Taming Your Inner Brat: A Guide For Transforming Self-Defeating Behavior

"Why did I say that?" "I can’t believe I ate all that!" "What was I thinking?"

Every one of us has said or done something that we later regret, even though we know better. And we’re likely to do it over and over again. There are specific reasons why we repeat such patterns, reasons embodied in a concept called the "inner brat." Not a psychiatric diagnosis, this inner brat nevertheless gets us into trouble. Taming Your Inner Brat explores the inner brat in all of us, explaining its psychological roots in early childhood and why bratty thoughts, feelings, and behaviors persist. It also addresses social and cultural conditions that encourage the self-centeredness and sense of entitlement upon which the inner brat thrives. Learn to recognize the inner brat and acquire specific strategies and skills, based on the latest research from experts in the field, to bring it under control. This book is about personal responsibility. We are not victims of our own impulses, addictions, or bad memories. No longer can we say, "The devil made me do it," or, "It’s my parents’ fault." Dr. Wallin shows us how to view ourselves objectively to bring problems into manageable perspective and make changes that last.