Mastering Your Moods

Description:
Drawing on recent research indicating that everyone is born with an innate, biologically driven emotional temperament, the author identifies temperament types and behavioral patterns and provides techniques to help overcome anxiety, anger, and depression.

From Publisher's Weekly:
Millions of Americans mistakenly believe they are neurotic or have "personality disorders," argues the author of this commonsense guide. As a result, many spend years in therapy, analyzing their present and past circumstances, yet never find resolutions.

The difficulty, according to Kinder ( Smart Women, Foolish Choices ), is that what they perceive as problems usually are not. Instead, most "neuroses" are manifestations of one of four personality styles: the Sensor (sensitive, introverted); the Focuser (introverted, prone to depression and worry); the Discharger (extroverted, emotionally expressive); or the Seeker (sensation-seeking, extroverted).

These temperaments, claims Kinder, are biochemically based; attempting to change or hide one's temperament, then, creates undue stress. The solution is to work with one's personality ("setting your emotional thermostat"), enhancing its positive attributes and finding constructive ways to express (not deny or hide) the negative. The Focuser, for example, becomes vexed when idle, due to a high-arousal threshold; instead of "thought stopping" or dredging up the past to find a "root," Focusers should acknowledge their feelings, then find an activity to "focus" on other than their own thoughts.

Author: Melvyn Kinder
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Fireside; 1st Fireside Ed edition (January 1, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0671505637
ISBN-13: 978-0671505639
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
May have a Publisher's Remainder mark.