A Refreshed Look at Character Analysis - Dr. Frisch's April 2021 Blog

Chapter 3 of my book Whole Therapist, Whole Patient Integrating Reich, Masterson and Jung in Modern Psychotherapy (2018) introduces character analytic interventions for professionals and interested others in the art of present-centered contact and acute tracking that permit observation of the dominant character style as it appears before the clinician. This allows for clear perception of the character types, allowing you to correctly assess the diagnosis. One must be alert to the client’s defensive styles which are signature markers and are readily observable.

Why is this important? The character style is the map of treatment; without it you are in the dark; you don’t really see who is in front of you and are ad-libbing rather than being prepared. Often when I supervise professionals, I find that they don’t sufficiently grasp who is in front of them. Correct character diagnoses are quite challenging for the best of us. Supervision is a process of grappling with provisional diagnoses until we come-up with a correct one. Then we have an accurate map of how to proceed and stay the course.

Often friends and family will describe someone they know in an abbreviated form which describes the qualities a person may exhibit. One might say. “He dominates the conversation and always has to be right”; or “She tends to move from relationship to relationship, tossing them out without a backwards glance”; or “He is withdrawn usually, keeps to himself and is isolated”, or “He struggles with depression but is extremely intelligent and competent”. These are some examples of how people might be described initially

My ongoing book club will study and explore Chapter 3 on Character Analysis with in-depth coverage of these principles. As is the style of our book club, we go two pages at a time in order to study the nuances of the material. The series begins 10/21/21 and will meet every 3 weeks for 10 sessions.

Please view the Book Club page on the website for more details: https://orgonomictherapy.com/whole-therapist-whole-patient/interactive-book-discussion/

You will be able to sign-up soon. Anyone can join, so if this topic interests you let us know!

To read more of Dr. Frisch’s blog: https://orgonomictherapy.com/2021/03/30/april-2021-a-refreshed-look-at-character-analysis/