The Powerful Self: A Workbook of Therapeutic Self-Empowerment

I'm finding this book a huge help. It's not light reading, but the methods are effective. It's worth spending the time with it and doing the exercises. Better would be a trip to a counselor, but reading this book first would save you hours of time (and hundreds of $$$) in preparing you to think through the many issues involved and start processing the emotions involved. What I like most about the book is that it gives you specific things to practice as you experience various emotions. In fact, it encourages you to recall those troubling negative emotions like fear and anger and then immediately switch into the desired response mode. This kind of practice takes effort, but it IS life-changing, and worth all the time it takes. As a result of practicing these methods just a short time, I already feel a much greater sense of power over my own life.Lee Liebner, author/singer of "As You Go," an inspirational gift book/song-on-CD/scrapbook-journal for young people entering the world.

Sorry but It was boring.

Life changing! Deserves 20stars!

Great self empowerment tool.

While the thinking behind The Powerful Self seems sound, the truly awful writing rendered it nearly useless for me. Stosny's book is a powerful argument for hiring ghost writers or working with co-authors who can write and organize thoughts that the lay person can relate to. In his later collaboration on marriage he has thankfully done so. This book is poorly organized, with "workbook" exercises being presented to the clueless reader before his theory and vocabulary are fully explained or can be absorbed and understood. The book is dense with lists and acronyms which, unless you're already a Stosny follower, do little to further understanding. Stosny is probably very dynamic and effective in person and should either stick to that format - or get some professional (writing) help.

5 stars!

Thought this would be an informative and interesting book. No and no. I actually threw it away: It was a waste of space on my bookshelf. Adios!

Sigh. At first I thought Dr Stosny was really onto something helpful, and I did glean a couple of helpful small things from it. The problem for me is, that after a while, I found I had trouble with his concept of Core Values. Too long to go into in any detail in a review, but I kept coming back to feeling that he has a set idea of what core values should be and tries to manipulate the reader into accepting them all wholesale. Being in recovery from an old abusive situation, I felt like what his work demands is that I continue being a victim, because to me the core values smacked (sorry) of a victim's "make nice, keep the peace at all costs" response. However, I will say that his work was a stepping stone to finding someone else's work that suits me better. It may suit other folks more.

Very helpful.