Many so-called neurotics and persons w/ character disorders work long and hard until they recognize and admit their own shortcomings. But all their insights, hard as they were to come by, do little or nothing by way of a cure. The reason is that existing ego deficits make it impossible for them to translate the insights into practice. Until ego arrests (defects of the psychological structure & of ego functions that render many insights useless) are developed in their stead, the patients cannot complete what is called the "working through" process.
...it is erroneous to assume that the many difficulties in loving, working and living faced by the neurotic personality are exclusively the result of conflicts. Rather, the underlying ego structure and functions are not adequate to resolve the conflicts, even after the patient has become convinced that solutions and resolutions are necessary.
...But amongst the goals of all psychotherapies one stands out invariably: to discover maladaptive behavior patterns and to replace them by adaptive forms of conduct.... it depends on the patient whether or not therapeutic and reparatory opportunities are being used. the only remedy against the patient's frequent unwillingness to learn to live is the removal of resistances - which is what psychotherapy amounts to.
(Edrita Fried, Ph.D., The Courage to Change: From Insight to Self-Innovation)
The liabilities of our ego and of self have to be transformed into assets before insight can produce behavioral change.
All men of good will or, rather, all men who love life must form a united front for survival, for the continuation of life and civilization. With all the scientific and technical progress man has made, he is bound to solve the problem of hunger and poverty, and he can afford to try solutions in different directions. There is only one thing he can not afford - and that is to go on with preparations for war, which, this time, will lead to catastrophe. There is still time to anticipate the next historical development and to change our course. But unless we act soon we shall lose the initiative, and circumstances, institutions, and weapons, which we created, will take over and decide our fate.
(Erich Fromm, May Man Prevail? An Inquiry Into the Facts and Fiction of Foreign Policy)