By Mark Ambrogi
Dr. James Shoot didn’t really start out with the mission of writing a book.
“It unfolded about 2 1/2 years ago when I started copying out the materials I used in my head over the years,” Shoot said. “I wrote the preface, the table of contents and started writing each chapter. It wasn’t something I ever intended to do. It largely grew out of unconscious and my concern over what is taking place in the culture, which seems to be increasingly unraveling with distractions from suffering without really ever understanding what it takes to be happy and healthy. A third of the book is my own integration of the knowledge and material. The other two-thirds comes from the work people have done throughout the centuries, Buddha, Jesus, Isaac Newton, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung and some more recent authors whose books I’ve been referring people to for many years.”
The Fishers resident’s book called “Happiness is for Everyone: A Prescription for Personal and Relationship Contentment.”
“It costs $11, it takes about three hours to read and about three years to implement,” Shoot said.
Shoot, 68, has been psychiatrist for 37 years. He has worked for Indiana Health Group in Carmel for the past 16 years. His wife, who has a master’s in social work, also works for Indiana Health Group.
“I largely teach people to become happy and healthy,” Shoot said.
Shoot said the book is based on the notion that our happiness comes from identifying and satisfying needs.
“As well as dismantling self-criticism which is largely an epidemic in our culture and cultures around the world since I see people from all over the world who are located here,” Shoot said. “Largely because of self-criticism and
self-neglect and not identifying the needs, they suffer from anxiety, guilt, depression and rage. So when the come to therapy, they are looking for relief. Medication provides some relief from the symptoms but does not in any way enhance their ability to become happy and healthy. That as I see the purpose of psychotherapy which is to teach people to be happy and healthy.”
Each chapter of the approximately 112-page book is entitled benefiting from one of your unmet needs.There are exercises at the end of each chapter to transform the knowledge into skill.
Shoot said many people are never taught how to properly nurture themselves
“And giving ourselves words of encouragement,” Shoot said. “The inner conversation is the most important conversation we’ll ever had. If that’s a neglected conversation, then we’re not going to prosper.”
The book was published by Tate Publishing and Enterprises and is available through bookstores nationwide, from the publisher at tatepublishing.com/bookstore or by visiting barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com.
