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The Curse of the Capable: The Hidden Challenges to a Balanced, Healthy, High-Achieving Life
Discover what achievers all over the world are realizing.
The story you created about yourself early in life, which is part fiction, is having a dramatic impact on your present lifestyle--how you think and live.
The assumption that all capable people in our culture have peace of mind and are satisfied with their life course is commonplace. Is this notion true? Not always. In fact millions have fallen prey to a belief system that says appearance and status provide the golden road to love and respect. In an attempt to perfect themselves, they are hiding their self doubt through constant achievement at the cost of losing balance and well-being.
Suffering from being overwhelmed emotionally and physically, exhausted and fatigued, often with the health complications of being overweight; they have felt deeply disappointed.
The Curse of the Capable describes how a biased view of yourself can lead to a fragile sense of self, addictive thinking and behavior, and a seemingly mysterious downward spiral that the majority of people can’t see or untangle.
The story you created about yourself early in life, which is part fiction, is having a dramatic impact on your present lifestyle--how you think and live.
The assumption that all capable people in our culture have peace of mind and are satisfied with their life course is commonplace. Is this notion true? Not always. In fact millions have fallen prey to a belief system that says appearance and status provide the golden road to love and respect. In an attempt to perfect themselves, they are hiding their self doubt through constant achievement at the cost of losing balance and well-being.
Suffering from being overwhelmed emotionally and physically, exhausted and fatigued, often with the health complications of being overweight; they have felt deeply disappointed.
The Curse of the Capable describes how a biased view of yourself can lead to a fragile sense of self, addictive thinking and behavior, and a seemingly mysterious downward spiral that the majority of people can’t see or untangle.
200 pages, Paperback
First published November 3, 2009
10 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Arthur P. Ciaramicoli
14 books25 followersArthur P. Ciaramicoli, Ed.D., Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist who has been treating clients for more than 30 years. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Massachusetts Psychological Association. Currently in private practice, Dr. Ciaramicoli has been on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for several years, lecturer for the American Cancer Society, Chief Psychologist at Metrowest Medical Center, and director of the Metrowest Counseling Center and of the Alternative Medicine division of Metrowest Wellness Center in Framingham, Massachusetts.
In addition to treating patients, Dr. Ciaramicoli is a consultant to the Johns Hopkins Civility Initiative, and has lectured at Harvard Health Services, Boston College Counseling Center, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore as well as being a consultant to several major corporations in the Boston area.
Dr. Ciaramicoli is also a seasoned media expert. He has appeared on CNN, CNNfn, Fox News Boston, Comcast TV, New England Cable News, Good Morning America Weekend, The O’Reilly Report, and other shows. He has been a weekly radio guest on Your Healthy Family on Sirius Satellite Radio and Holistic Health Today, and has been interviewed on The People’s Pharmacy, The Gary Null Show, and more than two dozen other radio programs airing on NPR, XM Radio, and numerous AM and FM stations.
Dr. Ciaramicoli is the author of Performance Addiction: The Dangerous New Syndrome and How to Stop It from Ruining Your Life (Wiley 2004) and The Power of Empathy: A Practical Guide to Creating Intimacy, Self-Understanding, and Lasting Love (Dutton 2000), which is now published in 7 languages and is soon to be released in Turkey. His first book, Treatment of Abuse and Addiction, A Holistic Approach(Jason Aronson, 1997) was selected as Book of the Month by The Psychotherapy Book News. He is also the coauthor of Beyond the Influence: Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism (Bantam 2000). Dr. Ciaramicoli lives in a suburb of Boston with his wife and two daughters.
In addition to treating patients, Dr. Ciaramicoli is a consultant to the Johns Hopkins Civility Initiative, and has lectured at Harvard Health Services, Boston College Counseling Center, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore as well as being a consultant to several major corporations in the Boston area.
Dr. Ciaramicoli is also a seasoned media expert. He has appeared on CNN, CNNfn, Fox News Boston, Comcast TV, New England Cable News, Good Morning America Weekend, The O’Reilly Report, and other shows. He has been a weekly radio guest on Your Healthy Family on Sirius Satellite Radio and Holistic Health Today, and has been interviewed on The People’s Pharmacy, The Gary Null Show, and more than two dozen other radio programs airing on NPR, XM Radio, and numerous AM and FM stations.
Dr. Ciaramicoli is the author of Performance Addiction: The Dangerous New Syndrome and How to Stop It from Ruining Your Life (Wiley 2004) and The Power of Empathy: A Practical Guide to Creating Intimacy, Self-Understanding, and Lasting Love (Dutton 2000), which is now published in 7 languages and is soon to be released in Turkey. His first book, Treatment of Abuse and Addiction, A Holistic Approach(Jason Aronson, 1997) was selected as Book of the Month by The Psychotherapy Book News. He is also the coauthor of Beyond the Influence: Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism (Bantam 2000). Dr. Ciaramicoli lives in a suburb of Boston with his wife and two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 5, 2024
The Curse of the Capable is a self help guide by two distinguished authors: a Ph.D. clinical psychologist with decades of experience and a reknowned performance lifestyle coach. The purpose of the book is to help you determine if and to what extent you may suffer from PA (Performance Addiction) and how it is adversely affecting your life and those around you.
Dr. Ciaramicoli instructs you how to look back at the past and realize that you have created a fictionalized version of yourself; one who at all times must be achieving and at the top of the pecking order and maintaining this fiction takes a severe toll on your emotional, and physical well being. As of course it does for those close to you as well; oftentimes driving a wedge between you and a spouse or other family members. He then begins on a five step approach to turn your life around and become the happy and much healthier you; essentially to re-write the book of you into something much more like a non-fiction book than the novel that you have made up.
The authors steps are sound and the book is full of stories of patients who have faced their insecurities built up in childhood, often by rigid parents driving the child to strive for perfection. This perfectionism, in turn, has led to "the curse" of Performance Addiction. Following the book's step-by-step guidance, the overachiever will learn how to take back control of his story and his life, improving his relationships, well being and physical fitness. Exercise is a necessary and very important aspect of leading a balanced life, and most of those suffering from PA have always felt they had no time, or certainly not the required amount of time, to devote to it.
While personally I have never been an over achiever, yet many of the things Dr. Ciaramicoli covered do apply to me such as the over emphasis we place on "looking good" and always striving to do better, be better, dieting, etc. The negativity I was bombarded with from family, particularly my father and siblings in childhood, came to the forefront, as I realized this is something that happens to many people and of course I realized the consequences of that lead to years of emotional and physical struggle (exacerbated by body shaming, etc.).
I feel many people can benefit from this book and it will definitely raise your emotional intelligence and should help guide you on a path to well being.
Dr. Ciaramicoli instructs you how to look back at the past and realize that you have created a fictionalized version of yourself; one who at all times must be achieving and at the top of the pecking order and maintaining this fiction takes a severe toll on your emotional, and physical well being. As of course it does for those close to you as well; oftentimes driving a wedge between you and a spouse or other family members. He then begins on a five step approach to turn your life around and become the happy and much healthier you; essentially to re-write the book of you into something much more like a non-fiction book than the novel that you have made up.
The authors steps are sound and the book is full of stories of patients who have faced their insecurities built up in childhood, often by rigid parents driving the child to strive for perfection. This perfectionism, in turn, has led to "the curse" of Performance Addiction. Following the book's step-by-step guidance, the overachiever will learn how to take back control of his story and his life, improving his relationships, well being and physical fitness. Exercise is a necessary and very important aspect of leading a balanced life, and most of those suffering from PA have always felt they had no time, or certainly not the required amount of time, to devote to it.
While personally I have never been an over achiever, yet many of the things Dr. Ciaramicoli covered do apply to me such as the over emphasis we place on "looking good" and always striving to do better, be better, dieting, etc. The negativity I was bombarded with from family, particularly my father and siblings in childhood, came to the forefront, as I realized this is something that happens to many people and of course I realized the consequences of that lead to years of emotional and physical struggle (exacerbated by body shaming, etc.).
I feel many people can benefit from this book and it will definitely raise your emotional intelligence and should help guide you on a path to well being.
July 14, 2010
Basically, this book was a pile of crap.
Want to read
August 25, 2016not in overdrive
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews