Exploring the essentials of healthy personality
Subtitle: what is normal?
By: Camay Woodall
Publisher: Praeger
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Santa Barbara
Language: eng
Number of pages: 346
ISBN-13: 9781440831942; 9781440831959
Subjects: Mental Health; Self-confidence; Behavior; Mental health; Emotions; Personality Disorders; Self-esteem; Self-reliance; Personality
Description: What is "normal" in human personality has become a pressing, modern question. And what is the potential for achieving emotional health through deliberate action, as we do with physical health? Clinical psychologist Camay Woodall, PhD, addresses these and many other complex questions in this work that cogently discusses parameters of emotional health. This book covers historical concepts; examines personality at its developmental stages and beyond; explains that "normal behavior" constitutes a wide range, whereas emotional symptoms are narrow and definable; and discusses the common aspects of normality we all share, such as the struggle for realism and the need for social connection, as well as coming to terms with guilt. Covering topics that include anxiety; self-esteem; depression; food (and the abuses of it), sex, love, and intimacy; shame and guilt; and spirituality, this book identifies common sources of dysfunctional personality traits and stresses the importance of individual responsibility in each area. -- from dust jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Acknowledgments; title: Introduction; title: Realism and the struggle with self-deception; title: Self-esteem and self-confidence : the bedrock of healthy personality; title: Spontaneity : playing with the whole keyboard; title: Work and play : the antidote to depression; title: Self-soothing and comforting: the legacy of parental love; title: Love and sex : the eternal knot; title: Food : "the frustrating goddess"; title: Shame and guilt : what is really mine?; title: Assertion versus aggression : the fair way to stand up for yourself; title: Mutual respect, vulnerability, and the price of narcissism; title: Spirituality with tolerance : our fitful goal; title: Conclusion; title: Index; title: Acknowledgments.