Recently, I received the following inquiry from a blog reader that fairly well summarizes the kinds of issues many therapists face today when trying to help people with their life’s difficulties: I don’t know what I should do.  I’m in love with a married man.  He has  kids from both in and outside of his marriage. My mom can’t accept even the thought of him being with me. I do realize the problems we’d face... 

I get mail from readers of my first book In Sheep’s Clothing several times a week.  The comments are frequently quite similar but every now and then one stands out and inspires me to continue the work I’ve done for many years.  Recently, someone wrote: Dear Dr. Simon, I just finished reading your book, In Sheep’s Clothing. No words can express the gratitude that I have for this obvious manifestation of your love and... 

On one of the international blog sites that features my work, a woman commented: I have only recently realized that my elderly father is a covert-aggressive personality.  I spent so many years hating myself and feeling that others didn’t like me, including family members.  Knowing how I’d been duped has been a really hard realization to come to.  I always thought I had the “Leave it to Beaver life” yet I was... 

I recently received a note from a woman we’ll call “Dorothy” who found various blog posts I’ve written on disturbed characters helpful to her as she tried to understand a destructive relationship.  She wrote: Dear Dr.Simon, Thank you for your blog articles on Disturbed Characters. I just got out of a relationship with someone who I believe to have a character disorder. Often he would play the victim in everything... 

Recently, I received a question from a young woman that typifies similar questions I’ve been asked over the years.  I posted my answer on one of the international blogs featuring my work.  Here’s the post, including the question and my answer: I am a 21-year-old female, and I have a 19-year-old boyfriend. We have been together a little over 7 months. We are also in a long-distance relationship at the moment until he can get... 

I’ve been posting a series of articles on several of the most common “thinking errors” common to individuals with disturbances of character. It’s important to remember that none of these dysfunctional thinking patterns can singularly indicate that a person has a character disturbance. But individuals struggling with significant deficiencies of character tend to engage in several of these thinking patterns, all of which help contribute... 

I’ve been posting a series of articles on the types of distorted thinking patterns or “thinking errors” individuals who have significant disturbances of character often exhibit.  We’re nearing the conclusion of this series, which has featured a fair number of the more common problematic thinking patterns including: unreasonable thinking, egocentric thinking, external thinking, hard-luck thinking, egomaniacal thinking, hedonistic... 

As part of an ongoing series on the nature of character disturbance, I’ve been posting several articles on the erroneous patterns of thinking common to individuals whose characters are seriously flawed. Some of the dysfunctional thinking patterns already explored include egomaniacal thinking, unreasonable thinking, and quick and easy thinking.  See: “The Egomaniacal Thinking of the Disturbed Character” “Unreasonable Thinking” “Quick... 

This post is part of a recent series on the problematic ways disturbed characters tend to think.  Their erroneous ways of thinking engender problematic attitudes, and most especially to problematic behaviors. Some of the thinking errors addressed in prior posts include: “Unreasonable Thinking” “The Possessive Thinking of the Disturbed Character” “Having to Win: The Combative Thinking of the Disturbed Character” “Prideful... 

I’ve been posting a series of articles describing the dysfunctional ways disturbed characters tend to think and how those distorted ways of thinking are responsible for many of the problems people experience in their relationships with such characters.  I have already outlined over a dozen major “thinking errors” common to individuals with disturbances of character. Some of these include prideful thinking, hedonistic thinking,...