The complete idiot's guide to breaking bad habits

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:LeVert, Suzanne.
Imprint:New York : Alpha Books, c1998.
Description:xxiv, 308 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Language:English
Subject:Compulsive behavior
Vices
Substance abuse
Electronic books.
Format: E-Resource Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/4421138
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Varying Form of Title:Idiot's guide to breaking bad habits
Breaking bad habits
Other authors / contributors:McClain, Gary, Ph. D.
NetLibrary, Inc.
ISBN:0585089337 (electronic bk.) : $16.95
0028621107
Notes:Includes index.
Electronic reproduction. Boulder, Colo. : NetLibrary, 2000. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to NetLibrary affiliated libraries.
Table of Contents:
  • Part 1. Over and Over Again
  • 1. What Is a Bad Habit?
  • Understanding the Habit: Good and Bad
  • When a Habit Turns Bad
  • Pick a Habit, Any Habit
  • Top Ten Bad Habits
  • But You Love Your Daily Rituals
  • Is Your Life Interfering with Your Habit?
  • It's Not Me, It's My Life
  • Self-Test Challenge: What's Your Lifestyle?
  • Part A
  • Part B
  • Part C
  • Part D
  • Answer Key
  • Or, Is Your Habit Interfering with Your Life?
  • Separating the Good from the Bad
  • Walking the Fine Line
  • Courage to Change
  • 2. Why You Do the Things You Do
  • Slowly but Surely, the Habit Formed
  • The Devil Made Me Do It
  • The Pleasure Principle
  • Practice Makes Perfect
  • When You Can't Give It Up
  • Will the Real You Please Stand Up?
  • 3. But I Like It Like That
  • Go Figure
  • What Kind of Idiot Are You?
  • Constant Cravings
  • Tempting Tendencies
  • Compelling Compulsions
  • Striving for Balance
  • New Year's Resolutions
  • Part 2. Just Say No!
  • 4. Okay, So How Do You Stop?
  • Rome Wasn't Built in a Day
  • Learning to Live with or Without It: The Biology of Habit
  • The Scarlett O'Hara Syndrome or "I'll Think About It Tomorrow"
  • Facing Your Fears
  • Erasing the Tape
  • Writing It Down
  • Take One Step Forward
  • 5. Step 1: Identify the Behavior
  • Who, Where, When, Why, How?
  • Uprooting Your Bad Habit(s)
  • Reruns with a New Cast
  • Be Your Own Bad Habit Detective
  • Your Daily Habit Log
  • Read It and Weep
  • Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
  • 6. Step 2: Evaluate Risks and Benefits
  • So What's Stopping You?
  • What's Good About Your Bad Habit?
  • In the Short Term
  • In the Long Run
  • What's Baaaad About Your Bad Habit?
  • In the Short Term
  • For the Long Run
  • What's the Worst That Could Happen?
  • What's the Best That Could Happen?
  • 7. Step 3: Prepare for Change
  • Holding On to That Last Cigarette
  • Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative
  • Creating a Conducive Environment
  • Paving the Emotional Way
  • With a Little Help from Your Friends
  • Feeding Your Brain, Starving Your Bad Habit
  • Picturing the New You
  • Free, Free at Last!
  • 8. Step 4: Just Do It!
  • And You're Off!
  • Baby Steps, Always Baby Steps
  • Getting Through It While You Do It
  • Finding a New Release
  • Say a Little Prayer
  • Rewards, Not Punishments
  • "I Don't Recognize You Without Your Bad Habit"
  • 9. Get Back on That Horse
  • Like a Wave Crashing on the Shore
  • Relapse Traps: Which One Did You Fall Into?
  • Calling Back the Troops
  • Purge the Urge
  • Staying the Course
  • Part 3. Resist Those Cravings
  • 10. Identifying Your Cravings
  • The Nature of a Craving
  • When You've Just Got to Have It
  • Is It All in Your Head?
  • Or Is It a Chemical Thing?
  • When Willpower Is Not Enough
  • Up on the High Wire
  • 11. Easing Up on Alcohol
  • Drinking: An American Pastime
  • Alcohol and the Body 101
  • To Drink or Not To Drink, That Is the Question
  • When Is Drinking a Problem?
  • Too Much at the Holiday Party Again
  • Drinking Alone
  • Binge Drinking: A Dangerous Trend
  • Hung Over and Hating It
  • Sober Is Better
  • Choosing Not to Drink
  • Learning Moderation
  • 12. Put That Cigarette Out!
  • Why, Oh Why, Is Quitting Smoking So Hard?
  • Nicotine: Is It Addictive?
  • The Very Feel of It
  • What Smoking Does to Your Body
  • Smoking Stats and Your Health
  • The Good News About Quitting
  • "Sure I Can Quit Smoking; I Do It All the Time"
  • Smoking as a Chronic Disease: Treatment Is Available
  • Hair of the Dog, Smoking-Wise
  • A Way to Even Out
  • Take a Deep Breath
  • 13. Calming the Caffeine Jitters
  • Running on Empty: When Only a Jolt Will Do
  • Caffeine and Your Body: Welcome to Central Perk
  • How Less Caffeine Equals More Energy
  • Caffeine Here, There, Everywhere
  • Get That Mo-Jo Working
  • "Don't Tell Me to Drink Tea ..."
  • Bring on the Bubbly
  • How Sweet It is
  • Water? Caffeinated Water?
  • Taking What's Good for You
  • Just One Cup Won't Hurt, Will It?
  • The Zen of a Stress-Free Body and Mind
  • 14. Food, Not-So-Glorious Food
  • You Gotta Eat, Don't You?
  • The ABCs of Nutrition
  • When the Refrigerator Wins
  • When You Just Gotta Have It
  • When You're Starving
  • When Too Much Is Never Enough
  • Reality Log: You Are What You Eat
  • The Last Ten (or Thirty) Pounds
  • The Fat-Free Trap
  • Pills and Supplements
  • "You Mean I Have to Exercise?"
  • Exercise and Your Body
  • What Kind of Shape Are You In?
  • Working Out
  • The Refrigerator, Unchained
  • Balance
  • Structure
  • Satisfaction
  • Part 4. Stop Driving Me (and Everyone Else) Crazy!
  • 15. Tame Those Tendencies
  • "Me? I Don't Have Tendencies"
  • When the Rest of the World Has the Real Problem
  • Looking Inward: A Self-Test Challenge
  • You Can't Change Your Relationships Until You Change Yourself
  • 16. Be Straightforward
  • Little White Lies and Big Whoppers
  • Deceptions and Subterfuges
  • The Grand Gesture
  • Make It Go Away
  • Catching Yourself in the Act
  • Keeping Track of the Truth
  • Forgetting About It
  • Losing Your Cool
  • What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate
  • Overcoming Stress
  • Your Itchy Trigger Finger
  • Talking About It
  • 17. Starting Right Now
  • When You Can't Get There on Time
  • Yes, You! A Procrastination Self-Test
  • What's Stopping You
  • Fear of Failure
  • Fear of Success
  • Feeling Overwhelmed
  • Time Management Missteps
  • Plain Old Laziness
  • Stop Procrastinating!
  • Breaking Big Tasks into Little Ones
  • Making Lists
  • Rewarding Yourself
  • The Motivation Factor
  • Tomorrow Is Another Day
  • 18. Establishing Emotional Integrity
  • Did I Do That?
  • The Top Ten Things You Need from People in Your Life
  • The Fine Art of Sharing
  • All in the Family
  • But They Still Treat Me Like I'm Twelve!"
  • Transforming Family Relationships
  • Love, Ah, Love
  • Inability to Commit
  • Pushing It
  • Sex: Feast or Famine?
  • People in General
  • Stalkers Anonymous
  • The Guru Syndrome
  • Knowing Who's Good for You
  • Part 5. Calming Those Compulsions
  • 19. Identify Your Compulsions
  • When You Just, Just, Just Can't Help It
  • A Compelling Self-Test You Won't Be Able to Resist
  • One More Time
  • Your First Time, Redux
  • A Hard Look at Your Compulsion
  • Learning to Stop
  • Physical Substitutes
  • Positive Reinforcement
  • Meditation
  • Channeling Your Energy in a New Direction
  • 20. Your Very Personal, Personal Space
  • A Close Call
  • Those Quirks Really Are Annoying
  • "It Wasn't Me": Owning Your Farts
  • "I Gotta Be Me": A Matter of Public Expression
  • Head-to-Toe Habits
  • Hair Twirling, Nose Picking, Teeth Grinding/Clenching, Gum Snapping, Knuckle Cracking, Nail Biting, Knee Shaking, Toe Tapping, Belching, Farting, and All Those Other Things You Do
  • Stop It! Right Now!
  • You Can't Be Too Clean
  • Can't We All Just Get Along?
  • 21. Taming the Organizational Devil
  • You Are What You Own
  • Everything in Its Place
  • Too Much Order
  • What's Really Out of Place
  • Finding Your Inner Slob and Loving It!
  • The Chaos Theory ... at Home
  • Damaging Disorder
  • The Terrors of Tossing
  • Creating Order in the Home
  • The Chaos Theory at the Office
  • Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
  • 22. Finally, Fiscal Fidelity
  • Your Money Style
  • Spending Too Much?
  • Financial Records in Disarray?
  • Tax Nightmares?
  • Experiencing Budget Phobia?
  • The Thrill of a Gamble
  • From the Casino to the Stock Market
  • "I Know When to Stop ..."
  • Playing It Safe
  • Ralph Kramdenitis: Another Get-Rich-Quick Scheme
  • Putting Your Financial House in Order
  • 23. Loving an Electronic High
  • Tuning In, Tuning Out
  • The Boob Tube Personified
  • What a Tangled Web You Weave
  • The Pretender: Anonymous Chatting Personified
  • The Lover: Online Relationships
  • The Media Awed: Endless Surfing
  • The Gamester: Playing It Unsafe
  • Here a Phone, There a Pager
  • Breaking Free from the Airwaves
  • Part 6. Bad Habits and the Big Picture
  • 24. When Someone You Love Has a Bad Habit
  • Should Love Be Blind?
  • Denial Is More Than Just a River in Egypt: Identifying Your Coping Skills
  • Codependence: In the Bad Habit Together
  • Stepping In, Gingerly
  • Moving Forward Together
  • 25. Kids Do the Darnedest Things
  • It's a Family Affair
  • Communication, Communication, Communication
  • The Family Meeting
  • Discipline Is Not a Dirty Word
  • Presenting Alternatives and Consequences
  • The Fine Art of Follow Through
  • Calming Constant Cravings
  • Avoiding Mealtime Hassles
  • Establishing Healthful Consumption Habits
  • Avoiding Annoying Tendencies
  • Stubbornness
  • No Such Thing as a White Lie
  • Pouting, Complaining, and Fighting
  • Cornering Those Compulsions
  • Nail-Biting, Hair-Twirling, and Other Personal "Issues"
  • Chores, Chores, Chores
  • The Mighty Lure of TVs and Computers
  • And So It Begins
  • 26. Sit, Stay, Behavel
  • Git Along, Little Doggie
  • Dog Basic Training
  • The Top Ten Doggie Bad Habits
  • Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty
  • Cat Basic Training
  • Top Ten Bad Cat Habits and What to Do
  • Living Happily and Habit-Free with Your Pet
  • 27. Knowing When You Need More Help
  • The Fine Line Revisited
  • To Be in Therapy or Not To Be in Therapy: When a Therapist Can Help
  • Choosing the Right Kind of Therapy for You
  • Finding a Therapist and Dealing with Insurance
  • How Therapy Can Help You Break Your Bad Habit
  • Just What the Doctor Ordered
  • Twelve Steps and Beyond
  • Finding the Courage Within You
  • 28. Changing the World
  • Congratulations!
  • Bad Habit Time Bombs
  • Creating Change: One Habit at a Time
  • The Urge to Proselytize
  • Good Community Habits
  • Appendixes
  • A. More Bad Habit Busters
  • B. Glossary
  • Index