INTERPERSONAL DIAGNOSIS OF PERSONALITY: A Functional Theory and Methodology for Personality Evaluation

New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1957. First Edition. Very good + in a very good - jacket.. Technical work on interpersonal behavior and personality evaluation by a pre-psychedelia Timothy Leary, written during his tenure as Director of Psychology Research at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Oakland. Well received by Leary's peers, this work offers a complex and highly systematized method for measuring defined personality factors. Includes a fairly orthodox midcentury evaluation of "Adjustment Through Rebellion: The Distrustful Personality," as well "Adjustment through Cooperation: The Overconventional Personality," and a number of other interestingly disordered personality types now lost to time and the changeable wisdom of the DSM.

Leary received his doctorate in clinical psychology from UC Berkeley in 1950, and would remain in the Bay Area in various positions until 1958 when, following a European episode, he eventually landed at Harvard: first as a lecturer, then as overseer of the Harvard Psilocybin Experiment, and finally (in 1963) as an ex-professor, terminated for failing to show up for the lectures he was expected to deliver.

Though very widely held institutionally, it is (perhaps because of institutional ubiquity) scarce in commerce. This copy with the bookplate of Leary contemporary Asya L. Kadis, noted psychiatry professor and pioneer in the early development of group therapy. An important and influential work from the pre-notoriety Timothy Leary. Hardcover. Large 8vo. Red cloth, gilt spine lettering. In printed dust jacket, chipped at spine ends, with wear and creasing to edges. Spine sunned; jacket toned overall. Tape repair to head of spine. Previous owner's bookplate to front paste-down. Very good plus in very good minus jacket.