Emotional Exorcism: Expelling the Four Psychological Demons That Make Us Backslide offers a powerful, research-grounded model and tools to help us overcome our problems without beating up on ourselves for backsliding to negative habits. Dr. Holly Hunt's groundbreaking work, Emotional Exorcism, offers all those in emotional distress a new way to face one's demons and banish them once and for all. For anyone unable to pull themselves out of sadness, anxiety, anger, or addictive behaviors, it is a potent and practical strategy for expelling psychological demons and stopping the feeling of failure. Drawing on years of experience in private practice with clients of all backgrounds, Dr. Hunt shows how earlier life experiences can create a core of negative belief she calls the "Master Demon," as well as self-sabotaging thoughts and behavior patterns called the "Four Soldier Demons." These generate emotional negativity within us, providing a power source for the demons. Dr. Hunt then provides a practical, user-friendly, research-grounded model to change those self-sabotaging thoughts, behaviors, and feelings without the self-defeating burden of battling ourselves. Through a variety of tools, she empowers readers to separate from, stop feeding, and effectively exorcize our psychological demons.

Emotional Exorcism: Expelling the Four Psychological Demons That Make Us Backslide offers a powerful, research-grounded model and tools to help us overcome our problems without beating up on ourselves for backsliding to negative habits. Dr. Holly Hunt's groundbreaking work, Emotional Exorcism, offers all those in emotional distress a new way to face one's demons and banish them once and for all. For anyone unable to pull themselves out of sadness, anxiety, anger, or addictive behaviors, it is a potent and practical strategy for expelling psychological demons and stopping the feeling of failure. Drawing on years of experience in private practice with clients of all backgrounds, Dr. Hunt shows how earlier life experiences can create a core of negative belief she calls the "Master Demon," as well as self-sabotaging thoughts and behavior patterns called the "Four Soldier Demons." These generate emotional negativity within us, providing a power source for the demons. Dr. Hunt then provides a practical, user-friendly, research-grounded model to change those self-sabotaging thoughts, behaviors, and feelings without the self-defeating burden of battling ourselves. Through a variety of tools, she empowers readers to separate from, stop feeding, and effectively exorcize our psychological demons.

Prominent Hellenistic moralists from ca. the first century CE warn that all emotions carry temptation(s) to sin or error. To be guilty of emotional sin is to allow psychosomatic feelings (or rising emotion) free reign to trump godly (rational) guidance of behavioral pursuits. Thus, morally minded Hellenists widely view unemotional behavior as a sign of moral progress. Emotive language peppers the Markan narrative, inviting moral assessments, yet scholarship has seldom delved into a historical-literary analysis of Jesus's emotional characterization. This study proposes a working definition of emotion apropos the narratival nature of Hellenistic emotion theory. It finds that Jesus consistently vanquishes emotional temptations with “battle” techniques similar to those championed by the moralists. Mark characterizes Jesus in the moral tradition of the anti-emotional exemplar, and several minor characters are liberated from destructive emotions through the mercy of Jesus's godly rationale. By recognizing the Markan Jesus as a model, this study outlines a method for persevering in emotional testing that modern readers might also emulate to resist temptation with divine help.

Do you believe in God? Nine out of ten Americans unhesitatingly answer yes. But for Douglas Porpora, the real questions begin where pollsters leave off. What, he asks, does religious belief actually mean in our lives? Does it shape our identities and our actions? Or, despite our professions of faith, are we morally adrift? Landscapes of the Soul paints a disturbing picture of American spiritual life. In his search for answers to his questions, Porpora interviewed clerks and executives, Jews, evangelical Christians, Buddhists, Taoists, and even followers of Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh. He asked them about God, and about what they saw as their own place in the universe. What he found was a widespread inability to articulate any grand meaning of life. We lack heroes to inspire us. We lack a sense of calling, of transcendent purpose in our existence. Many of us seem incapable of caring deeply about the suffering of others. Our society is permeated with moral indifference. Yes, we are a believing people, but God is often a distant abstraction and rarely an emotional presence in our lives. Only such an emotional connection, Porpora argues, can be the basis of a genuine moral vision. Our emotional estrangement from God and the sacred keeps us from caring about social justice, keeps us from wanting to change the world, keeps us enclosed in our own private worlds. Landscapes of the Soul is a passionate call to broaden our spiritual and moral horizons, to raise our eyes to the greater reality that unites us all.

Twelve groundbreaking essays show the varied and complex ways in which ideas about sexuality, gender, and the body have shaped and been influenced by Russian literature, history, art, and philosophy from the medieval period to the present day.

Soon to be a major motion picture. This ENHANCED DIGITAL EDITION features TONS of TOTALLY AWESOME ’80s bonus materials—including Satanic Panic educational pamphlets, a do-it-yourself exorcism cheat sheet, a Spotify playlist of awesome ’80s tunes, animated cover artwork, and much more! From the New York Times best-selling author of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, this unholy hybrid of Beaches and The Exorcist blends teen angst and unspeakable horrors into a pulse-pounding supernatural thriller. The year is 1988. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act…different. She’s moody. She’s irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she’s nearby. Abby’s investigation leads her to some startling discoveries—and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1985.

In his in-depth analysis of the works of Ann Petry (1908--1997), Keith Clark moves beyond assessments of Petry as a major mid-twentieth-century African American author and the sole female member of the "Wright School of Social Protest." He focuses on her innovative approaches to gender performance, sexuality, and literary technique. Engaging a variety of disciplinary frameworks, including gothic criticism, masculinity and gender studies, queer theory, and psychoanalytic theory, Clark offers fresh readings of Petry's three novels and collection of short stories. He explores, for example, Petry's use of terror in The Street, where both blacks and whites appear physically and psychically monstrous. He identifies the use of dark comedy and the macabre in the stories "The Bones of Louella Brown" and "The Witness." Petry's overlooked second novel, Country Place -- set in a deceptively serene Connecticut hamlet -- camouflages a world as nightmarish as the Harlem of her previous work. While confirming the black feminist dimensions of Petry's writing, Clark also assesses the writer's representations of an array of black and white masculine behaviors -- some socially sanctioned, others taboo -- in her unheralded masterpiece The Narrows and her widely anthologized short story "Like a Winding Sheet." Expansive in scope, The Radical Fiction of Ann Petry analyzes Petry's unique concerns and agile techniques, situating her among more celebrated male contemporary writers.

No one argues with the fact that relationships in the 21st century are complicated. One recent study found that couples spend only 35 minutes per week in intimate conversation; the rest of the time they rely on electronic contact and notes. To keep a relationship from hitting "esc" or worse, "delete," this fast-paced life calls for fast-paced strategies, and this book is full of them! Many broken relationships not only can be mended, but they can actually be magnificent. You're Tearing Us Apart follows a simple, get-to-the- point formula for each chapter. First, a narrative describes what it's like living with someone who is practicing relationship-threatening behaviors. Next, the psychology behind the behavior is explained, followed by a succinct account of why this particular behavior threatens relationships. Finally, the best strategies for transformation are spelled out, covering such a wide range of options most any couple can easily comply. These four sections validate the experience of both partners, offer concrete reasons why change is necessary and then present a selection of strategies to move forward.

Many of us live on autopilot, often so guarded that we don't experience the richness that life has to offer–so how can we find real happiness amid the chaos, so we don't reach the end of our life and feel like we missed it? In Stop Missing Your Life, mindfulness teacher Cory Muscara takes us on a journey into the heart of what is required for real change, growth, and happiness. He exposes how the phrase "be present" has become little more than a platitude, imbued with the misguided message to be present just for the sake of being present, and reveals how to achieve true Presence: a quality of being that is unmistakably attractive about a person, and one that only comes when we've peeled back the layers of guarding that prevent us from being our full, honest, and integrated selves in the world. Muscara shows how we build internal walls, what he describes as a "Pain Box" inhibiting us from living a deeply connected and meaningful life. He offers a four-part FACE model (Focus, Allow, Curiosity, and Embodiment) that helps chip away at those walls and builds our capacity to experience the richness of our lives Stop Missing Your Life ultimately teaches how we can find peace in the chaos and become better people for our families, our communities, and our world.