New Rise Press Why Do I Do That?: Psychological Defense Mechanisms and the Hidden Ways They Shape Our Lives

If you're a cognitive and/or behavioural therapist this is a really good book even if, (perhaps especially if), you do not use psychodynamic ideas in your therapy. It explains the core concepts of psychological defensive mechanisms well enough to give you the language to talk to clients who have framed their problems in psychodynamic terms.Not long after reading this book I was able to engage a client using their familiar language. It was lovely to watch the penny drop. (With both of us!)Great book, well written and clearly written.

This is a book aimed at adults who are reasonably open-minded and can think a bit for themselves - it doesn't hold your hand too much and is quite concise and practical, unlike your typical popular psychology book. I appreciated this, though others may prefer a more verbose, engaging style. I certainly found myself pausing on occasion - a classic sign that a nerve has been touched - and for me this particular author's style works very well in that regard: sections end promptly, leaving you implicitly with the feeling that you should digest what has been said, rather than moving blithely on to the next chapter. In short , it politely succeeds in making you engage with what's been imparted. You'll probably need to re-read it repeatedly to get the most out of it, so that the gist becomes second nature; in that respect, it's very useful a mini psycho-bible - written, it is worth noting, in a spirit of generosity: the author is clearly motivated to illustrate his points rather than blow his own trumpet. Highly recommended.

Although I rarely leave reviews, I felt compelled to write one for this book. Reading it felt uncomfortable and liberating. It is easy to read and very well written. I bought a couple more books along with this one, some of them with more reviews than this, all very interesting but I found this one the best simply because it satisfies my need to understand myself better.

I have bought/read a lot of books with far more reviews than this (so often the yardstick by which we measure the quality of something we are thinking of purchasing - the number of amazon reviews it has received) and they have failed to live up to expectations. I have read my fair share of popular psychology, and books of this ilk, and feel confident giving this 5 stars. It is clear and concise, the author is authoritative but engaging. I surprised myself and did a LOT of underlining! Reading this book had definitely made me more aware of my own blind spots and shortfalls, which is precisely what I wanted.

It took me a while to read & digest this book, but it’s SO good that I’ve immediately started it again. There’s a lot to take in, but I expect to refer to it again & again. Wish I’d read it when I was a defensive young adult