



Everyday Narcissism
Yours, Mine, and Ours
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A step-by-step program that shows how to recognize everyday narcissism in ourselves and others and respond in healthy ways.
Narcissism, in all forms, is a belief that the world revolves around us, and that what happens in the world happens because of us. Most of us live with a form of narcissism so deeply embedded that we don't even know we have it. This "everyday narcissism" (EN) comes from a combination of childhood wounds and powerful myths we were taught as children. Everyday Narcissism helps readers understand how EN manifests in their own lives, and teaches them how to heal it. This awareness provides a foundation for creating greater happiness, more fulfilling relationships, less reactivity, and more meaning.
An essential purchase for anyone having difficulty in a relationship, with a partner, coworker, family member, or other loved one. This is the first book for the general reader to specifically address everyday narcissism (EN).Features a Foreword by Anne Katherine, best-selling author of Boundaries and Where to Draw the Line.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Licensed psychologist Van Dyken argues there is a single source for a wide swath of mental hang-ups and neuroses. Using examples from her clients' lives, she argues that messages from authority figures during childhood shape people to believe myths about their responsibility for others' emotions and their ability to control the world. She coins "everyday narcissism" to describe the resulting passivity, inability to discuss emotion, and self-denial that these myths teach are appropriate behavior. She offers several exercises for readers to help work through childhood wounds and move towards a more balanced approach to mental health. Paradoxically, her view of a healthy psyche (always attending to your own needs first, refusing anything that you deem unpleasant, forcing others into what amounts to awkward conversations about feelings) runs closer to the colloquial usage of narcissism than her reworking of the concept. As a unifying theory of all relationship and personal problems, everyday narcissism becomes too diffuse to be particularly useful. For people overwhelmed by their desire to be liked or a belief that they can control others' emotions, this guide provides concrete, useful guidance out of these traps. Yet, the work is not nearly as universal nor convincing as Van Dyken claims.