Books for Prep | |
 - Excellent Companion Manual in Therapy My therapist introduced this book to me several years ago, and it is uncannily accurate in pointing out which childhood experiences skew behaviors in our adult lives. Very highly recommended. Rating:  - Research based and Intelligent self-help bookEver wondered why you are never happy with anything you do? Why it is you always think you could have done something better? Ever wondered why your bosses always get angry when they don't get what they want, or why they can't accept `no' for an answer? Now, I'm not one for self-help books. You're not likely to see me browsing the `self-help' section at my local book store. Not that I don't see their value. It's more that having studied Psychology for five years I reckon I should be able to work that stuff out for myself... On a more serious note, I don't believe in quick fixes and magic seminars that sort out all your life's problems in one weekend. But I'm a great believer in empirically-based and research-driven frameworks to anything, including self-help. And that's where this book is different. Unlike other self-help books, Reinventing Your Life is comprehensive. It doesn't just deal with depression or obsessive compulsive disorders; it deals with a wide range of personality problems. OK, so now you're thinking, that sounds heavy, a book for real `nutters'. Well, no. Reinventing Your Life is suitable for all of us. It helps us figure out why we do the same things over and over again even though they're really bad for us (like falling for the wrong man, attracting friends who use and abuse us etc). Reinventing Your Life also helps us figure out why the people around us keep doing what they do, even though their actions and attitudes are bad for them! The book's main premise is that the behaviours of most people are strongly, but unconsciously, influenced by lifetraps. Lifetraps are patterns that begin in our childhood and continue reverberating within us throughout our lives. When the lifetraps are really serious they result in personality disorders which require formal therapy. But here's the catch, even if they aren't that serious, they can still have a significant impact on our lives without us even knowing it! What I like about this approach is that even though it's based on serious academic work, it's written in a very accessible style. Each chapter is dedicated to one of the eleven lifetraps and begins with a short `women's mag' type quiz. Don't let that fool you. These quizzes are serious and have rigorous validity and reliability. Each chapter then goes on to describe how the lifetrap presents in its more severe forms - reading this of course made me feel better because I could see even I'm not that bad! It also provides some good strategies for you to work on if this is your lifetrap. And, if you think you are absolutely lifetrap-free, then read it to figure out why all the people around you are so crazy! Rating: - Great Patient ManualI keep some of these on my shelf for patients and they really enjoy reading it as an accompanyment to therapy. I even gave one to my teenager hoping she might avoid some of the relationship traps that I see in the clinic and to help her understand the behaviour of her friends. A good book for everyone. Rating: - Very difficult to find a book about schemasI was recommended to buy this book as it deals with specifics that you can relate to. I'm in Australia and it is very hard to find any book about schemas. Sometimes you can get into the whole CBT thing but it's difficult to understand. I found this book to be quite easy to read and i have learnt alot about myself from reading it. Definatlely the book to read if you are familiar with CBT therapy and want to go further into specifics. Rating:  - Not badSomewhat useful but sometimes constricting on the human experience. Has some good back and forth dialog that is useful for therapists to get the hang of the applied theory. In association with Amazon.com | |