Healing Your Emotional Self: A Powerful Program to Help You Raise Your Self-Esteem, Quiet Your Inner Critic, and Overcome Your Shame
Healing Your Emotional Self: A Powerful Program to Help You Raise Your Self-Esteem, Quiet Your Inner Critic, and Overcome Your Shame book cover

Healing Your Emotional Self: A Powerful Program to Help You Raise Your Self-Esteem, Quiet Your Inner Critic, and Overcome Your Shame

Paperback – May 25, 2007

Price
$16.99
Format
Paperback
Pages
272
Publisher
Wiley
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0470127780
Dimensions
5.91 x 0.87 x 9.06 inches
Weight
11.2 ounces

Description

From the Inside Flap "Emotionally abusive parents are indeed toxic parents, and they cause significant damage to their children's self-esteem, self-image, and body image. In this remarkable book, Beverly Engel shares her powerful Mirror Therapy program for helping adult survivors to overcome their shame and self-criticism, become more compassionate and accepting of themselves, and create a more positive self-image." —Susan Forward, Ph.D., author of Toxic Parents "Engel's insightful questionnaires and exercises provide concrete help in the healing process, and her writing style is lively and engaging. This book is destined to positively affect many lives." —Joyce Catlett, M.A., coauthor of Fear of Intimacy In Healing Your Emotional Self , Beverly Engel, one of the world's leading experts on emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, explains how to heal the damage to your self-image and self-esteem caused by negative parental messages and offers treatment to help you lead a happier and healthier life. This breakthrough guide is designed to help you reject the distorted images your parents either intentionally or unintentionally projected onto you. Step by step, this innovative method will give you the skills you need to quiet your inner critic, boost your self-esteem, create a positive self-image separate from your abusive parents' distorted picture, discover who you really are, learn self-nurturing, and become the person you are meant to be. Self-help “Emotionally abusive parents are indeed toxic parents, and they cause significant damage to their children’s self-esteem, self-image, and body image. In this remarkable book, Beverly Engel shares her powerful Mirror Therapy program for helping adult survivors to overcome their shame and self-criticism, become more compassionate and accepting of themselves, and create a more positive self-image.” ―Susan Forward, Ph.D., author of Toxic Parents “Engel’s insightful questionnaires and exercises provide concrete help in the healing process, and her writing style is lively and engaging. This book is destined to positively affect many lives.” ―Joyce Catlett, M.A., coauthor of Fear of Intimacy In Healing Your Emotional Self , Beverly Engel, one of the world’s leading experts on emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, explains how to heal the damage to your self-image and self-esteem caused by negative parental messages and offers treatment to help you lead a happier and healthier life. This breakthrough guide is designed to help you reject the distorted images your parents either intentionally or unintentionally projected onto you. Step by step, this innovative method will give you the skills you need to quiet your inner critic, boost your self-esteem, create a positive self-image separate from your abusive parents’ distorted picture, discover who you really are, learn self-nurturing, and become the person you are meant to be. BEVERLY ENGEL is an internationally recognized expert in emotional and sexual abuse. She is the author of several other self-help books, including the highly successful The Emotionally Abusive Relationship, Loving Him without Losing You , and The Emotionally Abused Woman . Engel conducts workshops and professional training programs and has appeared on many national television shows, including Oprah, Starting Over, Donahue , and Ricki Lake. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • Healing Your Emotional Self "Emotionally abusive parents are indeed toxic parents, and they cause significant damage to their children's self-esteem, self-image, and body image. In this remarkable book, Beverly Engel shares her powerful Mirror Therapy program for helping adult survivors to overcome their shame and self-criticism, become more compassionate and accepting of themselves, and create a more posititve self-image. I strongly recommend it for anyone who was abused or neglected as a child." --Susan Forward, Ph.D., author of Toxic Parents "In this book, Beverly Engel documents the wide range of psychological abuses that so many children experience in growing up. Her case examples and personal accounts are poignant and powerful reminders that as adults, many of us are still limited by the defenses we formed when trying to protect ourselves in the face of the painful circumstances we found ourselves in as children. Engle's insightful questionnaires and exercises provide concrete help in the healing process, and her writing style is lively and engaging. This book is destined to positively affect many lives." --Joyce Catlett, M.A., coauthor of Fear of Intimacy The Emotionally Abusive Relationship "Beverly Engel clearly and with caring offers step-by-step strategies to stop emotional abuse . . . helping both victims and abusers to identify the patterns of this painful and traumatic type of abuse." --Marti Tamm Loring, Ph.D., author of Emotional Abuse Loving Him without Losing You "A powerful and practical guide to relationships that every woman should read." --Barbara De Angelis, Ph.D., author of Are You the One for Me?

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(365)
★★★★
25%
(152)
★★★
15%
(91)
★★
7%
(43)
-7%
(-43)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Important book that needs to be read with care

This book could be a doorway to self awareness, self understanding and lead to more healthy personal development. I say, could be, because Engel discusses details of abuse and its effect on a person's life. If the reader is herself or himself a victim of past abuse this book could raise painful feelings. The reader can address these feelings if she proceeds gently and slowly through the pages and spends time doing the exercises Engel recommends.

Sometimes an abused person can't do that. Her harsh critic and sense of shame will cause her to flame out and criticize or attack what is being said because what is being said is too close to the person's genuine and unbearable experience.

If the reader's abuse took the form of being treated with contempt she might not recognize what happened to her, i.e. no hitting, yelling, criticism or foul language. Contempt is real and powerful but difficult for a child, and sometimes an adult as well, to appreciate. So if contempt is in the mix the reader might treat this book with contempt in order to protect herself from her own feelings of helplessness. Of course, she wouldn't know she was doing this. Her contempt would come from what felt genuine within her.

This book has flaws. Any book does that tackles such a complex and sensitive subject. I say, read with care, because your response may be clear and reflect a fair judgement. But your response could also be determined by your own unconscious defenses against knowing something about your past and your present relationships and attitudes.

I recommend this book. Read with care. Be patient and kind with yourself and with the other reviews on this page. Engels bravely moves in deep waters and invites you to join her. So be brave too.

Joanna Poppink, MFT
Los Angeles psychotherapist
author: Healing Your Hungry Heart: recovering from your eating disorder
38 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

healing

I bought this book per the recommend of my therapist. We’ve been working on healing from a toxic/abusive relationship for years. This book was helpful in stimulating good conversation with my therapist about the roots of my emotional baggage. I never finished this, but this is helpful for anyone that has a lot of emotional baggage and needs healing.
1 people found this helpful