A unique new therapy offers a different way to solve life's most disruptive problems Why do so many seemingly well-adjusted, successful people struggle with their self-image and relationships? As clinical psychologists Charles Elliott and Maureen Kirby Lassen illustrate, the lifelong negative patterns that drag you down and prevent you from getting what you want out of life are related to the way you process information and how you see yourself and others. In this break-through book, they examine how schemas, the lenses we use to view the world, influence our perceptions and expectations.

Based on the latest research in cognitive science and clinical psychology, Why Can't Get What I Want? Offers a revolutionary new approach to breaking free of these negative life patterns. Elliot and Lassen show how to identify the schemas that are coloring your perceptions of situations, other people, and yourself in three major areas-self-worth, empowerment, and relationships. They examine the events that trigger maladaptive behavior and offer techniques to help you change the repetitive problems in your life.

Contents:

• Why You Do What You Do
• Why You Keep Getting the Opposite of What You Want
• Self-Assessment in the Self-Worth Zone
• Self-Assessment in the Empowerment Zone
• Self-Assessment in the Relationship Zone
• Where It All Began
• That Often Overlooked Step: Preparation for Change
• Adaptive Schemas in the Self-Worth Zone
• Adaptive Schemas in the Empowerment Zone
• Adaptive Schemas in the Relationship Zone
• Dismantling Maladaptive Schemas
• Scrutinizing Thoughts and Schemas
• Where Do You Go from Here?

Charles H. Elliott, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Albuquerque and a member of the faculty at The Fielding Institute. He previously serves in the psychiatry departments of two medical schools. He is a recipient of the Gordon H. Deckert Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Maureen Kirby Lassen, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in the private practice in Phoenix. She has served on the Arizona State Board of Psychologist Examiners since 1994. She is a faculty member at the Fielding Institute and former chair of Fielding’s psychology family.