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

By Stuart C. Yudofsky

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585622141
• ISBN13: 9781585622146
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: American Psychiatric Association Publishing
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 1.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Excellent

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.

eye opener

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.

FATAL FLAWS

I read and re-read this book marking each page of those in my family and others in my life who clearly exhibited many of the symptoms and disorders so clearly explained with case studies and symptomatic charts..Dr. Yudofsky's ability to pinpoint whether these FLAWS and FATAL FLAWS can be treated was excellant... I highly recommend this book to the lay person or professional in need of THEIR OWN role clarification with FATALLY FLAWED people in their lives.

An essential book to understand personality disorders

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.

EVERYONE MUST OWN THIS BOOK!!!

This book is outstanding and has helped me and my friends tremendously. Anyone who is in a relationship or who has ever experienced relationship trouble should own this book. There should be a copy in every household!