Customer Reviews

Self Esteem

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

At first I was skeptical about this book given it's cover, but after reading the first chapter, boy am I glad I did!

Tremendously helpful in dealing with your self - esteem issues, this book will help anyone whether they have low self esteem or not. My favourite parts are:

The role of the pathological critic - the book explains in detail the nature of your own critic and how best to manage and handle it's criticsim.

Cognitive Distortions - we all know we see things differently, but here the book also explains how we process things differently. No two people will process and interpret the same event the same.

Asking for what you want - this is one of my favourites. While reading this book, I was dealing with two issues at work that really bothered me. This chapter helped me explain the "whole message" to the other person, and eventually, ask for what I wanted.

I've read many self-help books, and many of them end up serving up a set of principles to follow. This one is more directly medical/psychological based, and therefore is more practical in application. It even features a series of exercises for the reader to practice.

All in all, a very complete book on the subject of self - esteem, and I would even go further, and core book in any self help library.

I feel sorry for all the people who are not aware of this book, because it covers just about everything you will ever need to improve your self-esteem. I'm sure if you are anything like me you have read just about every self-help book that is out there and then along comes this book that blows them all out of the water. well here it is, this is the book, I know because i have read and applied the lessons in this book to myself and have been preaching about it to whomever will listen. And listening they have, so i haven't seen my book in some time, in fact i haven't seen a couple of these books for some time, because they keep getting circulated, amongst my friends and their friends.

This book was assigned to me while I was going through counselling. I think it is a great tool for understanding why we have all these negative thoughts about ourselves. There are journalling exercises as well as mental ones posted at the end of each chapter. I especially benefitted on the chapter about identifying the "critic" inside your head and ridding yourself of him/her.

I've read many books on Buddhism, Eastern Thought, confidence, communication and connection. Name a self-help category and I promise I've read at least a few titles. They were all a little helpful, but none ever come close to this book. I've always found myself excited to read a new title and quickly absorbing everything the author had to say. I'd spend the next few weeks making some behavior modifications, and getting some positive results. However, over time many things I'd learned would slowly fade away and unsure where to look, I would decide to try another title. This book is different, it focuses on changing the YOU--that thing that makes your decisions.

It's so easy to read other titles as an escape from reality where you teach yourself a set of gimmicks secretly hoping their ideas will someday make you the person you want to be. These authors know better, they know that the way you've been taught to think will make you slide back to where you started every time no matter what they tell you, so they start in a different place. First they teach you about the nature of self-esteem (these chapters alone will be an eye-opener. They teach you how your mind takes in information, processes it, and how your upbringing and experiences have effected your self-talk. Through dozens of real life examples (some of which can really hit home) and many exercises, the authors lead you on a journey towards understanding, healing, and happiness.

As a result of using this book, I've overcome social anxiety, become more productive, and learned more than I can explain in this review. Both scientific and compassionate, this is the greatest book I've ever read.

On a side note, examining this book in the context of Buddhism or Jiddu Krishnamurti is highly fascinating.

Update 12/07/11-- After you've finished this book, try Come to Your Senses: Demystifying the Mind Body Connection. It's the most helpful self-help book I've ever read.
Update 01/15/12-- Then get this: Healing the Shame that Binds You (Recovery Classics).

I have only read through chapter 3, and I can already see tremendous value in this book. I am naturally skeptical of self help books, but this one is philosophically valid. If you have self-esteem issues, this book is a must read. It offers a lot of useful information and practicle exercises. Don't put off buying this if you want to increase you self-esteem.

An excellent book. Straight forward and easy to read. Good suggestions and exercises that really work! Great to just pick up and read by topic or cover to cover.

Matthew Mckay's and Patrick Fanning's treatise on self-esteem, opened my eyes to both sources of and solutions to low self-esteem. His discussion on NLP and the reasons we continue to listen to our inner critique were full of vital information. I have used his methods of combating the inner critique as a model to teach others how to protect and repair self-esteem.