Invisible Masters: Compulsions and the Fear that Drives Them

by George Weinberg

Book Overview

In a groundbreaking study of compulsive behavior, the author concludes that compulsions are primarily driven by a variety of fears. 25,000 first printing. Tour. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452273714
• ISBN13: 9780452273719
• Release Date: February 1995
• Publisher: Plume
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

How our unconscious compulsions affect our lives

Sigmund Freud said: "The mind is an iceberg-it floats with only 1/7 of its bulk above water." [quoted in Leo Rosten's Carnival of Wit Dutton NY 1994, page 402]. Most of us have hidden, unconscious compulsions that control our lives in strange ways. Mostly, when asked, we make up logical explanations (excuses) for what we do. This book is about compulsions which are based on unconscious motivations. It helps to raise into the light some of our "underwater" drivers. It includes numbers of examples as well as explanations. My favorite quote from the book is on pages 88-89: "Every compulsive need is reinforced not just by the compulsion itself but by other behaviors that undermine the person. Identifying and stopping these subtle actions that induce pessimism and hopelessness is absolutely necessary in order to break the grip of compulsions. It is possible for a person to identify the acts that are maintaining his or her own dread or self-loathing...critical acts re-infecting the person with his dread...eliminate them in order to annihilate any urge for the compulsion." Also, you might look at: Loren E. Pederson's "Dark Hearts-The Unconscious Forces that Shape Men's Lives" Shambhala, Boston 1991 and and John A. Sanford "The Invisible Partners" Paulist Press NY 1980.