Character Structure and the Organization of the Self

This monograph attempts to provide an innovative approach to the understanding of human character in terms of the phenomenology of self-experience. Lawrence Josephs reviews the psychoanalytic theory of character structure from Freud to Klein to Kohut, and proposes an integrative model of the organization of the self. This structural model is then applied to describing and developing character portraits of major personality styles. Using verbatim accounts from therapy sessions and clinical vignettes, Josephs demonstrates the clinical utility of the model and elaborates the implications of his new approach for treatment.