Neurotic Styles (The Austen Riggs Center Monograph Series, No. 5) Paperback – January 2, 1973

A classic book that has impacted 90% of my clinical interactions. My current position is at an inpatient facility where my direct one-on-one time with any patient is quite limited. I complete Behavior Chain Analyses (BCA) with many of the intakes and I always attend to the cognitive style of the patient, as Shapiro compares the compulsive style to the hysterical style. In more contemporary terms, the compulsive style is more analytic and focused on cognitions (thoughts or 'data') while the hysterical is more emotionally driven. This cognitive style is immediately apparent on a BCA: the analytic patient has two pages of thoughts and actions with few (or no) feelings recorded while the emotionally driven patients list a few lines of emotions and rarely any cognitions. The analytic patients often use intellectualization, isolation of affect and reaction formation defenses and seem to respond well to mindfulness and anxiety exposure response-prevention interventions. The emotionally driven group often benefits from traditional cognitive interventions like a thought record that helps connect thoughts and interpretations of the external world to their waves of emotions.

A classic which holds up over time.

Another reviewer had to read this in preparation for his graduate work in psychology. He found it "fatuous." I read it during my graduate work in psychology and found it refreshing.It was a relief to read something that was qualitative in its nature. There's not a statistic in a cartload. Instead, Shapiro takes an inside point of view -- or what's called an "emic perspective" in cultural anthropology -- to examine ways of thinking ("cognitive styles") found in different neurotic personality types -- the obsessive-compulsive, the paranoid, the hysterical, and the impulsive. The result is an easily understood set of organized personal experiences, and their intuitive explanations, based on Shapiro's own research and experience. It's less "formal", less behavioral a set of descriptions, than impressionistic. The subject is the mind, not so much the activities that express it. It's really so old-fashioned that it's revolutionary.Well, I'll try to sketch an example of how he goes about his business. The first neurotic style Shapiro examines is the obsessive-compulsive. The central image is that of a worried and rigid guy whose mind is controlled by a strict "overseer" laying down rules that the victim must follow. The interests of the obsessive-compulsive become so narrowed by these rules that everyday problems become a desperate matter of finding a solution that "fits". The solutions lose flavor and become technical. If he listens to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, he's listening to the fidelity of the recording, not responding to the music. He can't see the forest because he's focused on a particular tree.How much psychology do you need to know in order to get something out of the book? Not much. If you know that Freud believed that adult neuroses were rooted in childhood experiences, that's about the level you're required to operate on. Shapiro makes no attempt to explain the development of these disorders. His analysis is all in the here-and-now. And there's hardly a word about treatment.I suppose opinions can legitimately vary. For my part, I not only got a lot out of it but enjoyed reading it. I'm rereading it now, twenty-five years after the first time.

It is hard to follow at times. However, it helps the reader get the feeling of being a person who has a neurotic style of dealing with the world. The book is not critical but explanatory of the different styles most people have at least to some extent.

Received so quickly and packaged securely. I can't wait to read it, as it was highly recommended by my professor. Thank you!

Recommended by my supervisor. Very old fashioned style and distinction between personality types. Would not be my first go to book.

Very good

David Shapiro's book is a classic because it is brilliant, incisive, and beautifully written. As enjoyable to read as a great novel

The book contains a sharp analysis, nearly profiling clusters of some of the most known neurotic personality disorders, but I think the most precious contribution of this work remains the comparison between the obsessive-compulsive style and the paranoid one, their similarities, and the chance of a personality to shift from one to the other and this adds to the wider discussion about the link between narcissism and the paranoid personality.

I am a student in counseling and I found this book very well written and insightful. I am very interested in personality types (like David Keirsey) and in this book I found the neurotic styles that match the character types. Dr Shapiro gives a very good inside look of people who suffer from the four basic styles of neurosis and - at least to me - he gives some assistance in helping them to overcome their problems...