Taming Your Outer Child - by Susan Anderson (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published: New York: Ballantine Books, c2011.

Book Synopsis

Take Control of Your Life

Chances are, you've already had run-ins with your Outer Child -- the self-sabotaging, bungling, and impulsive part of your personality. This misguided, hidden nemesis blows your diet, overspends, and ruins your love life. Your Outer Child acts out and fulfills your legitimate childlike needs and wants in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and in counterproductive ways: It goes for immediate gratification and the quick fix in spite of your best-laid plans.

Now, in a revolutionary rethinking of the link between emotion and behavior, veteran psychotherapist Susan Anderson offers a three-step program to tame your Outer Child's destructive behavior. This dynamic, transformational set of strategies -- action steps that act like physical therapy for the brain -- calms your Inner Child, strengthens your Adult Self, releases you from the self-blame and shame at the root of Outer Child issues, and paves new neural pathways that can lead to more productive behavior. The result is happiness, fulfillment, self-mastery, and self-love.

Review Quotes

"An enormous help to anyone looking to let go of past disappointments and self-recrimination and get on with the essential work of healing, building boundaries, and acquiring the skill to reach your goals."
-- John Bradshaw, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Homecoming

"With a program designed to undo primal fears, [Anderson] tackles such topics as lowered self-esteem, lovesick feelings, food urges, diet, chronic depression, procrastination, heartache, and a primary source of conflict with relationships, 'enormous emotional suction cups.' She also examines brain activity and factors preventing the body's production of such 'yummy neurochemicals' as oxytocin and vasopressin....[R]eaders under stress who are desperate for help will view this book as a valuable tool for healing."
-- Publishers Weekly

"Groundbreaking."
-- PsychologyToday.com

"Shows that self-defeating behavior can be changed without in-depth examination and resolution....A helpful scenario, requiring determination and commitment, for dealing with difficult issues. This will appeal to readers seeking change."
-- Library Journal

"The outer child is a bratty, angry drama queen who is responsible for unhealthful and unwanted behavior, according to the book. Anderson's three-prong outer child recovery program consists of dialoguing, guided visualization and action steps. The second half of the book addresses special applications for the program, such as dieting, procrastination, debt and depression."
-- The Washington Post

About the Author

Psychotherapist Susan Anderson, founder of the abandonment recovery movement, has thirty years' experience working with the victims of trauma, grief, and loss. The author of The Journey from Abandonment to Healing (over 100,000 copies sold), she offers workshops throughout the world and lives in Huntington, New York.