This book, unlike others you have probably read, employs none of the jargon usually associated with psychology or psychiatry, and it may well prove to be the best book on psychotherapy for laymen ever written. It can provide emotionally disturbed individuals with many answers they seek, and it can help everyone to feel better about themselves and to deal with their lives more effectively. The authors use a unique method of projecting their solutions to common problems. Thus, they point out that the individual who feels inadequate and insecure suffers from, for example, "Irrational Belief No. 2: The idea that you must be thoroughly competent, adequate, and achieving." Drs. Ellis and Harper use ten such ideas to bring out the scope of their psychotherapy, with subtle, helpful solutions that reflect their vast experience as therapists. They have training and a host of case histories, to buttress their advice. This not only makes for a more interesting book but creates confidence in the reader concerning the techniques suggested, all of which have proven effective in a clinical setting. Their direct, get-to-the-heart-of-the-problem methods show wide variance with most orthodox treatments that drag on interminably with clients never quite knowing where they stand. As far as I can see, here certainly lies, along with group therapy, the direction psychotherapy will take if it intends to make a real contribution to comprehensive health. If you feel you have the rigorous honesty necessary to conduct self-analysis, this book will be the most important one you have ever read. And it will seem a boon to those who cannot pay the high fees charged for individual treatment.

You make hundreds of decisions every day, from what to eat for breakfast to how you should invest, and not one of those decisions would be possible without emotion. It has long been said that thinking and feeling are separate and opposing forces in our behavior. But as Leonard Mlodinow, the best-selling author of Subliminal, tells us, extraordinary advances in psychology and neuroscience have proven that emotions are as critical to our well-being as thinking. How can you connect better with others? How can you make sense of your frustration, fear, and anxiety? What can you do to live a happier life? The answers lie in understanding your emotions. Journeying from the labs of pioneering scientists to real-world scenarios that have flirted with disaster, Mlodinow shows us how our emotions can help, why they sometimes hurt, and what we can learn in both instances. Using deep insights into our evolution and biology, Mlodinow gives us the tools to understand our emotions better and to maximize their benefits. Told with his characteristic clarity and fascinating stories, Emotional explores the new science of feelings and offers us an essential guide to making the most of one of nature's greatest gifts.[Bokinfo]

"This book will challenge you to rethink your vision of a good life. With sharp insights and lucid prose, Paul Bloom makes a captivating case that pain and suffering are essential to happiness. It's an exhilarating antidote to toxic positivity." --Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife One of Behavioral Scientist's "Notable Books of 2021" From the author of Against Empathy, a different kind of happiness book, one that shows us how suffering is an essential source of both pleasure and meaning in our lives Why do we so often seek out physical pain and emotional turmoil? We go to movies that make us cry, or scream, or gag. We poke at sores, eat spicy foods, immerse ourselves in hot baths, run marathons. Some of us even seek out pain and humiliation in sexual role-play. Where do these seemingly perverse appetites come from? Drawing on groundbreaking findings from psychology and brain science, The Sweet Spot shows how the right kind of suffering sets the stage for enhanced pleasure. Pain can distract us from our anxieties and help us transcend the self. Choosing to suffer can serve social goals; it can display how tough we are or, conversely, can function as a cry for help. Feelings of fear and sadness are part of the pleasure of immersing ourselves in play and fantasy and can provide certain moral satisfactions. And effort, struggle, and difficulty can, in the right contexts, lead to the joys of mastery and flow. But suffering plays a deeper role as well. We are not natural hedonists--a good life involves more than pleasure. People seek lives of meaning and significance; we aspire to rich relationships and satisfying pursuits, and this requires some amount of struggle, anxiety, and loss. Brilliantly argued, witty, and humane, Paul Bloom shows how a life without chosen suffering would be empty--and worse than that, boring.

First published in 1990, Happiness is based fairly and squarely on scientific evidence and provides realistic insights into the following questions: What is happiness? How can you tell if you are happy? How important are love, sex, money, and family relationships? Can happiness last? Is there a blueprint for happiness? Is unhappiness a terminal illness? Is there a 'happiness gone'? This book will be of interest to students of psychology and other mental health experts.