Make the Leap: The Practical Guide to Breaking the Patterns That Hold You Back

A psychoanalyst in private practice for many years, Silverberg makes the valid but oft-reiterated point that many people are held back from achieving their goals by their adherence to self-defeating ways of thinking and behaving. These unconscious patterns, according to Silverberg, must be raised to a conscious level to be overcome. He provides a complex program for this called SUBGAP, an acronym for seeing, understanding, breaking and guarding against patterns. Silverberg claims he has simplified dense psychoanalytic principles so that people can practice them without the help of a professional. Those who profit from sticking to a narrowly defined, exhaustively detailed program may take to his approach, but Silverberg's steps—with top-down and bottom-up pattern-hunting—may still be too complex for many. The case histories he offers are more illuminating than the program. For example, Mitch created brilliant ad campaigns, but he was demoted because his perfectionism created extra costs and extra work for others. Mitch learned to apply his attention to detail to recognizing and breaking his pattern and set his career back on track. It's an inspiring story—but not easy to learn to do on your own. Agent, Laura Gross . (Aug.)