Introduction to Personality and Psychotherapy: A Theory-Construction Approach

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Summary: Rychlak and the Philosophy of Personality
Review: Rychlak's book is a marvelously thorough, scholarly, and erudite analysis of the philosophical basis for theories of personality. The book is appropriate for graduate students in psychology and philosophy and for very mature undergraduate students majoring in psychology, sociology, family studies, or philosophy. For example, the only way to arrive at a better understanding of Freud would be to devote several years to studying his original writings. Rychlak's book is very thorough, very heady stuff, which provides a clear foundation as it leads the reader through the history and development of the most important modern personality theories. The book provides a very thorough overview of philosophies of psychological knowing coupled with application of such theories of personality, psychotherapy and behavior therapy. The book will provide an important foundation not only for studying personality but also for understanding the role of philosophy in the psychology and other social sciences. Theories of personality and psychotherapy deserve the kind of rich analysis provided by Rychlak. But for all the depth of philosophical analysis provided by Rychlak's book, he does not address research in personality and psychotherapy. Mention personality and most of us would eventually think about methods for testing personality patterns. For example, Rychlak makes no mention of the Rorschach Inkblot technique or any other personality test. It would be important for one who reads this book to also read at least one introductory text on personality in order to become familiar with scientific research supporting or contradicting the theories Rychlak discusses.