Pages : Owners’ Manual for the Mind

Forget spending years on the couch with therapy bills to prove it. You can solve your problems--at least some of them--at home.

Say what? That’s seemingly the premise of “Think Like a Shrink,” just out from Warner Books. The truth is, says New York psychiatrist and author Christ Zois, you don’t always need a therapist.

His book, subtitled “Solve Your Problems Yourself With Short-Term Therapy Techniques,” walks readers through some common problems, such as burying feelings or rationalizing. Next, he offers concrete action (Chapter 9, “Learning to Live Without Defenses”).

“I wrote the book not only for the consumer who might want to go to therapy, to give an idea of what goes into effective therapy, but also for the millions of people who in reality, especially today with the recession, are never going to see a therapist,” he says.

People ask Zois: If I read this book, will I be cured? No, he tells them. But you might be happier. Someone in the midst of divorce, for instance, stuck in an “angry victim” role, might learn what they contributed to the relationship’s demise.

UCLA psychiatrist Mark Goulston sees a role for long- and short-term therapy. “Long-term therapy might boost self-esteem better than short-term for some people,” he says. On the other hand, says Goulston, some long-term therapists “go looking for problems where none exist.”