(CBS) Many people feel baggage from their childhood is keeping them from a fulfilling life as an adult. But that doesn't have to be so, Dr. Laura Schlessinger says in her latest book.

In "Bad Childhood Good Life," the syndicated radio host offers a plan to move past problems lingering from childhood to become a happier and more accomplished adult.

"Most people had a pretty good childhood," she explained to The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith Thursday. "But even in a pretty good childhood, there were probably things that were stressful or upsetting or downright dangerous and destructive.

"I mean, there's a whole range. And people don't have to have been beaten and molested to have struggles from their childhood. Just the way parents related, and communication and emotion, have an impact on how you perceive yourself in love and life."

Schlessinger continued, "There are habits of relating. Then, when we get married and have other friends and work relationships, we find ourselves reacting reflexively from things we learned a long time ago that are so inappropriate right now, and we often can't see it, but it's a deeper issue."

She stressed that, "The choices (many people are) making today are really based on trying to finally make the past be better."

So, how do you change things? How do you move on?

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