Exploring some of the most destructive and dismaying elements of living, a psychiatrist of international stature shows that the best and worst aspects of living are closely related. Stories drawn from his experience with individuals he has counseled of diverse backgrounds from Harlem, N.Y. to Stockholm, Sweden illustrate his success formula for turning the "worst of living" into the "best of living," tapping the energy of desperation to motivate change. Real-life personal stories illustrate how rage may be used to fuel courage, panic may generate initiative, and hopelessness can be turned to achievement, bringing a new vitality to life. The book offers direct practical guidance by showing what we should be looking for in each of the fundamental spheres of living: loving, friendship, learning, work, idealism and leisure life. The author makes clear what is the true value that can be gathered in each sphere, what makes things go terribly wrong in each sphere, and how one can deal effectively with such difficulty. The author sets out six key elements of the severest desperation that people can experience: rage, panic, violence, hopelessness and self-destructiveness. The central problem of living, he shows, concerns the need to turn those elements of desperation into their corresponding aspects of vitality. The book sets out six sliding scales that connect craziness with creativity, rage with courage, panic with initiative and other positive mechanisms that can be harnessed to bring self fulfillment.