Personality and Psychopathology. Critical Dialogues with David Shapiro

ABOUT THIS BOOK

With his penetrating theory of personality and his nuanced understanding of the psychotherapeutic relationship, David Shapiro has influenced clinicians across the theoretical spectrum since the publication of Neurotic Styles in 1965. This influence is on vivid display in Personality and Psychopathology, as noted contemporary theorists critically evaluate his work in a fascinating dialogue with Shapiro himself. Starting with a crucial therapeutic observation—the centrality of the relationship between what the client says in session and how it is said—contributors revisit his core concepts regarding personality development, the prevolitional aspects of psychopathology, the limits to self-understanding, and the defensive uses of self-deception in light of current psychodynamic, evolutionary, and systems theory. Shapiro’s replies, and the contributors’ rejoinders, highlight points of departure and agreement and provide further clarification and extension of his ideas on a wide range of salient topics, including: • The experience of autonomy in schizophrenia. • Defensive thinking to prevent dreaded states of mind. • The linguistics of self-deceptive speech. • Self-deception as a reproductive strategy. • Intentionality and craving in addiction. • The subjective experience of hypomania. Personality and Psychopathology affords psychotherapists and research psychologists not only a unique opportunity to gain insight into Shapiro’s contributions, but also new lenses for re-examining their own work.

Content Level » Research
Keywords » David Shapiro - personality - psychoanalysis - psychopathology - psychosis - psychotherapy
Related subjects » Medicine - Personality & Social Psychology

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction.- Autobiographical Notes.- Contributors.- Section I—Comparative Analysis.- Another View of Psychotherapy?.- Reply to Herbert Schlesinger.- Response to David Shapiro.- Personality in Context: Reflections on the Contributions of David Shapiro.- Reply to Paul Wachtel.- Convergences: Response to David Shapiro’s Reply.- A New Developmental Foundation for David Shapiro’s Work on Autonomy and Character.- Reply to Virginia Demos.- Continuing the Discussion.- Section II—Personality, Personality Disorders and Psychosis.- Two Configurations of Personality Development and Psychopathology: Etiologic and Therapeutic Implications.- Reply to Sidney Blatt.- Interpersonal Relatedness and Self-definition: Fundamental Developmental Psychological Dimensions.- Autonomy and Schizophrenia: Reflections on an Ideal.- Reply to Louis Sass.- Rejoinder to David Shapiro.- Section III—The Psychology of Defense.- Reconceptualizing Defense, Unconscious Processes, and Self-Knowledge: David Shapiro’s Contribution.- Reply to Morris Eagle.- Reply to David Shapiro.- Defensive Styles of Thinking to Prevent Dreaded States of Mind.- Reply to Mardi Horowitz.- Section IV—Self-Deception.- Self-Deceptive Speech: A Psycholinguistic View.- Reply to Michael Schober and Peter Glick.- Reply to David Shapiro.- Neurotic Self-Deception as a Reproductive Strategy.- Reply to Lawrence Josephs.- Spandrel or Adaptive Design?.- Section V—Extensions and Empirical Applications.- David Shapiro’s Characterology and Complex Systems Theory.- Reply to Craig Piers.- Rejoinder to David Shapiro.- I Don't Want to Want to: Intentionality and Craving in Addiction.- Reply to Mindy Greenstein.- Activity, Passivity, and the Subjective Experience of Hypomania.- Reply to Andreas Evdokas and Ali Khadivi.- Appendix A – On Two Fundamental Categories of Psychopathology.- Appendix B – Publications by David Shapiro.- Index.

AUTHORS & EDITORS

Craig Piers, Ph.D. is a senior psychologist and psychotherapy supervisory in the health center at Williams College, and formerly, Associate Director of Admissions and a senior supervising psychologist at the Austen Riggs Center. Dr. Piers frequently presents his work nationally and his published articles and book chapters have addressed personality disorders and assessment, psychotherapeutic impasse, suicide and complex systems theory. Dr. Piers is co-editor (with John Muller and Joseph Brent) of Self-Organizing Complexity in Psychological Systems (Aronson, 2007), an Associate Editor of Psychoanalytic Dialogues, and serves as a reviewer for several other professional journals.