The Boomerang Effect: How You Can Take Charge of Your Life

With her trademarked therapy techniques, psychotherapist Bird promises an end to repeating cycles of negative thought and emotion, unfulfilling relationships, self-hatred, and depression. She describes three instinctual personas%E2%80%94the fighter, the hider, and the runner%E2%80%94that people use to manage the "muck" (i.e., challenges, fears, loss, and sadness) in their lives; guides readers to identify their primary protective mechanisms; demonstrates how those mechanisms initiate a "boomerang effect" in which problems recur; and explains why cognitive awareness alone will not break futile patterns. Her therapy consists of deep breathing, guided meditation, and visualization to stimulate a relaxation response and transform unconscious beliefs and reactions. She writes: "Many of us don't know the underlying causes of our conflicts or the deep-rooted issues that are affecting our perceptions and reactions. Even if we have some sense of the core reasons for our behaviors, thoughts and emotions, we still find ourselves struggling with our reactivity." Bird brings a remarkable degree of clarity and an engaging style to complex psychological concepts. In this slim volume, she simplifies the process of change with a few effective exercises that can be done quickly throughout the day.