ABOUT THE BOOK Mastering Your Moods: Recognizing Your Emotional Style and Making It Work for You FROM THE PUBLISHER Armed with the information in this book, you never have to feel out of control or overwhelmed. Diverging from the prevailing psychological trends of the past twenty or so years, in which nurture alone predicted your ability to get on in the world, Dr. Melvyn Kinder reveals that nature is at least as important in determining emotional states, such as moods. The new field of psychobiology explains how the brain and mind interact to cause behavior - how brain states create mind states - ranging from depression to rage to anxiety. Researchers now estimate that about 50 percent of our personality traits are inherited and that trying to change, improve, or mutate who we are through looking at our past is ultimately bound to fail. Dr. Kinder's thesis springs from this notion: emotions are neither good nor bad, right or wrong, or necessarily born of past trauma. But they are predictable. This book focuses on four temperament types - the Sensor, the Focuser, the Discharger, and the Seeker. The Sensor is extrasensitive to outer stimulation, which sometimes makes him or her overly anxious or fearful. The Focuser is the person who has a heightened awareness of inner feelings or lack of them, and this can create moodiness or worry. The Discharger is the person who feels free to vent any feelings, but this spontaneity and expressiveness can set off anger or frustration. The Seeker craves sensation, but unfulfilled cravings can lead to restlessness or boredom. By using Dr. Kinder's practical advice on how to recognize your temperament type you can predict your reactions and, therefore, achieve a state of mind that will offset your destructive emotions. No blame. No shame. No guilt. Just self-acceptance from recognition and practice. This process of identification and self-acceptance offers freedom from feelings that not only make your life unpleasant but also erode your self-esteem. In addition, this knowledge makes dealing with the moods of others infinitely easier. Masterin FROM THE CRITICS Publishers Weekly Millions of Americans mistakenly believe they are neurotic or have ``personality disorders," argues the author of this commonsense guide. As a result, many spend years in therapy, analyzing their present and past circumstances, yet never find resolutions. The difficulty, according to Kinder ( Smart Women, Foolish Choices ), is that what they perceive as problems usually are not. Instead, most ``neuroses" are manifestations of one of four personality styles: the Sensor (sensitive, introverted); the Focuser (introverted, prone to depression and worry); the Discharger (extroverted, emotionally expressive); or the Seeker (sensation-seeking, extroverted). These temperaments, claims Kinder, are biochemically based; attempting to change or hide one's temperament, then, creates undue stress. The solution is to work with one's personality (``setting your emotional thermostat"), enhancing its positive attributes and finding constructive ways to express (not deny or hide) the negative. The Focuser, for example, becomes vexed when idle, due to a high-arousal threshold; instead of ``thought stopping" or dredging up the past to find a ``root," Focusers should acknowledge their feelings, then find an activity to ``focus" on other than their own thoughts

Personality  And  Emotions,  Emotions  --  Physiological  Aspects,  Mood  (Psychology)  --  Physiological  Aspects,  Temperament,  Self-help  Techniques