Unhealthy Helping: A Psychological Guide to Overcoming Codependence, Enabling, and Other Dysfunctional Giving - Paperback

by Shawn Meghan Burn (Author)

Helping and giving are good. It's just that some types of helping and giving are unintentionally unhelpful and unhealthy. Unhealthy Helping: A Psychological Guide to Overcoming Codependence, Enabling, and Other Dysfunctional Giving demystifies codependence and dysfunctional helping and giving by examining it through multiple psychological lenses. The book contains theory-and-research based answers for people who help and give in ways that are ultimately harmful to themselves or others. Loaded with research and real-life stories, including the author's journey from unhealthy to healthy giver, Unhealthy Helping empowers people with psychological knowledge, self-assessments, and practical psychology-based strategies for personal and relationship change. Psychology professor and Psychology Today blogger Shawn Meghan Burn explores the dynamics of codependent and dysfunctional helping relationships, the difference between healthy and unhealthy helping, why some people are prone to unhealthy helping and giving, what codependence is and where it comes from, and how even the best of helping intentions can go wrong. Everyone faces helping and giving challenges. Unhealthy Helping will help you find that giving and helping sweet spot where your help is truly helpful and your giving is healthy for others, your relationships, and for you.

Author Biography

Shawn Meghan Burn, PhD is Professor of Psychology at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California. Her research and writing focuses on the application of psychology to solve individual, group, organizational, and societal problems. She is a passionate teacher of psychology, committed to showing people how they can use psychology to solve problems and maximize human potential. She is the author of four books and many research articles and writes a blog (Presence of Mind) for Psychology Today. When she's not obsessing about how to use psychology to save the world, she can be found hiking, cooking, laughing, and delighting in the antics of animals and children.