Whether or not Princess Diana actually suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder as the book claims, "Diana in Search of Herself" will strongly influence the public's image of the disorder for some time to come. Until now, Borderline Personality Disorder has received little media attention despite its millions of sufferers.

As a psychiatrist and author of "Lost in the Mirror: An Inside Look at Borderline Personality Disorder," I realize that how BPD is portrayed in a high profile biography can make the difference between hope and encouragement or stigmatization and despair. A sufficiently sympathetic picture could lead people afflicted with BPD to seek treatment.

Overall, the book presented a fairly accurate picture of BPD. It suffered somewhat in the details, however, as the author shaped her description of the disorder to make her case for its fit with Diana's life. Rather than emphasize the severe trauma that so frequently occurs in the childhood histories of people with BPD, for example, she stated that "the most important factor" distinguishing borderline personality disorder from other disorders was "early parental loss." While this may describe Diana, it is by no means specific to people with BPD.

The author portrays an illness that can be managed with treatment, but has little chance of cure. This does little justice to the potential resilience of borderline patients or to the power of treatment to bring fundamental changes in the way patients experience themselves and the world. Over the past decade, there have been significant innovations both in the psychotherapy of BPD and in the medications available to make the journey to healing bearable. While most borderline stories are not about fairy tale princesses, many can have happier endings.

I am not one to read biographies. I find them either boring or full of hot air, and I usually don't finish them. However, Sally Bedell Smith's biography of Princess Diana was simply riveting. I was glued to the pages from start to finish. I never realized Diana had so many complicated sides to her character. My impressions and understanding of Diana, and Charles for that matter, COMPLETELY changed after reading this book. Diana was more tormented and unbalanced than I had ever thought possible. I felt enormous pity for her as I began to understand just how deeply seeded her psychological problems were. I was shocked to learn that she cut herself with razors during some of her fits of low self worth, etc. And not only did Charles have to deal with all of this-- he even tried to get her help. I never realized that Charles actually cared enough to do something like this. In then end, though, it was the inherent dysfunction of the Royal Family as a cohesive and supportive family unit that kept Diana from receiving proper medical attention and allowed her problem to run out of control. After Diana's death, I was sickened by all the media hoopla and the "cashing in" by certain news agencies and writers who spewed out biased or poorly researched stories. Mrs. Smith must have unearthed sources very close to the Royal Family who had previously held their tongue. This thoroughy researched and well organized work has clearly taken our understanding of Diana to the next level of journalism. Terrific book.

I've read many articles and books on Diana -- she's a fascinating character -- but it was only after reading this book that I understood the human being, the woman that was Diana -- rather than the icon. I was also surprised to find when I finished this book that I had much more sympathy for Charles. Sally Bedell Smith makes it clear that while Charles was clearly not equiped to deal with the complexities of Diana, he did make an effort to get her help. I also found Ms. Smith's examination of Diana's obsession with Camilla to be fascinating. Diana's obsession clearly drove Charles back into Camilla's arms. But Ms. Smith also stresses how impressive all of Diana's accomplishments were especially in light of all the issues she was struggling with. It seems that Ms. Smith has talked to many of Diana and Charles' closest family and friends in addition to having analyzed what seems like all of the articles ever written about them. The inconsistencies she found were incredible (in one instance Diana said she tripped down the stairs, in another she said she was pushed, in another she said she threw herself down the stairs)-- it seems that Diana frequently reimagined her history to fit her purpose at the time. Ms Smith's accumulation of detail provides the reader with a rich and unique portrait of this beautiful, complicated and fascinating woman.

From the first page of this book it was obvious that the author had some deep-seated resentment of Pamela Churchill Harriman. Bedell-Smith seemed to seek out only those who did not like her. The author also contradicted her facts on more than one ocassion. The first one I noticed was about her father, she said he never leared to drive, two pages later she has him driving to deliver milk after the war. There are many other misstatements like this in the book.

I also wonder why Pamela was so bad. Men have repeatedly reinvented themselves over the years and people think they are great. Pamela did what she had to do to get ahead and more power to her.

I finished this scintillating book with one BIG unanswered question - what did this woman have or what did this woman do- that attracted so many rich,powerful men! The author certainly spent a great deal of time researching the life of Pamela Harriman. The book at times reads like a chronicle of daily events, But it never answers the BIG question. Maybe there is no answer. Maybe Pamela Harriman's free spirit was what attracted her list of men. The one insight that the book did provide was the corrupting nature of money & contemporary politics. This part of the book made me angry & just reinforced my cynicism about politics in general. Maybe, for me, this was the redeeming feature of the book. But I still am left with my BIG unanswered question. Maybe someone out there can provide the answer for me. Review of REFLECTED GLORY by Sally Bedell Smit