Disorders of Personality: Introducing a DSM / ICD Spectrum from Normal to Abnormal, Edition 3

Theodore Millon

Apr 2011 · Sold by John Wiley & Sons

About this ebook

Now in its Third Edition, this book clarifies the distinctions between the vast array of personality disorders and helps clinicians make accurate diagnoses. It has been thoroughly updated to incorporate the changes in the forthcoming DSM-5. Using the classification scheme he pioneered, Dr. Millon guides clinicians through the intricate maze of personality disorders, with special attention to changes in their conceptualization over the last decade. Extensive new research is included, as well as the incorporation of over 50 new illustrative and therapeutically detailed cases. This is every mental health professional's essential volume to fully understanding personality.

Ratings and reviews

This is a fascinatingly accurate work. It reproduces personality types with great clarity and acumen. It is quite rewarding to read the Chapter on Intrapsychically Conflicted Spectra. Further the very first category discussed is Reliable Styles, Constricted Types,Compulsive Disorders: The RCC Spectrum. When one investigates the subject through Vedic astrology/ Jyotiṣa, one finds that such personality disorders such as the OCPD results from an influence of the planet Saturn/ Śani on the Lagna/ Ascendant or the Ascendant Lord/ Lagneśa. Especially till the age of maturity of the planet Śani, which is 36 years, events will be such so as the compell the native to exclusion and removing himself from society. The subject will create a wall around him and become very orthodox. Fatalism may form a strong part of his make-up. He will become very reliable,careful and methodical to try and avoid and surprises and losses. Śani will ensure that the subject suffers great emotional trauma so as to devise ritualistic routines with little variations to try and seal himself from unpleasant situations and the element of social surprise. he will be almost subservient to the superiors. The planet Saturn governs the traits of subservience and in fact rules servants. Its influences make one servile and afraid of loss of livelihood. At the same time, the subject due to his traditionalism will display authoritarian traits which will not sit well on this shoulders, when interacting with his own subordinates. The native tries to compensate for his own perceived inadequacies and guilts. The native will be very straitlaced in external life but may harbour perversions deep within the psyche. The discoveries of these effects and access to either therapy or therapeutic literature will come only upon the age of maturity of the Śani Graha. For the reason, that during childhood or adolescence he was associated with an unruly or dirty image, he will be fastidious about cleanliness. Cleanliness is his way of keeping the outside 'dirt' out and not let it become an intrusion. If Śani influences the natal Moon/ Chaṅdra then the emotional cognizance will be similarly afflicted just like the decision-making. Especially the part relating to lukewarm love and hate is a function of the association of Śani with Chaṅdra. It is a reaction to severe emotional trauma which makes the subject recoil from familiarity and intimacy. The characteristics of parsimony, appearing grim, tense and melancholy are all well-known traits of Śani. Śani is denoted as an old man and has little emotional traits except pent-up hostility. The extent of affliction (read disorder) will depend on the dignity of the planet Śani/ Saturn and Lagneśa/ lord of the ascendent, Chañdra/ Moon. Likewise recovery and therapy or therapeutic knowledge will come from the placement and dignity of Śani and the planets indicated above. For example, if Śani indicates Rājayoga in any form in the nativity then the knowledge related to the disorder will come and one may even be in a position to delve deeper into it academically. It may become a vocation as well. These latter significations will come to the fore is Śani is in exaltation/ Uchcha Sthāna or in Mūlatrikoṇa or in friendly sign. If it forms Rājayoga or other Yogas in strong placements, such as the Kālika Yoga, then much like the poet Kālidas, the subject may write with the blessings of divine grace about this. One can understand the Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder as being defined by fixity of behaviour and thought pattern and will be found when the rising sign is a fixed/ Sthira Rāśi. Such subjects are Karmically attuned to fixity. They dislike change and this can be mere conservatism in the absence of the influence of Śani but in case the Lagna or the Lagneśa is afflicted by Saturn,then the disorder can result. Anurag Sharma http://planetarytransformation.blogspot.in

About the author

Theodore Millon, Ph.D., D.Sc. is one of the world's leading authorities on personality disorders. Developer of the widely used Millon personality assessment inventories, he has been the editor of the Journal of Personality Disorders, President of the International Society of Personality Disorders, and a key member of the DSM-III, DSM-IV, and and key advisor to the DSM-5 committees on personality disorders.
Dr. Millon is retired Professor of Harvard Medical School and the University of Miami. He is currently Dean and Scientific Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Personology and Psychopathology in Coral Gables, FL. He is author of numerous other Wiley books, including Masters of the Mind: Exploring the Story of Mental Illness from Ancient Times to the New Millennium, Personality Disorders in Modern Life, 2E, and Wiley's forthcoming 15-book Normality to Abnormality Personality Series.