Jean Cottraux
The Force Inside Us Publication date : October 18, 2007
“Give me strength.” Every day, psychotherapists are faced with this expression of their patients' painful fragility.
What is the secret of “strong” individuals? What constitutes a person's character? Are some personality types more likely to succeed than others? Are there psychological forces that lead to happiness? Can we pinpoint the traits that enable some of us to get more enjoyment out of life? What is the neurobiology of psychological strength over a lifetime?
These are some of the questions that are answered here, in this psychological quest for the forces that make up our internal strength.
Not only does this book examine the factors behind psychological strength, it also offers an original method of personal development: How can we find and learn to use our inner strengths in order to enhance our lives and well-being? What can we do to overcome repetitive life scenarios?
The answers to these questions lie in Positive Psychology. This new and as-yet little-known method approaches problems from a practical perspective, concentrating on those character strengths that are already present in each person rather than stressing the negative aspects of his or her personality.
The solutions given here are the outcome of the author's own experiences as a psychotherapist, teacher and scientist, and of the latest international research in psychology and the cognitive therapies.
Jean Cottraux, a hospital psychiatrist, is a former director of the anxiety treatment unit at the teaching hospital of Lyon. He is a Founding Fellow of Philadelphia's Academy of Cognitive Therapy and the honorary president of the Association Francophone de Formation et de Recherche en Thérapie Comportementale et Cognitive (a French-speakers' association for training and research in behavioural and cognitive therapies). A former president of the European Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapy, he is the author of the highly successful Les Ennemis intérieurs (1998), La Répétition des scénarios de vie (2001) and Les Visiteurs du soi (2004).
What is the secret of “strong” individuals? What constitutes a person's character? Are some personality types more likely to succeed than others? Are there psychological forces that lead to happiness? Can we pinpoint the traits that enable some of us to get more enjoyment out of life? What is the neurobiology of psychological strength over a lifetime?
These are some of the questions that are answered here, in this psychological quest for the forces that make up our internal strength.
Not only does this book examine the factors behind psychological strength, it also offers an original method of personal development: How can we find and learn to use our inner strengths in order to enhance our lives and well-being? What can we do to overcome repetitive life scenarios?
The answers to these questions lie in Positive Psychology. This new and as-yet little-known method approaches problems from a practical perspective, concentrating on those character strengths that are already present in each person rather than stressing the negative aspects of his or her personality.
The solutions given here are the outcome of the author's own experiences as a psychotherapist, teacher and scientist, and of the latest international research in psychology and the cognitive therapies.
Jean Cottraux, a hospital psychiatrist, is a former director of the anxiety treatment unit at the teaching hospital of Lyon. He is a Founding Fellow of Philadelphia's Academy of Cognitive Therapy and the honorary president of the Association Francophone de Formation et de Recherche en Thérapie Comportementale et Cognitive (a French-speakers' association for training and research in behavioural and cognitive therapies). A former president of the European Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapy, he is the author of the highly successful Les Ennemis intérieurs (1998), La Répétition des scénarios de vie (2001) and Les Visiteurs du soi (2004).