THE PERSONALITY SELF-PORTRAIT: Why You Feel, Think, Work, Love, and Act the Way You Do

A generally sound guide to how individual personality styles affect our lives, and how understanding those styles can enhance our careers and relationships with others. Oldham (Clinical Psychiatry/Columbia Univ. College of Physicians and Surgeons) begins with 104 searching, sometimes confusing, statements. By responding ""yes,"" ""no,"" or ""maybe"" to them, readers can chart their own personality profiles, usually comprised of several of 13 personality types. Succeeding chapters deal succinctly and systematically with the characteristics of each type and how best to harmonize life style and personality style. We learn, for instance, that those with a ""Devoted"" personality style work best with bosses whose style is heavily weighted with the ""Conscientious"" personality trait, and that the devoted personality functions well in service careers such as nursing or social work; we also learn that ""Vigilant"" personality types thrive in close relationships with those whose styles fall in the ""Self-Sacrificing"" or ""Sensitive"" categories, etc. Each chapter includes exercises designed to smooth the rough edges of each personality style, as well as a discussion of the mental dysfunction that surfaces when a personality style is carried to extremes: the ""Idiosyncratic"" personality is associated with the schizotypal personality disorder; the ""Sensitive"" type with the avoidance personality disorder, etc. Morris, mental health columnist for Health magazine, expertly sets Oldham's astute and well-documented observations into polished prose. The result is an unusually sensible entry into the frequently glib self-discovery field.