It is interesting reading other people's comments at Amazon about Search for the Real Self: http://www.amazon.com/Search-Real-Se...dp/0029202922/

The first guy claims Masterson is a has-been/ineffectual.

I know what you mean, River, about being caught up in a particular theory; I did that with Karen Horney's book, Self Analysis: http://www.amazon.com/Self-Analysis-.../dp/1406797480 back 30+ years ago :-) I think we all get our pet ideas/theories of what will "work" for us and then can get messed up when they stop fitting right or get proved wrong, etc. I don't think any one theory/idea/person/whatever is "big" enough to solve all our problems and figure us out completely?