“Creating Space for Happiness is a welcome antidote to what ails our culture. With conviction and clarity Dr. Castro presents a wise and practical approach to living in a world that doesn't know how to slow down.”
BILL BLUMBERRY, PhD
Practicing psychologist and author of Dancing with the Family
"'Giving Room' is a phrase Dr. Castro uses to refer to the process of building the ego strength necessary to overcome the accumulated baggage of childhood and previous experiences. Dr. Castro shows how, using a variety of methods, the therapist directs the patient in a way that gives room for the development of insight. He then goes on to show how the process applies to relationships: asserting independence from parents, developing a mutually respectful marriage, and becoming a wise parent. Once a person has made room for himself, it is time to make room for others."
JOEL KOENIG, MD
Chief of Pediatrics, Missouri Baptist Medical Center
Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Washington University
"Dr. Anthony Castro presents a sound and practical approach for coping with personal life experiences that can stunt our ability to grow. By the interweaving of clinical vignettes and his own life experiences, Creating Space for Happiness shows us ways to give ourselves room to grow. It is one of those rare books that can give us power to transform lives and even save them."
ED GARCIA, MD
Chairman, Department of Psychiatry
St. John's Mercy Medical Center, St. Louis, MO
Five days a week, seven-year-old Holly awakens promptly at six; she ensures that her five-year-old sister is washed, dressed for school, and has something to eat; and then she prepares breakfast for her single mother. With military precision and a gut-wrenching sense of responsibility far beyond her years, Holly follows a strict regimen in an attempt to avoid the wrath of her abusive mother. From one day to the next, she never knows whether she will encounter “nice mommy or mean mommy,” and it is only when she and her sister are safely at school that she begins to breathe easily.
Holly’s story is one of many that Dr. Anthony J. Castro relates in this unique approach to sharing psychological insights and offering guidelines for making difficult changes to tackle problems that threaten our well-being. The recurrent motif in this insightful book is “giving room.” Weaving a tapestry of vignettes from patients’ intimate lives with excerpts from scientific studies and examples from his own life, Dr. Castro demonstrates how all of us must learn to give ourselves room to enter into the unknown and endure change. Though change is often very hard, Dr. Castro shows through the experiences of his patients that by giving room to ourselves we unleash the potential for immense personal growth.
Some of his patients need to assert independence from their parents; others must learn to develop a mutually respectful marriage or to become wise parents. In all cases, Dr. Castro underscores that only by making room for our own needs can we then reach out to others to create healthy relationships.
With a gift for interlacing important insights with engrossing real-life stories to illustrate salient points about growth and change, Dr. Castro offers an enlightening, jargon-free narrative that will encourage readers of all ages to take the time to create the happiness they deserve.
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 272
ISBN: 978-1-59102-668-6
Shipping Weight: 1lbs
Author Bio:
Antony J. Castro, Psy.D. (St. Louis, MO), is a clinical psychologist who treats young children, adolescents, adults, and couples. An expert in the field of adult and child psychology, Dr. Castro frequently speaks before audiences of parents, colleagues, and teachers in the St. Louis community.
