Book by Barrios, Alfred A. TOWARDS GREATER FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS is a simple but powerful book. Considered by many the best of the self-help books, it can and will change your life for the better. Five years in the writing, the book presents a unique and highly effective program for achieving self-actualization (achieving your full potential in life), one that the author has been developing the past 25 years. The program - Self-Programmed Control or SPC - provides you with the two most important components for achieving maximum fulfillment and happiness in life: a good clear picture of what leads to happiness and most important - the means to implement this picture. The first component - The Self-Control Methods - presents a set of the most effective techniques for achieving self-mastery and facilitating the reprogramming of any negative behaviors holding you back from optimum fulfillment in life; i.e., it solves the most difficult problem in any self-improvement program - the inability of most people to change. The techniques are even more effective than such methods as bio-feedback, self-hypnosis, or meditation. The main reason these SPC techniques are so effective is that not only are they simple to follow but, most importantly, they produce immediate results. The second part, the Positive Direction Component, makes this the most comprehensive of the self-help books, as you can readily see from the Table of Contents, covering just about every aspect of human behavior. It is virtually a handbook for self-improvement including in-depth sections on habit control, assertiveness training, stress control, holistic health, pain control, sex, memory improvement and many more. It is a profound book as well, answering questions that have heretofore puzzled some of the greatest minds down through the ages. The following are some of the concepts you will now be able to see in a new and clearer light: Free Will, The Mind, Belief, the Placebo, Faith Healing, Positive Thinking, Hypnosis, Happiness, Love and Brotherhood. Written in simple, easy-to-understand language and replete with case histories and examples, you will find the book not only easy to read but hard to put down. Dr. Barrios, a clinical psychologist (B.S. Caltech, Ph.D. UCLA) is founder and current director of the Self-Programmed Control Center based in Los Angeles and is the inventor of the very popular Stress Control Biofeedback Card. He is a recognized authority on the power of the word and its effect on human behavior and is fast becoming one of the leading authorities in the Stress and Holistic Health fields, his Stress Card and SPC Program adding a new dimension to the field of medicine bringing renewed hope to the chronically ill. Formerly with the Institute of Comprehensive Medicine and the Health Care Management Institute, Dr. Barrios has lectured to thousands of medical professionals across the country and is perhaps best known for his work on the psychological approach to reviving the body's natural defenses against cancer, an area in which he has achieved international recognition. In 1996 he received the first annual Cancer Federation award in psychoneuroimmunology and was nominated for the Norman Cousins Award in Mind-Body Health. He has also pioneered the introduction of his SPC program into the educational field. This highly successful program for helping students achieve their full potential both as students and as people was first introduced at the college and university level with his classes at UCLA, East Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Southwest Colleges, later expanding into the primary and secondary schools through his class for teachers at Cal State University Los Angeles. Dr. Barrios has also done considerable work in the area of drug addiction and alcoholism, his SPC program providing a much needed new and powerful tool that has already been successfully applied in a number of ongoing addiction and alcoholism programs in California and Texas. Finally, he has done extensive work aimed at solving the ever present minority and welfare problems. His SPC program, applied in such work-incentive programs as WIN and CETA, has provided a powerful means of raising the all-important self-image factor that has held back so many of the disadvantaged. The following excerpts from the book were chosen to give you some further idea of the phenomenal results that have been achieved with SPC: (pp. 67-68) An example of SPC's use to improve one's business abilities: "A good example of what this positive attitude can do for you is the story of Sandy Gooch and how she started Mrs. Gooch's Natural Food Stores. Sandy was a student of mine in the class I hold for teachers at Cal State University, Los Angeles, and the following is taken from the summary report required of all those attending: ...Six weeks ago (when the SPC class started) I was a substitute teacher thinking of going back to work full time because I needed the money and the stimulation that c