Describes the underlying causes of self-defeating behavior and provides strategies for overcoming them Most understandable to those who have done upper-level or graduate work in psychology and/or counseling, this book seeks to explain how and why people act in ways antithetical to their well-being. Berglas (clinical psychology, Harvard Medical Sch.) and Baumeister (psychology, Case Western Reserve) postulate that self-defeating behavior may be a form of coping mechanism to avoid the responsibilities that success affords. Both authorities in the field--Berglas wrote Self-Handicapping (Plenum, 1990), and Baumeister, Masochism and the Self (Erlbaum, 1989)--they point out that self-defeat may take many forms, i.e., procrastination, drug abuse or overdose, interpersonal abuse, or failure to follow directions. A more sophisticated adjunct to Judith Sills's Excess Baggage: Getting Out of Your Own Way ( LJ 12/92), this is recommended for academic and comprehensive public collections. - Scott Johnson, Meridian Community Coll. Lib., Miss. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.