Foreword Living on Automatic pres­ents a unique and creative way to understand your- self and your relationships with ­others. This is new thinking, refreshingly presented in everyday language so that we can learn clearly how we ­ were formed and who we are. Much of our happiness, and our unhappiness, has its center in relation- ships. It is who we are, and our understanding of ­ others, that defines and controls ­ those relationships. Dr. Adams has been my colleague in our parallel pathways of training and as therapists in adult, adolescent, and child psychiatry. I am grateful for her eight years of dedication and hard work in bringing to fruition Dr. Martin’s new concepts, as expressed in this book. This is a lovely trib- ute to the importance of mentorship. Dr. Martin and Dr. Adams are both psychiatrists and well-­seasoned observers of the ­ human condition. Their insights are drawn from a com- bined 80 years of work with hundreds of patients. What we find in their book is truly a new approach to understanding how personality and rela- tionship difficulties cause prob­lems for us. I regret I never knew Dr. Martin. He had a reputation as a creative thinker and skilled practitioner. We can be grateful for his wisdom in thinking outside conventional psychiatric thought. It was this tension that steered his splendid mind down a new path of ­ human understanding. I have known Dr. Adams most of my life, personally and profession- ally. She has written about the suffering and treatment of ­ children. She is highly respected for her clinical talents and her incisive understanding of how personalities impact our lives, particularly the central role of person- ality in our close relationships. The beauty of this book is that it goes far deeper than self-­help. We are asked to think, which is a breath of fresh air, ­ because it helps us dig deeper
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