Performance Addiction: The Dangerous New Syndrome and How to Stop It from Ruining Your Life - Hardcover

by Arthur Ciaramicoli (Author)

"The best book I've seen on how we can stop sabotaging our need for balance. Compulsive achievers will find here everything they need to gain the sense of satisfaction that's eluded them. This book is a must-read for men and women struggling with the mystery of why they're not happy. This is a most wise, helpful, and important book, and it's wonderfully readable."
-Mira Kirshenbaum
author of Everything Happens for a Reason and The Emotional Energy Factor
"Every perfectionistic, hypervigilant person wondering why peace of mind is so elusive should read this book. Dr. Ciaramicoli totally nails the issue of performance addiction and offers all the help you need. A life-changing book."
-Dr. Charles Foster, author of Feel Better Fast
"A much-welcome, reader-friendly, utterly unpretentious call to sanity. With clarity and disarming simplicity, Dr. Arthur Ciaramicoli exposes the futility and indeed the harm of our collective compulsive ride on the achievement treadmill. . . . Performance Addiction is a crash course in essential wisdom for today. Read it and give it to anyone about whose mental health and happiness you deeply care."
-P. M. Forni, Professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of Choosing Civility
"Integrating theory with compelling stories from his clinical practice, Dr. Ciaramicoli provides concrete, practical methods to address the growing problem of performance addiction."
-Richard Kadison, M.D.
Chief, Mental Health Services, Harvard University Health Services
Do you achieve goals without feeling fulfilled?
Do you think your hard work will win you love and respect?
Do you feel as if you're never doing well enough?
In this intriguing and prescriptive guide, Harvard Medical School instructor Dr. Arthur P. Ciaramicoli explains this new psychological issue, revealing the reasons why the label of success so rarely leads to happiness. Performance Addiction gives you action steps for freeing yourself from the obligation to excel, finding new meaning in your work and relationships, and going beyond material reward to obtain genuine, healthy accomplishment throughout your life. Through illuminating self-evaluations and writing exercises, you'll gain a stronger sense of self, learn to balance your work and your personal life, and at long last find the satisfaction that comes from breaking your patterns of addictive behavior and finding new, better ways to accept and give love.

Front Jacket

Why do so many of the most accomplished, successful, and admired people in the world remain unhappy and unfulfilled in spite of their achievements? If you feel that way, according to Dr. Arthur P. Ciaramicoli, Harvard Medical School instructor, you may suffer from performance addiction-the belief that perfecting appearance and achieving status will secure the love and respect of others.

If you achieve for the sake of achieving . . . if you feel removed from your family and friends . . . if your work has become a burden and the demands seem relentless . . . if you feel as if what you do is never good enough, this breakthrough book can change your life.

In Performance Addiction, Dr. Ciaramicoli explains the psychological factors that lead to this problem and then gives you the tools you need to overcome it. Revealing insights gleaned through his research and clinical practice, he helps you determine if you are a performance addict and the level of your addiction, giving you action steps and a prescriptive program to achieve lasting happiness and success at home and at work.

Featuring enlightening questions, writing exercises, and self-evaluations throughout, this hands-on guide shows you how to trace the origins of your addiction and replace your belief system with a more balanced life.

You'll be privy to intimate discussions between Dr. Ciaramicoli and many of his clients who have come to terms with their addiction. These case studies will allow you to have the confidence, knowledge, and tools to:

• Balance your work and your personal life
• Discover how remarkable it is to be "ordinary"
• Resist the lure of glamour and the quest for glory
• Value relationships in terms of love and friendship rather than status and image
• Be happier, more secure, and more satisfied with your life

You can slow down, reduce your perfectionism, and reap wonderful rewards-read Performance Addiction and break free.

Back Jacket

The best book I've seen on how we can stop sabotaging our need for balance. Compulsive achievers will find here everything they need to gain the sense of satisfaction that's eluded them. This book is a must-read for men and women struggling with the mystery of why they're not happy. This is a most wise, helpful, and important book, and it's wonderfully readable.""
-Mira Kirshenbaum
author of Everything Happens for a Reason and The Emotional Energy Factor

""Every perfectionistic, hypervigilant person wondering why peace of mind is so elusive should read this book. Dr. Ciaramicoli totally nails the issue of performance addiction and offers all the help you need. A life-changing book.""
-Dr. Charles Foster, author of Feel Better Fast

""A much-welcome, reader-friendly, utterly unpretentious call to sanity. With clarity and disarming simplicity, Dr. Arthur Ciaramicoli exposes the futility and indeed the harm of our collective compulsive ride on the achievement treadmill. . . . Performance Addiction is a crash course in essential wisdom for today. Read it and give it to anyone about whose mental health and happiness you deeply care.""
-P. M. Forni, Professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of Choosing Civility

""Integrating theory with compelling stories from his clinical practice, Dr. Ciaramicoli provides concrete, practical methods to address the growing problem of performance addiction.""
-Richard Kadison, M.D.
Chief, Mental Health Services, Harvard University Health Services

Do you achieve goals without feeling fulfilled?
Do you think your hard work will win you love and respect?
Do you feel as if you're never doing well enough?

In this intriguing and prescriptive guide, Harvard Medical School instructor Dr. Arthur P. Ciaramicoli explains this new psychological issue, revealing the reasons why the label of success so rarely leads to happiness. Performance Addiction gives you action steps for freeing yourself from the obligation to excel, finding new meaning in your work and relationships, and going beyond material reward to obtain genuine, healthy accomplishment throughout your life. Through illuminating self-evaluations and writing exercises, you'll gain a stronger sense of self, learn to balance your work and your personal life, and at long last find the satisfaction that comes from breaking your patterns of addictive behavior and finding new, better ways to accept and give love.

Author Biography

ARTHUR P. CIARAMICOLI, Ed.D., Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and Instructor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School, is the coauthor of The Power of Empathy. He has a substantial private practice, does corporate lecturing, and has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor as well as numerous national radio programs.