This book integrates object relations theory, ego psychology, and
character analytic approaches to provide a new understanding of human
behavior and character development. In itself, this integration is a
remarkably innovative undertaking, yielding a consistent, understandable
and clinically useful view of psychopathology, therapy, and health.
Johnson uses an active treatment approach that draws upon all major
schools of psychotherapeutic thought, choosing techniques that serve
specific purposes and outlining changes in behavioral, affective, and
cognitive domains that are necessary for lasting characterological
change. Focusing on character pathology resulting from disorders in
attachment, the book discusses etiology, characteristic affects,
behaviors and cognitions, bodily expressions of character, and
therapeutic objectives and techniques.