Why Do I Do That?: Psychological Defense Mechanisms and the Hidden Ways They Shape Our Lives

by Joseph Burgo PH D

Overview

Why Do I Do That? adapts the basic strategies of psychodynamic psychotherapy to a guided course in self-exploration, highlighting the universal role of defense mechanisms in warding off emotional pain. With easy-to-understand explanations, the first part teaches you about the unconscious mind and the role of psychological defenses in excluding difficult feelings from awareness. Individual chapters in the longer middle section explore the primary defense mechanisms one by one, with exercises to help you identify your own defenses at work. The final part offers guidance for how to "disarm" your defenses and cope more effectively with the unconscious feelings behind them. Psychological defense mechanisms are an inevitable and necessary part of the human experience; but when they become too pervasive or deeply entrenched, they may damage our personal relationships, restrict or distort our emotional lives and prevent us from behaving in ways that promote lasting self-esteem.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780988443129
Publisher:	New Rise Press
Publication date:	10/26/2012
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Joseph Burgo, Ph.D. has practiced psychotherapy for more than 30 years, holding licenses as a marriage and family therapist and clinical psychologist. He earned his undergraduate degree at UCLA and his masters and doctorate at California Graduate Institute in Los Angeles. He is also a graduate psychoanalyst and has served as a board member, officer and instructor at a component society of the International Psychoanalytic Association. He currently writes the popular blog "After Psychotherapy" where he discusses personal growth issues from a psychodynamic perspective.

Editorial Reviews

As a severely depressed college freshman, Burgo began 13 years of psychotherapy with an esteemed doctor he credits with helping him to develop distinct "views of human nature and what drives us"—which enabled him to later become a successful psychologist. This thought-provoking book explores the psychological defense mechanisms he believes all people harbor. These traits—mostly painful and restrictive thoughts and emotions—are largely unconscious behaviors and potentially threaten personal safety and happiness. The author’s tone is congenial and didactic without becoming tedious. Perhaps most importantly, Burgo reiterates that human emotions and their associated defenses (e.g., denial, passive-aggressiveness, displacement, ambivalence) are nothing to be frightened or ashamed of but rather part of everyday life. Change is possible, and those open to it will challenge "the ways react and defend." Through individual case studies, Burgo identifies and cohesively presents ways in which negative behaviors can be thwarted through direct confrontation with triggers. Exercises at the end of chapters apply techniques for recognizing and defusing oppressive defenses in readers’ own lives and bring the book down to a personal level, creating a valuable resource for readers. Burgo’s approach to understanding and controlling expressions of detrimental emotions is professional as well as empathetic

Publishers Weekly