How to Be Your Own Therapist : A Step-by-Step Guide to Taking Back Your Life - Hardcover

Farrell, Patricia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071387331 ISBN 13: 9780071387330

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education, 2003

Synopsis

Self-help tools that work with--or without--the aid of a therapist

How to Be Your Own Therapist provides tools for those who want to replace unhealthy behaviors with actions that bring satisfaction and success. Drawing from her 20 years as a licensed therapist, Dr. Patricia Farrell has developed an approach that enables individuals to manage their own lives by reclaiming the personal power to take action.

With intelligence and insight, Dr. Farrell shares the innovative techniques and exercises that promote successful results in her own patients--patients whom Farrell quickly enables to move into independent problem-solving action. Also included here are dozens of proven self-assessment tests, compelling case studies, and helpful symptom-identification sidebars.

Her "power tools" include how to:

• Fire one's parents
• Quit whining
• Make lots of mistakes

Stick up for oneself

About this title

From the Author:

Before you decide that you need therapy, do a self-evaluation with the help of this book and be sure to read my chapter on how you should interview any therapist and the questions you should ask.  This book is intended to help you make your way through life with the skills and new knowledge provided here first.  My approach has always been a conservative one with an emphasis on self-help and skill building and that's exactly what I hope this book does achieve for you.  You are stronger than you know, more skilled and you can begin to re-direct your life in new ways with a little guidance and practice on your own.

I've tried to incorporate the knowledge I've acquired over my 30 years in the profession in a variety of setting.  With this in mind, I set out to provide chapters to address many of the areas where I believed people could help themselves.  One thing about which I had become quite aware was the lack of information about who to select if you need therapy, what to expect, what questions you may have and why they need to be answered.  It's my effort to get rid of the "one up-one down" relationship I've seen in too many settings.  You are a consumer and you're purchasing a service.  You're not a supplicant coming to ask for favors from a superior being.

From the Back Cover:

As countless people have discovered, the help of a professional psychotherapist in the face of life's challenges can be an effective, even transformative process. In certain situations, it is the most appropriate choice. But for many, there is another, virtually overlooked option: you may be best equipped to be your own therapist. In this insightful, innovative, and exceptionally honest book, Dr. Patricia Farrell draws from her twenty years as a licensed therapist to show you how to heal yourself--more rapidly, more permanently, and certainly less expensively.

Whether or not you choose to seek professional help, in confronting and exploring your personal issues, you embark on a journey to the center of yourself. And the fact is that you know your own emotional terrain better than anyone on this earth. What you really need is a tour guide, and the right tools for your journey. The accessible, step-by-step approach in How To Be Your Own Therapist enables you to develop the innate skills to face a lifetime of challenges--without creating the dependency that is so often a result of traditional therapy.

Shared here are the techniques and exercises Dr. Farrell uses to promote successful results in her own patients--patients whom she quickly enables to move into independent problem-solving action. After determining, with the help of this book, whether self-therapy is right for you, you will be prepared to discover--and utilize--the ten practical tools that will help you make the changes you want in your life. These highly effective "power tools" include how to:

• Open Your Eyes and Face Reality
• Make Lots of Mistakes
• Act Like the Person You Want to Be
• Fire Your Parents
• Accept Yourself, Warts and All

Also included are dozens of proven self-assessment tests, compelling case studies, and helpful symptom-identification sidebars to help you gain a new understanding of therapy--and of your own ability to find a renewed, healthier, more powerful self.

SELF-HELP TOOLS FOR A LIFETIME OF CHALLENGES

This innovative, highly effective book is for anyone who wants to replace unhealthy behaviors with actions that bring satisfaction and success--quickly, permanently, and with or without the guidance of a professional therapist. Through her work with over 20,000 patients, Dr. Patricia Farrell has developed an approach that will enable you to manage your own life by reclaiming your power to overcome obstacles and influence outcome--even in the face of life's greatest challenges. Here are the proven techniques and exercises Dr. Farrel uses to help her patients move into independent problem-solving action, including:

• 10 tools to help you make the changes you want in your life
• Quick Fixes to immediately transform intention into action
• Proven self-assessment tests
• Compelling case studies
• Helpful symptom-identification sidebars

...and much more to help you get unstuck from life's problems and ready to embark on a happier, more well-adjusted future.

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0071387331
• ISBN 13: 9780071387330
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 270