Toxic Wealth: How the Culture of Affluence Can Harm Us and Our Children

(Hardback)

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Description

This volume spotlights the unique problems that often accompany a high-income lifestyle and offers guidelines that can help individuals avoid the pitfalls wealth may bring. Two therapists show how the culture of affluence in America creates unique problems for wealthy adults and children, often resulting in poor psycho-social adjustment, anxiety, low self-esteem, and the inability to have fun. The affluent are under tremendous pressure to achieve. They are subject to a myriad of negative stereotypes that make it difficult for them to have a normal social life. They are taken advantage of, preyed upon, and ridiculed. When they seek professional help for their problems, they may receive little sympathy. This book is a sage and insightful primer aimed at all readers who have some wealth, whether inherited or amassed through personal effort. The consciousness-raising here includes vignettes from the treatment rooms of the authors, who have helped many wealthy individuals and families deal with the fallout from the myths with which our culture burdens them. Specific guidelines on how to deal with problems are presented.

Reviews

Cashman, a family therapist, teams with psychotherapist and statistician Taite to explore the 'culture of affluence' in America and note the unique problems that often accompany wealthy lifestyles. Written for general readers who qualify as wealthy, this guide examines the stress, negative stereotypes and lack of empathy these individuals and families often experience. The authors use real-world examples from their own experiences to provide practical advice for problems that are often dismissed as inconsequential by other mental health care professionals. * Reference & Research Book News *

Author Bio

Orla Cashman is a family therapist practicing in Greenwich, CT. James A. Twaite is a psychologist and statistician in private practice in Rowland, Pennsylvania and Tenafly, New Jersey.