Self Creation

by George Weinberg

A psychotherapist's explication of the key principle underlying personality formation and transformation brings to light the origins of feelings, attitudes, and beliefs and ways of freeing oneself from depression, anxiety, shyness, fear, and other destructive tendencies

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology

Paperback

First published March 1, 1978

Reviews

[Mat Rueter · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can make every one of your fears unbearable. Simply by acting on them.

[Gregg Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a pretty neurotic guy at times in my life and let me tell you, this author, Dr. George Weinberg, knows all about neurosis. And that's what makes Self Creation such a fantastic book.

Self Creation doesn't have the most attractive cover. I can't remember any buzz about the book when it first came out. There are only seven ratings (it took forever to come up in the Goodreads search engine) and no reviews on Goodreads. So what. It's still a great book. And smart people (I have seen Dr. Weinberg quoted in one of the most highly respected books on neurosis (Anxiety Disorders and Phobias by Aaron T. Beck and Gary Emery))will recognize the value of what he has written.

Dr. Weinberg's approach is simple and yet profound. The subtitle to his book is "The one key principle that will show you what you are, how you became that way, how you can change." In a nutshell the principle is action. Hardly a revolutionary notion, but the way it is explained is so insightfully convincing the idea seems brand spanking new. Here it is:

"EVERY TIME YOU ACT, YOU ADD STRENGTH TO THE MOTIVATING IDEA BEHIND WHAT YOU'VE DONE." (the author's caps) A little later he expounds on this theme. "Every time you do do something, the motivating idea or feeling that prompted you to do it is intensified. It can be an idea about yourself, about others, about the world. Whatever it is, it's reinforced when you act on it. It's as though the act retypes the motivating message in your mind. When it's not acted on, the message becomes weaker, as if fading from an electronic screen. When it is acted on, it becomes brighter, louder, recharged, prompting more of the same acts."

The good news is whatever you've acted upon in one way can be acted upon in the opposite way. Or as Dr. Weinberg wrote: "If you've got it, it came from you. You gave it to yourself. And you can take it away."

Take away what? Whatever it is that's troubling you.

One of the areas he focuses on is paranoia, a key element in the creation of which is self protection. He writes that every time we act to protect ourselves, we reinforce our fears. Of course there is such a thing as reasonable self protection, but that's not what he's addressing here. Again, he's addressing paranoia. And for the paranoid he asks, 'your acts of self protection, have they alleviated your fears?'

If you're of the paranoid bent the answer can only be 'no.' And Dr. Weinberg goes on to show that not only have your self protective acts not alleviated your fears, they have intensified them. A simple idea for this (and it is a little tricky) is that when you have a paranoid fear and you act to self protect against it, you will alleviate your momentary anxiety. ("Phew, I got out of that one!" you might say to yourself.) But in the long run you are reinforcing, intensifying your fear. His simple formula: act to self protect on your fear, you will decrease your anxiety but increase your fear; don't act on your fear, you will increase your anxiety but decrease your fear.

I gotta tell you it's hard as hell to follow that simple formula. But I'm also telling you it works. Battle through the momentary anxiety of not self protecting in scary situations and your fear will go down.

He writes: "Find the actions that reinforce your fears and refrain from them. You'll feel worse at first; you'll have all kinds of excuses for reverting to paranoid behavior, but your fears--and the paranoia--will subside."

Dr. Weinberg takes you through so many life situations (depression, relationships, success)that this principle applies to and how to use the principle to your advantage to live a healthier, happier life.

Want to shed some burdens in your life that are holding you back, weighing you down? This book is for you. I refer to it over and over. It never gets stale. It's a simple little book with a simple little idea at its core, but it is a life changer.

[Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

George Weinberg was my therapist for nearly three wasted years. He offered feel-good nonsense like all his books He was using me for grist for a book he cannot really write because my healing began after I left his claptrap