This broad and innovative self-development guide shows readers how they can use scientific findings from contemporary positive psychology to enhance their lives. Containing dozens of practical exercises and real-life examples, it helps bring positive psychology findings from the lab into day-to-day life. Divided into six parts and covering a wide array of themes, this book is designed to help people with or without mental health problems enhance their well-being. It answers questions like: what is well-being? What are the main determinants of well-being, and how can we sustain it? There are also chapters on physical exercise, progressive muscle relaxation and mindfulness meditation, savouring pleasures, creative solution-finding and developing compassionate relationships. This non-technical and highly accessible book will be of interest to those from all backgrounds with an interest in self-development, as well as mental health workers and related professionals.

The study of the self--and the processes associated with the self--are at the cutting edge of research on social and personality development. This volume brings together researchers from diverse theoretical perspectives to address a wide variety of issues associated with self processes including competence, autonomy, relatedness, and attachment. As such, the book provides a unique perspective on the role of self processes in child development and the importance of emotion as an organizing aspect of the self.

A brilliant distillation of the key ideas behind successful self-improvement practices throughout history, showing us how they remain relevant today "Schaffner finds more in contemporary self-improvement literature to admire than criticize. . . . [A] revelatory book."--Kathryn Hughes, Times Literary Supplement Self-help today is a multi-billion-dollar global industry, one often seen as a by-product of neoliberalism and capitalism. Far from being a recent phenomenon, however, the practice of self-improvement has a long and rich history, extending all the way back to ancient China. For millennia, philosophers, sages, and theologians have reflected on the good life and devised strategies on how to achieve it. Focusing on ten core ideas of self-improvement that run through the world's advice literature, Anna Katharina Schaffner reveals the ways they have evolved across cultures and historical eras, and why they continue to resonate with us today. Reminding us that there is much to learn from looking at time-honed models, Schaffner also examines the ways that self-improvement practices provide powerful barometers of the values, anxieties, and aspirations that preoccupy us at particular moments in time and expose basic assumptions about our purpose and nature.

Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran is internationally renowned for uncovering answers to the deep and quirky questions of human nature that few scientists have dared to address. His bold insights about the brain are matched only by the stunning simplicity of his experiments -- using such low-tech tools as cotton swabs, glasses of water and dime-store mirrors. In Phantoms in the Brain, Dr. Ramachandran recounts how his work with patients who have bizarre neurological disorders has shed new light on the deep architecture of the brain, and what these findings tell us about who we are, how we construct our body image, why we laugh or become depressed, why we may believe in God, how we make decisions, deceive ourselves and dream, perhaps even why we're so clever at philosophy, music and art. Some of his most notable cases: A woman paralyzed on the left side of her body who believes she is lifting a tray of drinks with both hands offers a unique opportunity to test Freud's theory of denial. A man who insists he is talking with God challenges us to ask: Could we be "wired" for religious experience? A woman who hallucinates cartoon characters illustrates how, in a sense, we are all hallucinating, all the time. Dr. Ramachandran's inspired medical detective work pushes the boundaries of medicine's last great frontier -- the human mind -- yielding new and provocative insights into the "big questions" about consciousness and the self.

A collection of essays, articles, excerpts from longer works, drawings, and photo-essays selected to apply psychology to personal development, organized by themes of identity, human communication, growth dynamics, feelings and emotions, human relationships, and a quality life. Discussion questions f

"The selection and rejection of material for this book has been an evolution in the classroom during many years of search for (1) that which will function directly in increasing the student's capacity as a learner; (2) that which will afford the most useful basis for a course in teacher-training; (3) that which will best meet the needs for a first course in college psychology; (4) that which, instead of merely skimming the cream of interest, will definitely project the student's interest and expectation toward a further and more adequate pursuit of the subject; (5) that which will best help the young student to maintain his poise amid the dizzying enlargements of his mental horizon as he climbs the ascent of higher education and thinks he sees dark chasms yawning between his new knowledge and his old faith. I t has been the intention to admit nothing which is merely argumentative or speculative, which is not essential to the scientific integrity of the whole plan or practically applicable to the needs of the learner, and to omit nothing which properly belongs in a thorough first course in psychology. The functional viewpoint and the physiological basis have been woven into every chapter. A close-knit system of treatment has been sought which explains all psychical phenomena in terms of associations and progressive integration and the conditions which forward or retard these. Each topic grows directly out of the preceding and usually begins with a connecting summary statement. A sufficiently technical vocabulary has been gradually built up by introducing each word where the connection makes its meaning clear. It is hoped that nothing has been lost in scope or scientific accuracy by the effort to make statements simple"--Preface.

Personal Development and Clinical Psychology is a vital reference text for all those involved in clinical psychology and related professions. This book offers a comprehensive exploration of the methods, approaches, theories and issues surrounding personal development, incorporating a number of different views from both those practising and training in the field, and includes service usersâ?? perspectives. The importance of personal development is considered and chapters are devoted to presenting a model of the different processes, examining issues of power and identity, and assessing how training courses currently approach and encourage personal development and how it might be evaluated. The book culminates in summarising the major themes, and offers suggestions for future developments. In line with BPS accreditation criteria which identifies personal development as a core learning objective Offers an historical overview of the clinical psychology profession Includes the voices of service users and carers Considers how personal development can be assessed Also of interest to counselors, psychotherapists, and nurse therapists as well as clinical psychologists and related professions outside the UK

This innovative text sheds light on how people work -- why they sometimes function well and, at other times, behave in ways that are self-defeating or destructive. The author presents her groundbreaking research on adaptive and maladaptive cognitive-motivational patterns and shows: * How these patterns originate in people's self-theories * Their consequences for the person -- for achievement, social relationships, and emotional well-being * Their consequences for society, from issues of human potential to stereotyping and intergroup relations * The experiences that create them This outstanding text is a must-read for researchers in social psychology, child development, and education, and is appropriate for both graduate and senior undergraduate students in these areas.

A popular clinical psychologist explores an often misunderstood and unrecognized emotion that's the root cause of many self-defeating and harmful behaviors. Emotional paralysis, a distorted view of self, a feeling of being a fraud, lack of trust in others, fear of criticism resulting in underdeveloped talents, and a chronic sense of being worthless, invisible, or disposable--these are typical symptoms of shame. In this book, psychologist Stephan B. Poulter delves into this "primary emotional wound." Distinguishing it from commonplace guilt over a particular moral failing, he describes this toxic emotion as a pervasive but largely unrecognized "emotional cancer," with the power of undermining many aspects of life. Dr. Poulter guides the reader through exercises that teach one to expose this "big secret" and to recognize the triggers in daily life that arouse fears and other negative emotions. Beyond these first steps, he shows how we can continue the healing process of self-acceptance, self-forgiveness, empathy, and a new sense of inner well-being. Based on thirty years of experience with patients of all ages and from many walks of life, this is a book full of insight and understanding, one that can help most of us discover and realize our full potentials.