The Bitch in Your Head

Book excerpt: Do you ever find yourself thinking, how could you be so stupid, you look fat, or you’re a horrible mother? Are you afraid people will find out you’ve fooled them into thinking you're competent? If you’re guilty of expressing these types of discouraging messages, then you have a bitch in your head. This self-critical behavior can wreak havoc with your life—it can keep you from getting the love you want, the raise you deserve, or even a good night’s sleep. Dr. Plumez began to notice a pattern with her patients being too hard on themselves. She found that gentler approaches didn’t work, but when she told them they were being a bitch—to themselves!—they finally recognized their self-defeating attitude and how much it was weighing them down.With this book, Dr. Plumez can help you banish the bitch. It identifies the different types of “bitches”—work, marriage, parenting, and so on—and provides effective tools and techniques to combat the forms of self-destruction described. Once you begin to encourage rather than criticize, you will find that your career, social life, and relationships almost magically improve.