Taking Charge of Your Emotions

From time to time, all of us face circumstances that can be psychologically demoralizing. We might have difficulties with certain types of people, have marital problems, or be overwhelmed by day-to-day burdens. When conditions are especially troublesome, we might experience destructive emotions such as anger, fear of abandonment, or anxiety that get the better of us. We may also experience a sense of helplessness, a feeling that events and people control us, and that can detract from our overall outlook and well-being.
Nevertheless, despite how bleaks things can appear, it is possible to gain more control over our lives and learn to cope better with things that are beyond our control. By understanding how and why we react the way we do to various situations and events, we can learn to manage and change our own thoughts and emotions. In that way, we can maximize the positive and minimize the negative outcomes in our day to day living, and in so doing give ourselves an opportunity to enhance our overall well-being. Using a Rational Emotive Behavior approach, the authors show readers how to identify irrational beliefs replace them with rational ones, and lead a more fulfilling and balanced life. Anyone struggling with emotions or moods that often feel out of control or self-defeating will find comfort and guidance in these pages.

Louis H. Primavera, PhD, is a New York State Licensed Psychologist trained in behavior and rational emotive behavior therapies, and maintained a private practice for more than twenty-five years specializing in marriage counseling. Primavera is currently the Dean of the School of Health Sciences at Touro College. Previously he was the Dean of the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University, held the Department Chair and served as Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at St. John's University, and has held full time faculty positions at Hofstra University, St. Francis College, and Molloy College. Primavera has published extensively in the social sciences, and his work has appeared in a number of prestigious professional journals in Psychology. He was a consultant to the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and has held a number of other consulting positions in medicine, business, and education. He has been a member of a number of professional organizations and has served as President of the Academic Division of the New York State Psychological Association, and the New York City Metro Chapter of the American Statistical Association.
Rob Pascale, PhD, founded Marketing Analysts, Inc, a quantitative market research company, in 1982. Pascale retired from full time responsibilities at MAi in 2005 at the age of 51. Throughout his 25-year tenure as president of MAi, Pascale was directly involved in over 5000 research studies for more than 50 of the largest corporations in the world, and has polled well over 2 million consumers.

Introduction
1: Understanding People
2: The Four Psychological Functions
3: Beliefs, Emotions, Conscious and Unconscious Functioning
4: More about Understanding People
5: The Basics of Taking Control
6: Changing Your Thinking Patterns
7: Interpersonal Relationships
8: Effective Communication
9: Handling Difficult Interactions
10: Developing and Fine-Tuning Your Skills
Appendix: Recommended Readings