How to Be Your Own Best Friend

What is real, lasting happiness? How does one achieve it? And why are so many people holding themselves back? At the heart of this profound, simple, beautiful book is the wisdom of Mildred Newman and Bernard Berkowitz, married psychoanalysts who encourage readers to both love themselves and to confront life’s hardest truths. A classic for more than three decades, How to Be Your Own Best Friend has already changed millions of lives. Now, open up your mind, and let it change yours.
 
Praise for How to Be Your Own Best Friend
 
“I want to tell you that it’s magic, but the whole point of the book is that there is no magic. So instead let me simply say that I can’t live without it.”—Nora Ephron
 
“A wonderful prescription for the blahs . . . an antidote to weariness, discouragement or loneliness.”—Los Angeles Times
 
“What the Berkowitzes unearthed . . . is a too-often-forgotten form of human intercourse called getting to know me.”—Chicago Tribune
 
“A kind of psychiatric pep talk . . . directed at people who [are] learning how to operate themselves.”—The New York Times
 
“Seductively jargon-free, presented in neat question-and-answer format.”—Houston Chronicle

Mildred Newman graduated from Hunter College High School and from Hunter College, where she received an M.A. in psychology. She spent a number of years in training with Theodore Reik, and she completed the analytic training program at the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. Newman was a supervisor for the Community Guidance Service of New York City, and her work has been anthologized in New Approaches in Child Guidance. She was married to Bernard Berkowitz until her death in 2001.
 
Bernard Berkowitz graduated from City College, received an M.S. from Columbia University, and his Ph.D. from New York University. He attended the Alfred Adler Institute and the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health. Dr. Berkowitz has been affiliated with City College and with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York, and has had numerous articles and reviews published in various journals. He lives in New York City.
 
Jean Owen graduated from Skidmore College and received an M.A. in philosophy from Columbia University. After collaborating with Newman and Berkowitz, she trained as a psychoanalyst and is currently practicing in New York City.