How To Stop Self-Sabotage

Update: Dr. Farkas passed away on August 31, 2022, just about a month after we recorded this episode. For his obituary and to find out where to make memorial contributions, please click here. Dr. Howard Farkas is a clinical psychologist based in Chicago. He is the founder and president of Chicago Behavioral Health, which in the past two years has become a telehealth psychotherapy practice called Equipoise Teletherapy. He is also on the faculty of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, where he teaches a course on motivation and self-regulation of behavior. He's the author of the book 8 Keys to End Emotional Eating. Howard is currently working on a second book on the topic of self-sabotage: why we do it and how to stop. He defines self-sabotage as any behavior that we do that undermines our goals or values, even though part of us knows we'll regret it. That unwanted behavior can range from common things like procrastination and overspending to excessive drinking, risky health behaviors, or worse. Howard's work with self-sabotage began while working as a health psychologist in a hospital-based medical weight-management program. He worked with many people who came to the clinic for help with their out-of-control eating, but they repeatedly undermined their own attempts to make changes. He discovered that there was an internal conflict that was the source of these self-defeating behaviors and that this conflict extends to many types of self-sabotaging behavior, such as career success, personal relationships, health, financial security, and many other areas of life where we set goals for ourselves and then undermine them. Links & Resources Equipoise Teletherapy Equipoise Teletherapy on Facebook Equipoise Teletherapy on Instagram Equipoise Teletherapy on Twitter 8 Keys to End Emotional Eating book Transcript View the transcript for this episode.