Discussing the outsized role that fear, anxiety, and other distressing emotions play in forming fundamental aspects of who we are.

Using recent findings from neuropsychology, this new book in the best-selling Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology shows that who we are psychologically starts with the early presence of an easily aroused fear/anxiety system. It goes on to discuss how clinicians can view people’s difficulties with self-confidence and identity, and how self-destructive patterns can be traced back to these systems and what clinicians can do to help. It also touches on intergenerational transmission of trauma, as well as people’s responses to COVID-19, PTSD, and real and imagined threats.