Life's biggest tragedy is waking up at the end of your life only to discover that it has been a terrible, or at best, mediocre life and then realizing that you have done it to yourself and it's too late to get a second chance. What you could have prevented you failed to avoid, because you got in your own way. In any of its many forms, self-defeating behavior is the single most common reason that people seek psychotherapy. It is a poison that prevents people from achieving the love, success, and happiness they desire. GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY is an antidote, explaining the reasons for self-sabotage by going back to the childhood origins of various behaviors. With anecdotes and usable insights drawn from twenty years of psychiatric clinical practice, Dr. Mark Goulston shares ideas that have helped thousands of patients overcome pain, fear, and confusion-to approach life's challenges with dignity, wisdom, courage, and even humor. Few things make you feel worse about yourself than engaing in self-defeating behavior and having to live with the consequences. Fortunately, however, few things make you feel better about yourself than overcoming self-defeating behavior and replacing it with life-enhancing behavior.