Personality Disorders: A Short History of Narcissistic, Borderline, Antisocial, and Other Types

by Allan V. Horwitz

The fascinating and controversial history of personality disorders.

The concept of personality disorders rose to prominence in the early twentieth century and has consistently caused controversy among psychiatrists, psychologists, and social scientists. In Personality Disorders, Allan V. Horwitz traces the evolution of defining these disorders and the historical dilemmas of attempting to mold them into traditional medical conceptions of disorder.

Using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, as a guide, Horwitz explores the group of conditions that make up personality disorders and considers when they have been tied to or separated from other types of mental illnesses. He also examines how these disorders have often entailed negative moral and cultural evaluations more focused on perceived social deviance than on actual medical conditions.

Deep conflicts exist in a variety of disciplines in determining the nature of these disorders. During the twentieth century, a particularly sharp division arose between researchers who study personality disorders and the clinicians who treat them. Because researchers strive to develop general laws and clinicians attempt to understand individuals' specific problems, their values, methods, and goals often conflict. Synthesizing historical and contemporary scholarship, Horwitz examines controversies over the definitions and diagnoses of personality disorders and how the perception of these illnesses has changed over time.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Mental Health, Medicine

240 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 28, 2023

Reviews

[Yamini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find this books perspective interesting and insightful. While going through someparts of it I felt somewhere we already know these parameters, but someone else telling us the very same thing in books just acts like a validation.

I picked this one up to understand the depths of personality, mental and other disorders. The book efficiently discusses the various types of disorders and also adds a side lane info about how we cure such disorders, who are the ones that will accept them gracefully and where will it be the most difficult to induce any change.

It's definable not one of those books that you can binge read. It's quite heavy and I went little by little to absorb all those in.
Never the less, I find all the matters discussed in the book agreeable to an extent. Except the way it defined introverts and extroverts. No, I don't think introverts are all that self involved creatures.

Rating: 4/5
Genre: #nonfiction #philosophy

Thankyou @netgalley @hopkinspress for the Digital Review copy

[Jennifer Colvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is exactly as described. A history in personality disorders. It was a very informative read and took me a bit longer to listen to. I found the material very interesting and well researched however, it was sometimes tough to get through due to some of its textbook feel. I believe I would have retained more information had I physically read this book rather than listened to it. I am incredibly impressed with the narrator because he was able to keep me engaged most of the time. I’d recommend this to anyone who has an interest in this field.

Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for an audiobook ARC.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personality Disorders, written by Allan V Horwitz and narrated by Jonathan Yen, is a comprehensive look at what we now call personality disorders.

While the text is detailed I don't think it is exhaustive (no doubt there is even more to say) but it is comprehensive in that it uses the history of mental health approaches along with where we stand now to give a very good picture of what these disorders are. I found the writing to be engaging but still almost academic in nature, which makes it accessible for those who are interested enough to put in the effort while still offering enough detail to be of value to those in the field, or any periphery field.

I listened to the audiobook version and found Yen to be a good narrator, just enough inflection to keep my attention but not to the point of being distracting. For me, someone with only a few courses in the general area and no practical experience, the audiobook worked very well. I didn't get bogged down, as I often do, in words I would have stumbled over which allowed the big picture to come through. I wouldn't mind having a physical copy to examine in more detail, but as a book to read/listen to primarily to understand the ideas, the version I have was great.

I would recommend this to those who want a deeper understanding of personality disorders than we often get in popular science books but don't want to grapple with a textbook, though I think this would make a great textbook. I also think those in the field will enjoy getting a bit more history in their understanding of personality disorders to help them see just how dynamic the diagnoses still are.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[J Kromrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC (in audiobook format).

Personality Disorders by Allan V. Horwitz is a fascinating and informative book that traces the history and controversies of the concept of personality disorders. The author provides a comprehensive overview of how different disciplines and perspectives have shaped the understanding and diagnosis of these conditions, from the early twentieth century to the present day. He also examines the social and moral implications of labeling people with personality disorders, and the challenges of finding effective treatments for them.

The book is well-written, engaging, and balanced, presenting both the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to personality disorders. The author does not shy away from the complexity and ambiguity of the topic, but rather invites the reader to think critically and reflectively about it. The book covers a wide range of personality disorders, such as narcissistic, borderline, antisocial, and others, and explores their historical origins, cultural influences, and scientific debates.

The audiobook is narrated by Jonathan Yen, who does a great job of conveying the author's tone and style. He speaks clearly, confidently, and with appropriate emphasis and emotion. He also pronounces the technical terms and names correctly and smoothly. The audiobook is easy to follow and enjoyable to listen to.

Personality Disorders is a must-read for anyone interested in the history and current state of personality disorders. It is a valuable resource for students, researchers, clinicians, and general readers alike. It offers a rich and nuanced perspective on one of the most intriguing and controversial topics in psychology and psychiatry.

[Matthew Cruickshank · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be somewhat dry but its content, which focused on a historical review of personality disorder theory and classification, was very thorough and did have some interesting facts.

The book works through our understanding of personality from Freudian ideas to the development of the DSM5 and ICD11. It explores the ongoing debate between researchers and clinicians as to what actually makes a personality disordered. I found the exploration of cultural differences interesting, how some personality traits are considered adaptive in certain cultures but maladaptive in others. How gender roles impacted how women were being classified in what men believed to be disordered personalities. That some descendants of slaves were classified with submissive personality disorders based on how they had been cultured to interact with white people. The book also provides an interesting historic lens for the rise and fall of various personality disorders, and how different providers, clinics and cities diagnosed some disorders much more than others and why that might have been happening.

The book finishes with a discussion of the dimensional vs categorization debate and how personality features likely exist in all people along a spectrum which is how the ICD11 classification is structured. It will be interesting to see how the DSM6 gets structured, if it moves to a dimensional model and drops some of the labels. I think this book is worth reading for anyone who works in mental health and for those interested in the history of our understanding of personality.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personality Disorders: A Short History of Narcissistic, Borderline, Antisocial, and Other Types
by Allan V. Horwitz
An eye opening version of history of personality, and personality disorders. Coming from the Greek early theories of personality and illness. The story goes through medical and clinical changes to definition and diagnosis of personality disorders. Showing the personal conflicts and social conflicts that persist in defining personality, and disorder. The use of psychological tests, and concepts that will affect all parts of our modern life. The Tests of personality and its history is remarkable, and very well described showing the lay person the faults in the system, and how much it is connected to our social interaction. From Military ranks and opportunity is was based on results of arbitrary tests, that can be manipulated in many ways.
Rounding the story with the problems with psychology and medical use of categories and definition to helping their patients, and obtaining funds from secondary medical systems. It shows the problems of the models, from tests, to situation, personal opinion.
This is a great introduction to psychology, remarkably better than the books I have read in my college psychology text. I would see it as a resource or a contrasting text to help students understand psychology. Not only introducing the great minds of the fields but showing the difficulty in the situation.

[Bryce Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good primer on the history of personality disorders. So much ink has been spilled on the topic of personality disorders (not to mention how often terms like "narcissism" and "BPD" are haphazardly strewn about in contemporary discourse) -- all this despite the fact that we still don't quite yet know if these "disorders" are indeed categorically distinct clinical entities. How can we even call them "disorders" if we are not sure what even qualifies them as such? Why do we witness such high rates of comorbidity among the PDs and other "Axis I" disorders (e.g., mood and anxiety disorders) and what does this say about their discriminant validity? Should we retain the "legacy" disorders (NPD, OCPD, ASPD, etc.) that have remained relatively unchanged since 1980 or adopt the position of the DSM-5 Alternate Model of Personality Disorders and its trait-based classification scheme? Or ought we rather to resign ourselves to only studying the neurobiological manifestations of PDs (e.g., the approach taken by the recent RDoC efforts)?
I think Horwitz does an excellent job highlighting these and many other issues which have continued to plague the disciplines of psychiatry, clinical psychology, and the social sciences. While he raises many more questions than provide answers, it seems apropos given that the subject matter is itself an open book.

[Ell, Ess Jaeva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Explains briefly the history of pioneering figures in psychotherapy... including some of their personal and intellectual shortcomings or biases.

The rest of the book parses what is or is not disordered behavior. How categories of disorder get in or are left out of diagnostic manuals... How one falls into the system of needing a diagnosis. Additionally, he sometimes arbitrary way some disorders are diagnosed, ie reproducibility/repeatability of a diagnoses if different practitioners are given the same info.

One interesting fact was omitting Masochistic Personality Disorder (also known as Self-Defeating Personality Disorder) from DSM. Diagnoses became linked to women in perpetual domestic violence situations, or other situations of submissiveness vs empowerment. Politically became an issue of gender stereotyping and labeled as a victim blaming diagnosis.

[Roberta G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a professional and cannot really judge the accuracy and trustworthiness of the information in Horwitz's book but I can safely say he offers a detailed insight in the history of personality disorders, especially for people like me who want to know more abou this topic just for personal knowledge and generic interest. Basically Horwitz sums up the history of psychology and psychiatry relating personality (and also mental) disorders, tracing the changes, innovations, new approached in this field, he does so in a chronological order and always highlighting the influence of society-related elements.

The narrator is fantastic! He has an extremey pleasant, clear voice and accent that makes listening a pleasure.

[Laura Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was more about a timeline of how personality disorders have been classified and defined over the course of history. It was interesting to hear the cultural, ethic, class differences of what would be considered a personality disorder. It’s way more complex that a biologically driven disorder. Biologically driven disorders can be easier to understand through scientific analysis. Also went into how the DSM manuals were developed over time, the people involved, the sexism involved in classifying women’s mental illness by men. Sexuality stuff etc. also it went into the type of treatments that were developed over time like CBT and DBT that have been most effective in treating personality disorders.

[Jeni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horwitz does an excellent job of summarizing the extensive and complicated history of personality disorders. While this was a heavy tome with a lot of detailed historical information, reading it slowly and steadily over a longer period of time allowed me to enjoy this read without becoming overwhelmed. The aspect Horwitz addressed that I found most engaging was the constant attempt to balance the research and practitioner communities. I feel this addressed a common issue across professions - those who work with statistics and numbers vs. those who see the complicated day to day behind those statistics and numbers.

[Rachel Moyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really was a book about the history of how we understand and define personality and the personality disorders. I think I was expecting something different, so the whole first half of the book felt like an intro to what I really wanted to read. Unfortunately it was pretty shocking to learn that personality disorders aren't "real" in the way that viruses are real... they're changeable and defined by our societal understanding of what makes a personality normal. The current definitions in the DSM-5 are there because of politics as much as anything else. Accidentally looked behind the curtain of psychiatry and that was a little scary but overall interesting!

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Detailed

This was an interesting book.

I found it very well written and very well researched.

Allan did a great job at going through each of the different disorders and describing the details of each.

I found it a fairly academic book. Almost bordering on clinical.

I am not entirely sure how applicable the book is to the normal population, but this would be a great reference for psychologists and the type.

Learned a lot. But it was a lot to take in for a regular guy like me.

Check it out for sure!

3.8/5

[Carolyn Amate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alan V. Horwitz surprised me with the detailed description he went into of how each personality disorder came to be. It was very interesting. The history was interesting however I can't say I agree with his views on everything he says in regards to personality Disorders. However it was an interesting read and I enjoyed The historical perspective The most.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Emily St. Amant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really well written and researched, and if it were up to me I’d put it on all mental health providers’ must read list. Where the DSM diagnoses came from has mostly been shrouded and this sheds a light on the highly convoluted and judgmental origins of personality disorders in particular. It also sheds a light on the entire DSM and is a great reminder that it’s all made up and should therefore be used with awareness and caution.

[Elissa Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an analysis of personality disorders, but a history of how science and society have defined, viewed and treated people whose behavior doesn't align efficiently and effectively with the norm. I'm not in the field, but I found it to be well written, well researched, and interesting to read. Last chapter was a disappointment: "Personality Disorder or Problems in Living" actually turned out to be a summary of the book, not an essay on how we view disruptive, dislikable people.

[Andrea]

This book gives a history, rather than a description, of personality disorders and whether or not they have been considered a part of other mental illnesses. Didn’t really end up reading it since it reminded me too much of textbooks I had to read while completing a minor in psychology at university.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was incredibly informative! I appreciated how the information broke down the history of personality disorders into more digestible segments. It was fascinating to learn about how the testing changed & how the perception of personality disorders changed as well!

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

While undoubtedly very well researched this was quite painful at times to get through. Very meticulous in detail though so that was appreciated but could've flowed better. Was very sterile and clinical in nature. Recommended to grad students or data miners. 6/10

[Violet · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Kay's Pallet · Rating 2 out of 5]

This doesn't really say anything new. If you know anything about psychology, then you know what's in this book. It was pretty boring; more history than psychology. Lots of talk about Freud.

[Buchi Chilaka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Academic, prescriptive, but not as insightful as I hoped.

[Lacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me so long to get thru. Reads like a textbook. Very very interesting in some parts but very dry in others.

[Seth Wester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice overview of how the DSM has evolved and how research changes!