A groundbreaking book about personal growth that presents a uniquely effective set of four tools that bring about dynamic change in the present and impart a greater understanding of the depth and complexity of the human condition over the longterm.
 
The Tools addresses the most common complaint patients have about psychotherapy: the interminable wait for change to begin. Barry Michels, an LA-based therapist, was frustrated by his inability to bring his patients faster relief from the issues that plagued them. He found a mentor in Phil Stutz, a psychiatrist who years before devised a methodology that arose from a similar disenchantment. The traditional therapeutic model sets its sights on the past, but Stutz and Michels employ an arsenal of tools--exercises that access the power of the unconscious and effectively meet the most persistent problems people face--and the results are electrifying. Stutz and Michels are much sought-after--a recent profile in The New Yorker touted them as an "open secret" in Hollywood--and treat a high-powered and creative clientele. Their first work, The Tools transcends the typical self-help genre because of its paradigm-changing material, the credibility of its authors, and the instant appeal and empowerment of its message.

PHIL STUTZ graduated Phi Beta Kappa from City College in New York and received his MD from New York University. He worked as a prison psychiatrist on Rikers Island and then in private practice in New York before moving his practice in Los Angeles in 1982.
 
BARRY MICHELS has a BA from Harvard, a law degree from University of California, Berkeley, and an MSW from the University of Southern California. He has been in private practice as a psychotherapist since 1980.