Publisher's Synopsis
The Pieper/Pieper PhD/MD team published one of the best-received parenting books of 1999: Smart Love: The Compassionate Alternative to Discipline that Will Make You a Better Parent and Your Child a Better Person. Smart Love, published by Harvard Common Press, has sold 40,000 copies in hardcover at 22.95 since April 1999 and will be released as a trade paperback in May 2001. The authors received extensive national media coverage and endorsements from everyone from Ann Landers to the founder of Children's Television Workshop. Now, the Piepers have turned their attention to adults. Addicted to Unhappiness is based on their own clinical research into the nature of children's love for their parents and the way in which it fosters an unrecognized "addiction" to unhappiness that follows them into adulthood. In their work with hundreds of children and adults, the Piepers discovered that when discipline and excessive expectations are imposed on young children, they learn to equate feelings of unhappiness with loving relationships. This misidentification persists into adulthood and explains why so many adults create unhappiness in the process of seeking happiness and love.;This unrecognized self-sabotage is the explanation for diverse yet common problems such as overspending, fear of new situations, romantic choices that break hearts, and career mishaps. Addicted to Unhappiness offers a plan for life that helps readers understand their secret need to be unhappy, overcome it, and reclaim the happiness that is their true birthright. In the process, they will learn to conquer health problems including destructive moods, overeating and lack of exercise; build strong, lasting relationships; and achieve career satisfaction and success. Like the best selling Toxic Parents (Forward) and Necessary Losses (Viorst), Addicted to Unhappiness shows readers that the effects of their childhood experiences live on to affect them as adults. Unlike Toxic Parents, however, the Piepers do not blame parents or encourage readers to engage in aggressive confrontations with them, taking instead an enlightened, understanding approach. Unlike Necessary Losses, Addicted to Unhappiness does not suggest that frequent bouts of inner happiness are normal and inevitable.;Instead, it offers readers a well-founded optimism, based on research, that the birthright of every person is an inner happiness that can remain stable in the face of the ups and downs of everyday life. Addicted to Unhappiness includes illustrative case examples drawn from the authors' own practice, general guidelines, self-assessment exercises and concrete, practical steps for achieving change - all in the context of a life plan for inner happiness. For more than 25 years, the Piepers have each been in private practice treating children, adolescents and adults; supervising other mental health professionals, and doing clinical research. Martha Heineman Pieper received her PhD from the University of Chicago and her BA from Radcliff College. Dr. Pieper served on the editorial bards of Social Work and Smith College Studies in Social Work and has published extensively in professional journals. William J. Pieper received his BS and MD degrees from the University of Illinois.;He has served as a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD, on the faculty of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis, and has taught at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. The Piepers are the parents of five children. Hometown: Chicago, IL
