Using her rich and inviting therapeutic voice, Lerner shares advice on how tobe our best and bravest selves, even when our hearts are filled with fear andthe shaming messages of others.

Unhappiness, says bestselling author Harriet Lerner, is fueled by three key emotions: anxiety, fear, and shame. They are the uninvited guests in our lives. When tragedy or hardship hits, they may become our constant companions.

Anxiety can wash over us like a tidal wave or operate as a silent thrum under the surface of our daily lives. With stories that are sometimes hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking, Lerner takes us from “fear lite” to the most difficult lessons the universe sends us. We learn: how a man was “cured in a day” of the fear of rejection — and what we can learn from his story
how the author overcame her dread of public speaking when her worst fears were realized
how to deal with the fear of not being good enough, and with the shame of feeling essentially flawed and inadequate
how to stay calm and clear in an anxious, crazy workplace
how to manage fear and despair when life sends a crash course in illness, vulnerability, and loss
how “positive thinking” helps — and harms
how to be our best and bravest selves, even when we are terrified and have internalized the shaming messages of others

No one signs up for anxiety, fear, and shame, but we can't avoid them either. As we learn to respond to these three key emotions in new ways, we can live more fully in the present and move into the future with courage, clarity, humor, and hope. “Fear and Other Uninvited Guests” shows us how.

Review
“A flat-out life-changing book.”—Betty Carter, M.S.W. Director Emerita, Family Institute of Westchester, New York

Lerner, an internationally acclaimed expert on the psychology of women, is a staff psychologist and psychotherapist at the Menninger Clinic and a distinguished lecturer, consultant, and workshop leader. She was born in 1944 and received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the City University of New York.