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The five chapters of this paperback book were originally presented as a symposium of the American Psychiatric Association on personality disorders in 1982. As would be expected, the book is aimed at a general psychiatric audience, yet it contains a significant amount of material of relevance for psychoanalysts—particularly those whose careers do not bring them into regular contact with biologically oriented psychiatrists.
The organization of the book reflects thoughtful choices on the part of the editor. A general background on the subject of character is provided in the first chapter by E. Auchincloss and R. Michels. They trace the evolution of Freud's views on character, then move into the contributions of other psychoanalytic theoreticians, and finally summarize the authors' understanding of the contemporary psychoanalytic view of character—all in 15 pages, written in clear, well-organized, nontechnical language! They comment on the lack of a cohesive psychoanalytic classification of character, referring to the conflicting systems of classification based on the drive and the developmental phase views of character (the oral or the anal character); the impulse-defense constellations (passive-aggressive personality); symptoms or behavioral configurations (the hysterical or obsessive character); a classification by theme ("the exceptions" or "those wrecked by success"); and a classification related to the functioning of a particular psychic structure (sociopathic characters or "criminals from a sense of guilt").
After summarizing the contributions of Freud, Abraham, Wilhelm Reich, Anna Freud, and Waelder, the authors move into the contemporary psychoanalytic view of character. They express a firm conviction of an underlying biological substrate that provides a matrix in which character develops. With regard to treatment, they state, "Character pathology is the primary and perhaps only indication for psychoanalytic treatment today. Symptoms are now viewed as clue