Book Description
This article covers Self-help groups: Groups that support communities of peers with a similar interest or illness.

The article is excerpted fromGale Encyclopedia of Psychology. This single-volume, accessible resource covers the entire spectrum of psychology, including: notable people, theories and terms; landmark case studies and experiments; applications of psychology in advertising, medicine and sports; and career information. More than 650 articles -- 65% of those are entirely new or updated since the last edition. Each article ranges from 25 to 1,500 words, covering the topics researchers want to know about, including:
Abnormal psychology
Bipolar disorder
Dyslexia
Sigmund Freud
Insomnia
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
Unconscious motivation
And hundreds more

In addition to more that 175 photographs, charts and graphs, students will also find a new glossary of over 350 terms, an updated organizations list and an updated and expanded index.

Published/Released: October 2000 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

I Can See Why I am the First to Review This One
I wish I hadnt bought it but I did so I read it and it is about as hokey as you can get. Not terribly familiar with JOe BAttens work but how many times can Mark Victor Hansen say the same thing - save your money ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

great book - nuff said
i found this book in a warehouse book sale and i was intrigued by its title (need i say more?). though brown-paged and a little bent on the front cover, the marked down price was reasonable enough for purchase. and am i glad i bought it! i've never read such an entertaining psych book, it's almost like reading a scintillating short story (of his 5 memorable patients). if you're like me who is only interested in novels that have engaging wordplay and not too much of complicated, freudian psychobabble, this is the book for you. stuffy freudian psychobabblians will also like this book as it does not give out a too commercial feel in its writing. in short, a book both loved by critics and readers.

How does a psychotherapist rate his work?
Towards the end of his working life, Robert Akeret sets out to see whether his work has achieved its goal. Have his past patients gone on to live fulfilling, if not normal lives? He contacts a number of his patients and relates the condition for which they came in for treatment and the experience of recontacting the patient and finding out what has become of them. Sounds pretty ordinary, however as usual, truth is stranger than fiction and the conditions that he has dealt with are sometimes strange beyond belief. A totally absorbing read. A shame it is not readily available. ... Read more

Book Description
An easy-to-follow, reassuring and responsible guide that shows how you can use hypnotherapy to identify and overcome unhealthy modes of thinking, deal with emotional issues, improve performance, and banish bad habits. Whether you’re seeking to overcome anxiety or depression, improve your performance professionally or personally, lose weight or beat an addiction, hypnotherapy can help you make the changes you want. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ignorance and arrogance = Bad book.
I read this book thinking it would be a nice way to familiarize myself with the basics of hypnotherapy before I began training to be a hypnotherapist. This book was definitely difficult to tolerate at several points. Mike Bryant is incredibly arrogant. Very full of himself. He got in several jabs at people he felt weren't at his level apparently. He even goes as far as to say (in his own words) that it wouldn't be wise to go to an obese hypnotherapist if you're trying to lose weight. As an overweight man, I take offense to this. I don't have a problem with my image. My being overweight doesn't mean I can't effectively help someone who doesn't want to be heavy.

And then he feels the need to state his ethnicity in the opening page. I guess if the other author of the book declared himself whatever his race may be (ethnicity not mentioned), he could get in trouble, or at least be looked down upon. Nice double standard. Ethnicity is completely irrelevant where this book is concerned. Aren't qualifications enough?

Speaking of qualifications, he claims that a reputable hypnotherapist has trained at least 2 to 4 years, and that anything less than that should be avoided. You can learn everything necessary to be a well-trained, reputable hypnotherapist in far less time than that. It just depends on who you decide to train with. Mr. Bryant is a horrible author that writes mainly with his ego. He mixes in way too many of his personal opinions with the facts. I'm studying with a very reputable hypnotherapist that has been in the business for many years. Even she believes this book is garbage (just from the several parts I asked her to read).

There is much better out there. My advice? Overlook this one.

If you're just interested in hypnotherapy, I recommend "The Secret Language Of Hypnotherapy" by John Smale. If you are interested in becoming a hypnotherapist, "The Art of Hypnotherapy" by C.Roy Hunter is excellent. If you're a hypnotherapist in training, I recommend "Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy: Basic to Advanced Techniques for the Professional" by Calvin Banyan. ... Read more

Book Description

Tips and techniques for living "the good life"

W. Doyle Gentry, PhD (Lynchburg, VA) is a clinical psychologist whose scientist-practitioner career spans almost four decades. Dr. Gentry is a distinguished Fellow in the American Psychological Association and is the Founding Editor of the Journal of Behavioral Medicine. He has authored over 100 scholarly works, along with three self-help books, including Anger Management For Dummies (978-0-470-03715-7). ... Read more

Book Description
The Energy Psychology Self-help Guide is part of an internationally acclaimed program designed to teach individuals the basic principles of energy psychology, which can be used to deliberately shift emotions by focusing on the body's energy system.

• A brief, practical introduction for the general public.

• A resource for therapists to give to their clients.

• Clear instructions for bringing about quick and powerful changes in emotions, thoughts and behavior patterns.

• Learn the basic steps for addressing specific problems and goals, for uplifting your mood and optimizing your energy.

Originally written for the clients of psychotherapists who used the acclaimed Energy Psychology Interactive program, this small self-help guide is proving itself to be a powerful, user-friendly introduction for anyone wishing to learn the important methods offered by energy psychology.

Energy psychology brings a new genre of tools for facilitating desired changes in emotions, thought, and patterns of behavior. While it introduces unfamiliar methods and ideas, such as the notion that psychological patterns are coded not only in your neurons but also in your energies (the approach draws heavily from the principles of acupuncture), evidence of its effectiveness is growing.

Energy Psychology Interactive has been reviewed, revised, and endorsed by 26 recognized leaders and innovators within the field of energy psychology, who comprise its primary consultants and formal Advisory Board.

A Prototype of Energy Psychology Interactive, the version for psychotherapists, received the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) "Outstanding Contribution Award" for 2002. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Wonderful book offering self help for emotional distress.
Both David Feinstein and Candace Pert are well respected in their field. This book is full of valuable self help techniques that can be utilized by anyone who is experiencing emotional difficulty. Energy Psychology is the new prozac of the future without the brain chemistry alterations of modern medications. I offer personal healing retreats in Sedona, AZ and have many women who are experiencing depression, anxiety and other emotional challenges. These women have experienced medication without lasting results, and are searching for alternatives. All are ready to find inner peace within themselves and want tools to live their life in peace and balance. Energy Psychology is one of the books that I recommend. This book offers healing techniques that can be applied for lasting cures. If you are looking to find answers to deal with your emotional pain and stress and find lasting inner peace this book will empower you with tools.

Don't buy it!!!
A waist of time and money... A total lack of seriousness and objectivity written more to impact with the title. An advice? Save your time and money..... Don't buy it!!!
Daniel H. Garcia ... Read more

Book Description

Fun and easy ways to help protect the environment-every day

Michael Grosvenor has a background in urban planning in Australia and overseas, and has worked extensively on sustainable transport initiatives. He has consulted with public and private sector clients on transport policy and increasing public transport use and walking and cycling. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good Book, But....
This is a very handy book with some great tips and advice. However, it is written for people in Australia.The statistics, websites and governmental information is all for Australia. ... Read more

Book Description

The inner critic. It whispers, whines, and needles us into place. It checks our thoughts, controls our behavior, and inhibits action. It thinks it is protecting us from being disliked, hurt, or abandoned. Instead, the critical inner voice causes shame, anxiety, depression, exhaustion, and low-self-esteem. It acts as a powerful saboteur of our intimate relationships and is a major contributor to drug and alcohol abuse.

Through examples and exercises, the Stones show us how to recognize the critic, how to avoid or minimize "critic attacks," and, most important, how the inner critic can become asn intelligent, perceptive, and supportive partner in life.

Customer Reviews (5)

Incredible
Hal and Sidra Stone are pioneers in this field of inner voice dialogue. Think evolution from Freud's id, ego, super ego...through Transactional Analysis (Parent, Child, Adult) through Bradshaw's Inner child work...to inner voice dialogue. They have video's books and workshops and have trained numerous professionals in this technique. The result is a genuinely effective technique that gives us a viable framework to understand why we often have opposing thoughts and feelings and the tools to move us in a direction of acting from a more "adult" place. My partner and I used these techniques from their book "Embracing Ourselves" to great effect in the mid 90's as she worked through abuse survivor issues. Not only did it provide a method of healing for her, I was able to use it effectively in my own journey and it was an exceptional tool for us as a couple.

Now we are using and recommending this book (Inner Critic) to friends as we see in ourselves and in others, the overriding power the inner critic has on our lives. The book explains where the critic and other sub-personalities come from, the concept of disowned selves and how instead of trying to "choke" our critic into silence, we can actually take a more lasting approach to understanding it and the related subpersonalities, hold the primary subs and the disowned selves together and work toward balance and the achievement of a strong aware ego. Don't be scared off by the lingo here, it is very understandable and usable information.

Freud grows branches
This book, in very easy lay language, describes what would happen if Freud grew branches. Instead of one superego there are many; instead of one id, there are many; only the ego remains in glorious isolation managing the whole crowd of inner beings. Don't get too confused trying to figure out which inner being is talking to you, just get steady with your "Aware Ego" and go forward. The book's spiritual base and presumed readership is New Age, so if you're not from that place, it can be very entertaining to listen to the authors chide various New Age failings.

Good Book!
This is a good book loaded with many great ideas on how to overcome your inner critic. Read it and apply it today!

Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works

PS here is a great story that is in the begining of this book:

What Is Your Inner Critic and Where Did It Come From?

On the journey of self-discovery, let us stop looking for what is wrong with us. Let us discover, instead, who we are and how we work! Let us put our judgment aside as we explore the amazing system Of selves within us and learn to live with ever-increasing honesty, choice, and freedom.

There was once a dreadfully wicked hobgoblin. One day he had a simply marvelous idea. He was going to make a looking glass that would reflect everything that was good and beautiful in such a way that it would look dreadful or at least not very important. When you looked in it, you would not be able to see any of the good or the beautiful in yourself or in the world. Instead, this looking glass would reflect everything that was bad or ugly and make it look very important. The most beautiful landscapes would look like heaps of garbage, and the best people would look repulsive or would seem stupid. People's faces would be so changed that they could not be recognized, and if there was anything that a person was ashamed of or wanted to hide, you could be sure that this would be just the thing that the looking glass emphasized.

The hobgoblin set about making this looking glass, and when he was finished, he was delighted with what he had done. Anyone who looked into it could only see the bad and the ugly, and all that was good and beautiful in the world was distorted beyond recognition.

One day the hobgoblin's assistants decided to carry the looking glass up to the heavens so that even the angels would look into it and see themselves as ugly and stupid. They hoped that perhaps even God himself would look into it! But, as they reached the heavens, a great invisible force stopped them and they dropped the dreadful looking glass. And as it fell, it broke into millions of pieces.

And now came the greatest misfortune of all. Each of the pieces was hardly as large as a grain of sand, and they flew about all over the world. If anyone got a bit of glass in his eye there it stayed, and then he would see everything as ugly or distressing. Everything good would look stupid. For every tiny splinter of the glass possessed the same power that the whole glass had!

Some people got a splinter in their hearts, and that was dreadful, too, for then their hearts turned into lumps of ice and could no longer feel love.

The hobgoblin watched all this and he laughed until his sides ached. And still the tiny bits of glass flew about, And now we will hear all about it....

Adapted from "The Snow Queen,"by Hans Christian Andersen
The Inner Critic is like the bit of mirror that makes us see a distorted picture. It is that inner voice that criticizes us and speaks about us in a disparaging way. It makes everything look ugly. Most of us are not even aware that it is a voice or a self speaking inside of us because its constant judgments have been with us since early childhood and its running critical commentary feels like a natural part of ourselves. It develops early in our lives, absorbing the judgments of the people around us and the expectations of the society in which we live. When we talk about this critical voice, please keep in mind that this Inner Critic is the voice within us that criticizes us, whereas the Judge is the self within us that criticizes other people.

The most EFFECTIVE self-help book I've read in years
I had just finshed Martin Seligman's Learned Optimism and was finally having some success dealing with my depression and anxiety when my wife gave me a copy of Embracing Your Inner Critic. She'd picked the book up a year or two earlier and lost track of it in the "to read" piles. This book really grabbed me. I've never really been comfortable with the various "inner child" labels I come across in therapy, but the term "inner critic" really resonated with me. I was all teed up and ready for this book by the optimism I was discovering within myself and starting to develop thanks to Seligman's book.

I think I wore out a couple of highlighters going through Embracing Your Inner Critic. My first thoughts were "How do these people know ME so well?" but I came to realize that I am not alone. That there are lots of us blaming ourselves in order to "protect" ourselves from outside criticism. I'm learning that beating my imagined critics to the punch by criticising myself sooner and harder than anyone else would is not really helping myself but rather pushing me deeper into the muck of depression.

I realized my inner critic was a pretty good ventroliquist. I had been blaming everyone else for saying all the negative stuff I was actually saying about myself. The book helped me to start moving away from adversarial relationships with my critics, both real and imagined. Now I'm learning to listen to my inner critic as kind of distant early warning system, a helpful "heads up" rather than a broadside of self-loathing. For the first time I'm seeing a world full of potential allies rather than adversaries. The Voice Dialogue technique is a lot like cognitve therapy and like cognitive therapy it requires regular practice for full benefit. But the rewards of the techniques I'm learning from these two books have provided me with strong motivation to stick with it.

A book that will open your eyes
If you are suffering from low self esteem, if your days are filled with destructive and incessant attacks from your Inner Critic, read this.It's an easy read that unfolds logically and intuitively - half way through you'll begin to anticipate where the authors are going because what they are saying makes so much sense.This book will open your eyes to the various "voices" we harbor and will help you understand the productive role the Critic was meant to play.It will show you how to get your Critic back on your side, helping you, instead of attacking you and making you feel like your life is a failure. ... Read more