Amazon.com: Performance Addiction: The Dangerous New Syndrome and How to Stop It from Ruining Your Life (9780471471196): Arthur P. Ciaramicoli: Books
Performance Addiction and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Performance Addiction: The Dangerous New Syndrome and How to Stop It from Ruining Your Life
 
 
Start reading Performance Addiction on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Performance Addiction: The Dangerous New Syndrome and How to Stop It from Ruining Your Life [Hardcover]

Arthur P. Ciaramicoli (Author)
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $14.97  
Hardcover --  

Book Description

July 14, 2004
"The best book I've seen on how we can stop sabotaging our need for balance. Compulsive achievers will find here everything they need to gain the sense of satisfaction that's eluded them. This book is a must-read for men and women struggling with the mystery of why they're not happy. This is a most wise, helpful, and important book, and it's wonderfully readable."
-Mira Kirshenbaum
author of Everything Happens for a Reason and The Emotional Energy Factor

"Every perfectionistic, hypervigilant person wondering why peace of mind is so elusive should read this book. Dr. Ciaramicoli totally nails the issue of performance addiction and offers all the help you need. A life-changing book."
-Dr. Charles Foster, author of Feel Better Fast

"A much-welcome, reader-friendly, utterly unpretentious call to sanity. With clarity and disarming simplicity, Dr. Arthur Ciaramicoli exposes the futility and indeed the harm of our collective compulsive ride on the achievement treadmill. . . . Performance Addiction is a crash course in essential wisdom for today. Read it and give it to anyone about whose mental health and happiness you deeply care."
-P. M. Forni, Professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of Choosing Civility

"Integrating theory with compelling stories from his clinical practice, Dr. Ciaramicoli provides concrete, practical methods to address the growing problem of performance addiction."
-Richard Kadison, M.D.
Chief, Mental Health Services, Harvard University Health Services

Do you achieve goals without feeling fulfilled?
Do you think your hard work will win you love and respect?
Do you feel as if you're never doing well enough?

In this intriguing and prescriptive guide, Harvard Medical School instructor Dr. Arthur P. Ciaramicoli explains this new psychological issue, revealing the reasons why the label of success so rarely leads to happiness. Performance Addiction gives you action steps for freeing yourself from the obligation to excel, finding new meaning in your work and relationships, and going beyond material reward to obtain genuine, healthy accomplishment throughout your life. Through illuminating self-evaluations and writing exercises, you'll gain a stronger sense of self, learn to balance your work and your personal life, and at long last find the satisfaction that comes from breaking your patterns of addictive behavior and finding new, better ways to accept and give love.


Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Why do so many of the most accomplished, successful, and admired people in the world remain unhappy and unfulfilled in spite of their achievements? If you feel that way, according to Dr. Arthur P. Ciaramicoli, Harvard Medical School instructor, you may suffer from performance addiction–the belief that perfecting appearance and achieving status will secure the love and respect of others.

If you achieve for the sake of achieving . . . if you feel removed from your family and friends . . . if your work has become a burden and the demands seem relentless . . . if you feel as if what you do is never good enough, this breakthrough book can change your life.

In Performance Addiction, Dr. Ciaramicoli explains the psychological factors that lead to this problem and then gives you the tools you need to overcome it. Revealing insights gleaned through his research and clinical practice, he helps you determine if you are a performance addict and the level of your addiction, giving you action steps and a prescriptive program to achieve lasting happiness and success at home and at work.

Featuring enlightening questions, writing exercises, and self-evaluations throughout, this hands-on guide shows you how to trace the origins of your addiction and replace your belief system with a more balanced life.

You’ll be privy to intimate discussions between Dr. Ciaramicoli and many of his clients who have come to terms with their addiction. These case studies will allow you to have the confidence, knowledge, and tools to:

  • Balance your work and your personal life
  • Discover how remarkable it is to be "ordinary"
  • Resist the lure of glamour and the quest for glory
  • Value relationships in terms of love and friendship rather than status and image
  • Be happier, more secure, and more satisfied with your life

You can slow down, reduce your perfectionism, and reap wonderful rewards–read Performance Addiction and break free.

From the Back Cover

"The best book I’ve seen on how we can stop sabotaging our need for balance. Compulsive achievers will find here everything they need to gain the sense of satisfaction that’s eluded them. This book is a must-read for men and women struggling with the mystery of why they’re not happy. This is a most wise, helpful, and important book, and it’s wonderfully readable."
–Mira Kirshenbaum
author of Everything Happens for a Reason and The Emotional Energy Factor

"Every perfectionistic, hypervigilant person wondering why peace of mind is so elusive should read this book. Dr. Ciaramicoli totally nails the issue of performance addiction and offers all the help you need. A life-changing book."
–Dr. Charles Foster, author of Feel Better Fast

"A much-welcome, reader-friendly, utterly unpretentious call to sanity. With clarity and disarming simplicity, Dr. Arthur Ciaramicoli exposes the futility and indeed the harm of our collective compulsive ride on the achievement treadmill. . . . Performance Addiction is a crash course in essential wisdom for today. Read it and give it to anyone about whose mental health and happiness you deeply care."
–P. M. Forni, Professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of Choosing Civility

"Integrating theory with compelling stories from his clinical practice, Dr. Ciaramicoli provides concrete, practical methods to address the growing problem of performance addiction."
–Richard Kadison, M.D.
Chief, Mental Health Services, Harvard University Health Services

Do you achieve goals without feeling fulfilled?
Do you think your hard work will win you love and respect?
Do you feel as if you’re never doing well enough?

In this intriguing and prescriptive guide, Harvard Medical School instructor Dr. Arthur P. Ciaramicoli explains this new psychological issue, revealing the reasons why the label of success so rarely leads to happiness. Performance Addiction gives you action steps for freeing yourself from the obligation to excel, finding new meaning in your work and relationships, and going beyond material reward to obtain genuine, healthy accomplishment throughout your life. Through illuminating self-evaluations and writing exercises, you’ll gain a stronger sense of self, learn to balance your work and your personal life, and at long last find the satisfaction that comes from breaking your patterns of addictive behavior and finding new, better ways to accept and give love.


Product Details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (July 14, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0471471194
  • ISBN-13: 978-0471471196
  • Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #610,556 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Arthur P. Ciaramicoli, Ed.D., Ph.D.

Arthur P. Ciaramicoli, Ed.D., Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist who has been treating clients for more than 30 years. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Massachusetts Psycho-logical Association. Currently in private practice, Dr. Ciaramicoli has been on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for several years, lecturer for the American Cancer Society, Chief Psychologist at Metrowest Medical Center, and director of the Metrowest Counseling Center and of the Alternative Medicine division of Metrowest Wellness Center in Framingham, Massachusetts.

In addition to treating patients, Dr. Ciaramicoli has lectured at Harvard Health Services, Boston College Counseling Center, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore as well as being a consultant to several major corporations in the Boston area. Dr. Ciaramicoli is also a seasoned media expert.

He has appeared on CNN, CNNfn, Fox News Boston, Comcast TV, New England Cable News, Good Morning America Weekend, The O'Reilly Report, and other shows. He has been a weekly radio guest on Your Healthy Family on Sirius Satellite Radio and Holistic Health Today, and has been interviewed on The People's Pharmacy, The Gary Null Show, and more than two dozen other radio programs airing on NPR, XM Radio, and numerous AM and FM stations.

Dr. Ciaramicoli is the author of The Curse of the Capable: The Hidden Challenges to a Balanced, Healthy, High Achieving Life (Wiley, 2010), Performance Addiction: The Dangerous New Syndrome and How to Stop It from Ruining Your Life (Wiley 2004) and The Power of Empathy: A Practical Guide to Creating Intimacy, Self-Understanding, and Lasting Love (Dutton 2000), which is now published in 7 languages. His first book, Treatment of Abuse and Addiction, A Holistic Approach (Jason Aronson, 1997) was selected as Book of the Month by The Psychotherapy Book News. He is also the coauthor of Beyond the Influence: Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism (Bantam 2000).

Dr. Ciaramicoli lives in a suburb of Boston with his wife and two daughters.

His newsletter, blog comments and contact information are available at his web site, www.BalanceYourSuccess.com.

You can follow his daily insights at www.twitter.com/docapc.

 

Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
5 star:
 (8)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Performance Addiction - Excellent Read, August 24, 2004
This review is from: Performance Addiction: The Dangerous New Syndrome and How to Stop It from Ruining Your Life (Hardcover)
I saw Dr. Ciaramicoli's interview on CNN and immediately thought he was talking about me directly. I am a young professional who has struggled, along with all my friends, to look better and better and to climb the corporate ladder at the same time. I am constantly tired and worn out, and find myself having less and less fun as time goes on. I keep trying harder to meet the standards, I thought people would respect and yet all the hard work just makes me feel exhausted, even when I succeed the good feeling only lasts for a short time. I had no idea that this trend was a new addiction in our society. I bought Performance Addiction, took the quiz in Chapter one and scored in the severe category. Every one of my friends, I have given this quiz to has scored moderate to severe. I am so thankful that someone has identified what I have been experiencing and given me a way out. I have found this book so interesting and helpful, I can relate to so many of the stories of Dr. Ciaramicoli's clients. The chapter on Image Love and Your Relationships and The Lure of Glamour gave me insights I really need to practice and the final chapter Balancing Work and Life will be my bible for a long time to come. I recommend this book to every perfectionist who wants to get off the treadmill and enjoy life.

A Corporate Executive from Boston
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars What I have is enough -- thank you, Dr. C, September 25, 2004
By 
This review is from: Performance Addiction: The Dangerous New Syndrome and How to Stop It from Ruining Your Life (Hardcover)
This book not only addresses every performance addiction I have and identifies the likely source thereof, but so completely defines and explains all these hardwired individuals I work with. In the process of reading this book, I have been able to step back from the tension and pressure at work and say to myself, "phew, I do not have to be like that....what I have is enough....what I do is enough...the love I have is enough...."
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and Insightful, August 23, 2004
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Performance Addiction: The Dangerous New Syndrome and How to Stop It from Ruining Your Life (Hardcover)
I have been struggling with trying to perfect my body and get ahead all my life. In my family it was a way of life, and our society seems to support the idea that only the beautiful, wealthy people find happiness and love. I am so glad a friend in my woman's group recommended Performance Addition. I had never read anything so powerful and helpful. I had no idea that my obsession with my looks and getting ahead could be an addiction. Most importantly, I don't feel alone as every member of our woman's group scored high on the quiz in the first chapter. The quizzes throughout and the writing assignments really make you think through the false ideas we have all grown up with in this "success at all cost" society. I thank Dr. Ciaramicoli especially for the chapter on "Parenting and Performance Addiction" as it would break my heart to pass this affliction on to my daughter. The chapters on "Image Love and Your Relationships" and "The Lure of Glamour" are must reads. The stories are insightful and very real and make the book come to life with real people that I could identify with. The author's idea of sharing the answers to chapter quizzes with someone close to you took courage, but it really helped me to open up to my husband and he to me. I HIGHLY recommend this book for everyone who is struggling with trying to have a meaningful life with balance.
Signed, A Grateful Housewife From Maryland
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews







Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
DO YOU FEEL AS IF YOUR LIFE is in crisis? Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
performance addiction, performance addicts, background feelings, calm energy, balanced living
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mary Beth, Cal Tech, Ivy League, Boston College, Rhode Island
New!
Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:



Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums





Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject