Crazy Love: Dealing with Your Partner's Problem Personality

The scenario is all too common: Girl meets guy (or Guy meets girl). Guy is smart, charming, and maybe even endearing. Girl falls in love. As the relationship progresses Guy's serious personality problems begin to surface. She gets longer and more vivid glimpses of habits and tendencies she didn't notice at first. With about 15% of the adult population suffering from one or more personality disorders — that's over 16 million potential relationship partners, says the National Institutes of Health — finding the right partner and maintaining a healthy love relationship is harder work than we thought! Crazy Love sheds light on the odd but surprisingly common disorders of personality so that readers can become better informed and more careful when entering or continuing a relationship. Johnson and Murray tell us why so many of us are attracted to personality disordered partners, and—most important—they offer strategies for detecting and avoiding such potential disasters. They also recognize the needs of readers who are already in committed relationships with personality-impaired partners, and offer hope in the form of healthy survival strategies and tips for making the relationship more livable.

W. Brad Johnson, PhD, is professor of psychology in the department of leadership, ethics, and law at the United States Naval Academy and a faculty associate in the Graduate School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. He is a clinical psychologist and former lieutenant commander in the Navy's Medical Service Corps.

Kelly Murray, PhD, is an Assistant Professor and Director of Ph.D. Clinical Education at Loyola College in Baltimore. She is also a clinical psychologist who is in private practice in Bethesda, Maryland where she works and writes in the areas of personality disorders, relationships and trauma.