction, or resorting to alcohol, drugs, and impersonal sexual encounters. Their inner torment has long confounded themselves as well as their colleagues, family, lovers, friends, and even the professionals to whom they turn for help.

Now, in this long-awaited book, renowned psychotherapist James F. Masterson provides the keys to understanding these previously untreatable disorders which have become the classic psychological disturbances of our age, afflicting thousands of modern Americans.

The volume begins by explaining how the healthy real self develops and how it functions to enable the individual to adapt successfully to life's challenges and opportunities, express deepest needs and desires, and find true fulfillment in love and work.

Masterson then describes how the impairment of the real self early in life leads to a personality disorder: when the child's self-expression is not adequately supported, he or she may experience powerful feelings of rejection and fear of the "abandonment depression," precipitating the creation of a protective yet ultimately harmful "false self" whose function is to suppress these painful feelings at the expense of true self-fulfillment, intimacy, or even a clear perception of reality.

Drawing on vivid case histories from his practice, the author examines how this false self behaves at work and in relationships. The narcissist is often intensely competitive and domineering, demanding constant adulation from others to support his inflated false self. The borderline can be clinging and manipulative and frequently pursues an unfulfilling "instant intimacy" with a distant or unavailable partner. The schizoid remains cold and aloof, often immersing himself in work or in a wholly imaginative alternative world rather than engaging in any relationship which would threaten to engulf his fragile sense of himself.

Offering practical guidance and real hope for therapeutic success, Masterson delineates the most effective treatment approaches to help borderline, narcissistic, or schizoid personalities overcome their trauma, reconstruct their psyches, and rejoin the mainstream of life. He exposes the common pitfalls and explains how to develop the necessary and appropriate therapeutic alliance to treat each personality disorder.

While therapy offers hope of overcoming the impairment of the real self, it is not the only area in which the real self can emerge. Individual creativity also offers a valuable avenue for self-expression. In analyzing the behavior of artists with personality disorders, Masterson offers surprising insight into the lives and works of Jean-Paul Sartre, Edvard Munch, and Thomas Wolfe, whom the author respectively refers to as the philosopher, painter, and novelist of the abandonment depression. However, it is not only the creativity of artistic genius that expresses the real self. Masterson argues that the real self is reflected in everyday innovation and creative problem solving which enable us to experiment in work and in love, to find and achieve the sense of a personal meaning essential for a fulfilling life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James F. Masterson, M.D., is founder and director of the Masterson Group and Masterson Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in New York City. He is also the founding father of The Society of Adolescent Psychiatry and past president of its New York Chapter. He is the author of a dozen books, including The Search for the Real Self (1988), The Emerging Self (1991), and Disorders of the Self (1995). Several of his books are required reading in courses throughout the country, and many have been translated into other languages. He has also written numerous articles and papers for leading journals both here and abroad.

Dr. Masterson maintains a private practice and is Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University.