Ann W. Smith Releases OVERCOMING PERFECTIONISM

Anything worth doing is worth doing well. Practice makes perfect. Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing. Failure is not an option. In today's perfection-obsessed culture, these are the maxims we live by. Yet the damage they cause can be stifling. Renowned author and expert in the field of relationships and personal growth, Ann W. Smith, author of Overcoming Perfectionism: Finding the Key to Balance & Self-Acceptance (HCI Books-- $14.95) knows this first hand. Smith has dealt with her fair share of perfectionism and has bared witness to this all too common phenomenon in her professional life, having spent the last thirty years addressing the impact that compulsive patterns have on individuals and family. While perfectionism lacks much of the stigma attached to today's most common compulsions-smoking, gambling, sex addiction, alcoholism, and drug abuse-many of the negative consequences on self and the family system are the same.

Psychological and physical implications often include: headaches, isolation, fear of failure, sleep disturbances, workaholism, back pain, overeating, sexual dysfunction, depression, suicidal thoughts or tendencies, strained relationships, criticism of self and others, the need to be in control, and excessive guilt and shame.

In this groundbreaking book, Smith provides a path to reversing this pattern. From a unique perspective she describes differences between two types of perfectionism, overt and covert; the important role that early attachment, temperament, sibling relationships, and life circumstances play in developing this pattern, and outlines the practices necessary in order to find balance and improve quality of life.

Ann W. Smith MS, LMFT, is a nationally recognized leader and expert in the field of healthy relationships frequently presenting at major conferences throughout the U.S., Canada, and Finland. As a licensed marriage and family therapist, she has spent nearly thirty years helping clients heal from the impact compulsive patterns have had both individually and on family systems. Ann is also the director of Breakthrough at Caron-a program she designed for Caron Treatment Centers aimed at helping adults achieve the quality of life they desire, improve relationships, and achieve personal goals. Ann's professional experience has landed her interviews with Dateline NBC, National Public Radio, Newsweek, Us Magazine, Redbook, U.S. News and World Report, Philadelphia Magazine, Washington Post, Forbes Women, Wall Street Journal, Web MD, and numerous other newspapers, magazines, and radio and TV programs across the U.S. Currently, she is a regular contributor to Psychology Today's website through her popular blog, Healthy Connections, with over 200,000 views to date. Ann has also authored Grandchildren of Alcoholics: Another Generation of Co-dependency. To learn more about Ann visit www.breakthroughatcaron.org or www.annsmith.com.

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