Best Neuropsychology
“Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding and treating traumatic stress and the scope of its impact on society.” —Alexander McFarlane, Director of the Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing in this New York Times Science bestseller Trauma is a fact of life. Praise for The Body Keeps the Score “In this inspirational work which seamlessly weaves keen clinical observation, neuroscience, historical analysis, the arts, and personal narrative, Dr. van der Kolk has created an authoritative guide to the effects of trauma, and pathways to recovery. A must read for mental health and other health care professionals, trauma survivors, their loved ones, and those who seek clinical, social, or political solutions to the cycle of trauma and violence in our society.” —Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY “This is an absolutely fascinating and clearly written book by one of the nation’s most experienced physicians in the field of emotional trauma. “Breathtaking in its scope and breadth, The Body Keeps the Score is a seminal work by one of the preeminent pioneers in trauma research and treatment. Van der Kolk, the eminent impresario of trauma treatment, who has spent a career bringing together diverse trauma scientists and clinicians and their ideas, while making his own pivotal contributions, describes what is arguably the most important series of breakthroughs in mental health in the last thirty years. Here we see not only how psychological trauma also breaks connections within the brain, but also between mind and body, and learn about the exciting new approaches that allow people with the severest forms of trauma to put all the parts back together again.” —Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself. “ The Body Keeps the Score articulates new and better therapies for toxic stress based on a deep understanding of the effects of trauma on brain development and attachment systems. Bessel van der Kolk may focus on the body and trauma, but what a mind he must have to have written this book.”. Its deeply empathic, insightful, and compassionate perspective promises to further humanize the treatment of trauma victims, dramatically expand their repertoire of self-regulatory healing practices and therapeutic options, and also stimulate greater creative thinking and research on trauma and its effective treatment. The body does keep the score, and Van der Kolk’s ability to demonstrate this through compelling descriptions of the work of others, his own pioneering trajectory and experience as the field evolved and him along with it, and above all, his discovery of ways to work skillfully with people by bringing mindfulness to the body (as well as to their thoughts and emotions) through yoga, movement, and theater are a wonderful and welcome breath of fresh air and possibility in the therapy world.”. “In The Body Keeps the Score we share the author’s courageous journey into the parallel dissociative worlds of trauma victims and the medical and psychological disciplines that are meant to provide relief. “Bessel van der Kolk is unequaled in his ability to synthesize the stunning developments in the field of psychological trauma over the past few decades. —Ruth A. Lanius, MD, PhD, Harris-Woodman chair in Psyche and Soma, professor of psychiatry, and director PTSD research at the University of Western Ontario; author of The Impact of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease. Interspersed with that narrative are clear and understandable descriptions of the neurobiology of trauma; explanations of the ineffectiveness of traditional approaches to treating trauma; and introductions to the approaches that take patients beneath their cognitive minds to heal the parts of them that remained frozen in the past. “When it comes to understanding the impact of trauma and being able to continue to grow despite overwhelming life experiences, Bessel van der Kolk leads the way in his comprehensive knowledge, clinical courage, and creative strategies to help us heal. Dr. Van der Kolk offer a brilliant synthesis of clinical cases, neuroscience, powerful tools and caring humanity, offering a whole new level of healing for the traumas carried by so many.”. Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., is the founder and medical director of the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Frankly, nothing really worked until I discovered - and applied - the somatic (body) techniques espoused by van der Kolk, and other luminaries such as Peter Levine, Pat Ogden, and Eugene Gendlin. The only way to ‘communicate’ with this pre-verbal system is through the body, which can signal to the brain stem that it is OK to begin the process of unfreezing the emotional paralysis that has plagued us for decades. UPDATE 2018: One of the treatments that Bessel van der Kolk mentions in his book - MDMA (Ecstasy) - was recently granted ‘Breakthrough Therapy’ status by the FDA for phase 3 trials. This is because the phase 1 and 2 trials were so successful, that nearly 70% of participants no longer had PTSD after just 3 MDMA sessions (most of these participants had suffered PTSD for decades)."
"I believed I could gut it out, that the past was the past and that only weak people needed to talk through their problems. I believed only losers behaved badly as adults due to anything in their childhood or past and that claiming you were affected by any past problem was a crutch to allow you to embrace failure. It's very hard to be kind to people, to focus on your work, to love others when all your power is spent trying to pretend you don't feel like s***. When you see everything you have go away and can only occasionally find the strength to take care of yourself and your business and need others in your life to carry you from time to time (much to your embarrassment) and yet you think you're smart and capable and have no understanding of why you are where you are, life becomes a slog. While I can't attribute every part of my success to this book alone as it takes many things to get where you want to go (mostly you), I can absolutely attest to the power of this book. If you've suffered any sort of major and/or persistent trauma in your life, please buy (and read) this book."
Whether you’re coaching soccer or teaching a child to play the piano, writing a novel or trying to improve your golf swing, this revolutionary book shows you how to grow talent by tapping into a newly discovered brain mechanism. Drawing on cutting-edge neurology and firsthand research gathered on journeys to nine of the world’s talent hotbeds—from the baseball fields of the Caribbean to a classical-music academy in upstate New York—Coyle identifies the three key elements that will allow you to develop your gifts and optimize your performance in sports, art, music, math, or just about anything. Combining revelatory analysis with illuminating examples of regular people who have achieved greatness, this book will not only change the way you think about talent, but equip you to reach your own highest potential. Providing detailed examples from a variety of different sources, Coyle's work becomes as motivational as the stories he presents. What emerges is both a testament to the remarkable potential we all have to learn and perform and an indictment of any idea that our individual capacities and limitations are fixed at birth."—Dr. I only wish I’d never before used the words ‘breakthrough’ or ‘breathtaking’ or ‘magisterial’ or ‘stunning achievement’ or ‘your world will never be the same after you read this book.’ Then I could be using them for the first and only time as I describe my reaction to Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code. “Daniel Coyle digs deep into the core of the insatiable desire to become ‘better.’ An amazing read with many practical applications for everyday life.” —Apolo Anton Ohno, Olympic gold medalist.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I just finished a book that was mentioned in this one so it made it even better."
"Coyle's approach in "The Talent Code" is the former - he is assembling evidence in an attempt to prove that myelin is the "key" to developing talent. That, along with details of the chemistry of neurotransmitters, neuronal connections, the function of glial cells, and an infinitude of factors unknown collectively make up the "key" to developing talent. Whether one accepts or rejects Coyle's explanation the steps that he argues leads to talent development clearly work. If you want or need to develop a talent in yourself Coyle gives a blueprint for how to do that. If you want to know the "answer" to the question of the biology/chemistry of how talent is developed, this isn't the place to find it though you'll see one such hypothesis developed in some detail."
"Daniel Coyle does a great job of research on this topic and enlightens us about how talented people in many fields have come to be and how there are ways to insure that the future holds better than average chances that more talented people will be developed by the teaching and coaching methods explained in the book."
"I liked the book, I recommend it, but when one of your big stories is about how awesome the guy who recommended Jamarcus Russell as first pick to Oakland Raiders is then the book loses credibility as years later history shows this as one of the worst draft picks in history, especially when you consider they too Jamarcus over Calvin Johnson!"
"But it not only worked for them, it also worked for me: at the age of 40, I decided to learn how to play drums, and I used the same things I was demanding from my students for my personal learning. Now I know why my students were learning and improving, why I can play drums and enjoy it, and why my project teams at work delivered good results."
"This book just takes a few hours to read and is well worth it."
Written by a leading expert in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and a classic in its field, this fully revised edition offers powerful, step-by-step treatment strategies for panic disorders, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), worry, and fear. Whether you suffer from anxiety and phobias yourself, or are a professional working with this population, this book will provide the latest treatment solutions for overcoming the fears that stand in the way of living a full, happy life. “In this sixth edition of The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook , Edmund J. Bourne has refined and expanded on his thoughtful holistic message to those who struggle with anxiety. I highly recommend this classic resource to anyone suffering with anxiety or a phobia.”. ― Michael A. Tompkins, PhD , author of Anxiety and Avoidance and codirector of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy. “Edmund J. Bourne’s book is chock-full of tested ideas and exercises that practically anyone who suffers from anxieties and fears can put to immediate use to get relief from anxiety and prevent it from coming back.”. ― Bill Knaus, EdD , author of The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Depression and The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Anxiety. Comprehensive in every way, it is a one-stop shop for persons with anxiety, and an invaluable and unparalleled resource for clinicians working with them.”. ― Timothy A. Sisemore, PhD , director of research and professor of counseling and psychology at Richmont Graduate University and author of Free from OCD “In this updated version of a classic, Edmund J. Bourne guides us carefully through a wealth of information on anxiety, anxiety disorders, and phobias.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I want to tell anyone that is currently struggling with anxiety and panic attacks, phobias, or ocd issues that there is a way to recover and take back your life and this book is the vehicle to get you there. When I started reading the book I was completely agoraphobic, depressed, constantly anxious, and having panic attacks to the point I felt like I couldn't go on any longer. This book really attacks your issues at every angle possible, from eating the correct foods, to relaxation methods, and tips to stop panic attacks just to name a few."
"It gave me hope and tools for recovery at a time when I was desperate."
"One thing in particular is the statement that it is not recommended that one eat until at least an hour after exercise when actually it is recommended that appropriate nutrition be ingested within half hour after exercise, especially in the cases of long or intense exercise."
"There's so much that is helpful here that I'm hesitant to deduct a star, but I did because some of the information in nutrition and natural supplements needed better documentation OR it needed to be more clearly presented as potentially helpful opinion. And the ideas presented in the chapter on spirituality would have benefited from clearer analysis of potential points of friction for those without deistic beliefs, as well as those within various traditions."
"As someone who has dealt with anxiety for 30 years, I am happy to find such a good, comprehensive, easy to understand book. Frankly, if you don't have access to a good counselor (luckily I do), this book would be a great place to find some tools and eventually some relief of your anxiety."
"I purchased this workbook for the excellent chapters on feelings -- both how to access, name and deal with feelings around anxiety disorders."
"This book is very detailed in providing explanations of different anxiety's and providing ways to cope with them."
Best Medical Psychology Pathologies
This new edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), used by clinicians and researchers to diagnose and classify mental disorders, is the product of more than 10 years of effort by hundreds of international experts in all aspects of mental health.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"And on the eighth day God created this manual to help fix problems that humans would get themselves into after they ate the apple."
"The first half of the book is printed on glossy paper and the other half on regular stock perhaps 24lb or 32lb."
"I had to cut those pages to make it look like the rest of the pages."
"The color of the text varied from almost boded on some pages to light gray on others."
"I ordered this book, and the book I received had about 40 pages that were upside down."
"The price is too good to be true."
"I paid more to order from the "paperback" options that were not listed under the "mass-market paper back" versions which had terrible reviews."
"I got a knock off version!"
Best Psychological Pathologies
“Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding and treating traumatic stress and the scope of its impact on society.” —Alexander McFarlane, Director of the Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing in this New York Times Science bestseller Trauma is a fact of life. Praise for The Body Keeps the Score “In this inspirational work which seamlessly weaves keen clinical observation, neuroscience, historical analysis, the arts, and personal narrative, Dr. van der Kolk has created an authoritative guide to the effects of trauma, and pathways to recovery. A must read for mental health and other health care professionals, trauma survivors, their loved ones, and those who seek clinical, social, or political solutions to the cycle of trauma and violence in our society.” —Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY “This is an absolutely fascinating and clearly written book by one of the nation’s most experienced physicians in the field of emotional trauma. “Breathtaking in its scope and breadth, The Body Keeps the Score is a seminal work by one of the preeminent pioneers in trauma research and treatment. Van der Kolk, the eminent impresario of trauma treatment, who has spent a career bringing together diverse trauma scientists and clinicians and their ideas, while making his own pivotal contributions, describes what is arguably the most important series of breakthroughs in mental health in the last thirty years. Here we see not only how psychological trauma also breaks connections within the brain, but also between mind and body, and learn about the exciting new approaches that allow people with the severest forms of trauma to put all the parts back together again.” —Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself. “ The Body Keeps the Score articulates new and better therapies for toxic stress based on a deep understanding of the effects of trauma on brain development and attachment systems. Bessel van der Kolk may focus on the body and trauma, but what a mind he must have to have written this book.”. Its deeply empathic, insightful, and compassionate perspective promises to further humanize the treatment of trauma victims, dramatically expand their repertoire of self-regulatory healing practices and therapeutic options, and also stimulate greater creative thinking and research on trauma and its effective treatment. The body does keep the score, and Van der Kolk’s ability to demonstrate this through compelling descriptions of the work of others, his own pioneering trajectory and experience as the field evolved and him along with it, and above all, his discovery of ways to work skillfully with people by bringing mindfulness to the body (as well as to their thoughts and emotions) through yoga, movement, and theater are a wonderful and welcome breath of fresh air and possibility in the therapy world.”. “In The Body Keeps the Score we share the author’s courageous journey into the parallel dissociative worlds of trauma victims and the medical and psychological disciplines that are meant to provide relief. “Bessel van der Kolk is unequaled in his ability to synthesize the stunning developments in the field of psychological trauma over the past few decades. —Ruth A. Lanius, MD, PhD, Harris-Woodman chair in Psyche and Soma, professor of psychiatry, and director PTSD research at the University of Western Ontario; author of The Impact of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease. Interspersed with that narrative are clear and understandable descriptions of the neurobiology of trauma; explanations of the ineffectiveness of traditional approaches to treating trauma; and introductions to the approaches that take patients beneath their cognitive minds to heal the parts of them that remained frozen in the past. “When it comes to understanding the impact of trauma and being able to continue to grow despite overwhelming life experiences, Bessel van der Kolk leads the way in his comprehensive knowledge, clinical courage, and creative strategies to help us heal. Dr. Van der Kolk offer a brilliant synthesis of clinical cases, neuroscience, powerful tools and caring humanity, offering a whole new level of healing for the traumas carried by so many.”. Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., is the founder and medical director of the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Frankly, nothing really worked until I discovered - and applied - the somatic (body) techniques espoused by van der Kolk, and other luminaries such as Peter Levine, Pat Ogden, and Eugene Gendlin. The only way to ‘communicate’ with this pre-verbal system is through the body, which can signal to the brain stem that it is OK to begin the process of unfreezing the emotional paralysis that has plagued us for decades. UPDATE 2018: One of the treatments that Bessel van der Kolk mentions in his book - MDMA (Ecstasy) - was recently granted ‘Breakthrough Therapy’ status by the FDA for phase 3 trials. This is because the phase 1 and 2 trials were so successful, that nearly 70% of participants no longer had PTSD after just 3 MDMA sessions (most of these participants had suffered PTSD for decades)."
"I believed I could gut it out, that the past was the past and that only weak people needed to talk through their problems. I believed only losers behaved badly as adults due to anything in their childhood or past and that claiming you were affected by any past problem was a crutch to allow you to embrace failure. It's very hard to be kind to people, to focus on your work, to love others when all your power is spent trying to pretend you don't feel like s***. When you see everything you have go away and can only occasionally find the strength to take care of yourself and your business and need others in your life to carry you from time to time (much to your embarrassment) and yet you think you're smart and capable and have no understanding of why you are where you are, life becomes a slog. While I can't attribute every part of my success to this book alone as it takes many things to get where you want to go (mostly you), I can absolutely attest to the power of this book. If you've suffered any sort of major and/or persistent trauma in your life, please buy (and read) this book."
Best Psychiatry
“Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding and treating traumatic stress and the scope of its impact on society.” —Alexander McFarlane, Director of the Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing in this New York Times Science bestseller Trauma is a fact of life. Praise for The Body Keeps the Score “In this inspirational work which seamlessly weaves keen clinical observation, neuroscience, historical analysis, the arts, and personal narrative, Dr. van der Kolk has created an authoritative guide to the effects of trauma, and pathways to recovery. A must read for mental health and other health care professionals, trauma survivors, their loved ones, and those who seek clinical, social, or political solutions to the cycle of trauma and violence in our society.” —Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY “This is an absolutely fascinating and clearly written book by one of the nation’s most experienced physicians in the field of emotional trauma. “Breathtaking in its scope and breadth, The Body Keeps the Score is a seminal work by one of the preeminent pioneers in trauma research and treatment. Van der Kolk, the eminent impresario of trauma treatment, who has spent a career bringing together diverse trauma scientists and clinicians and their ideas, while making his own pivotal contributions, describes what is arguably the most important series of breakthroughs in mental health in the last thirty years. Here we see not only how psychological trauma also breaks connections within the brain, but also between mind and body, and learn about the exciting new approaches that allow people with the severest forms of trauma to put all the parts back together again.” —Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself. “ The Body Keeps the Score articulates new and better therapies for toxic stress based on a deep understanding of the effects of trauma on brain development and attachment systems. Bessel van der Kolk may focus on the body and trauma, but what a mind he must have to have written this book.”. Its deeply empathic, insightful, and compassionate perspective promises to further humanize the treatment of trauma victims, dramatically expand their repertoire of self-regulatory healing practices and therapeutic options, and also stimulate greater creative thinking and research on trauma and its effective treatment. The body does keep the score, and Van der Kolk’s ability to demonstrate this through compelling descriptions of the work of others, his own pioneering trajectory and experience as the field evolved and him along with it, and above all, his discovery of ways to work skillfully with people by bringing mindfulness to the body (as well as to their thoughts and emotions) through yoga, movement, and theater are a wonderful and welcome breath of fresh air and possibility in the therapy world.”. “In The Body Keeps the Score we share the author’s courageous journey into the parallel dissociative worlds of trauma victims and the medical and psychological disciplines that are meant to provide relief. “Bessel van der Kolk is unequaled in his ability to synthesize the stunning developments in the field of psychological trauma over the past few decades. —Ruth A. Lanius, MD, PhD, Harris-Woodman chair in Psyche and Soma, professor of psychiatry, and director PTSD research at the University of Western Ontario; author of The Impact of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease. Interspersed with that narrative are clear and understandable descriptions of the neurobiology of trauma; explanations of the ineffectiveness of traditional approaches to treating trauma; and introductions to the approaches that take patients beneath their cognitive minds to heal the parts of them that remained frozen in the past. “When it comes to understanding the impact of trauma and being able to continue to grow despite overwhelming life experiences, Bessel van der Kolk leads the way in his comprehensive knowledge, clinical courage, and creative strategies to help us heal. Dr. Van der Kolk offer a brilliant synthesis of clinical cases, neuroscience, powerful tools and caring humanity, offering a whole new level of healing for the traumas carried by so many.”. Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., is the founder and medical director of the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Frankly, nothing really worked until I discovered - and applied - the somatic (body) techniques espoused by van der Kolk, and other luminaries such as Peter Levine, Pat Ogden, and Eugene Gendlin. The only way to ‘communicate’ with this pre-verbal system is through the body, which can signal to the brain stem that it is OK to begin the process of unfreezing the emotional paralysis that has plagued us for decades. UPDATE 2018: One of the treatments that Bessel van der Kolk mentions in his book - MDMA (Ecstasy) - was recently granted ‘Breakthrough Therapy’ status by the FDA for phase 3 trials. This is because the phase 1 and 2 trials were so successful, that nearly 70% of participants no longer had PTSD after just 3 MDMA sessions (most of these participants had suffered PTSD for decades)."
"I believed I could gut it out, that the past was the past and that only weak people needed to talk through their problems. I believed only losers behaved badly as adults due to anything in their childhood or past and that claiming you were affected by any past problem was a crutch to allow you to embrace failure. It's very hard to be kind to people, to focus on your work, to love others when all your power is spent trying to pretend you don't feel like s***. When you see everything you have go away and can only occasionally find the strength to take care of yourself and your business and need others in your life to carry you from time to time (much to your embarrassment) and yet you think you're smart and capable and have no understanding of why you are where you are, life becomes a slog. While I can't attribute every part of my success to this book alone as it takes many things to get where you want to go (mostly you), I can absolutely attest to the power of this book. If you've suffered any sort of major and/or persistent trauma in your life, please buy (and read) this book."
Best Study of Pornography
Author Matt Fradd draws on the experience of porn performers and users, and the expertise of neurologists, sociologists, and psychologists to demonstrate that pornography is destructive to individuals, relationships, and society. Because recent research on pornography s harmful effects on the brain validates the experiences of countless porn users, there is a growing wave of passionate individuals trying to change the pro-porn cultural norm by inspiring others to pursue real love and to avoid its hollow counterfeit. Matt Fradd and this book are part of that movement, which is aiding the many men and women who are seeking a love untainted by warped perceptions of intimacy and rejecting the influence of porn in their lives. "The Porn Myth can help you to separate the myths from the facts about porn and to reclaim real love.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm halfway through this book and I'm already blown away by the amount of insight I've been able to gain into the problem of porn in today’s culture. Matt Fradd does an excellent job of providing a comprehensive historical background of the porn industry, as well as solid research to back its effects (e.g., erectile dysfunction, relationship problems, physiological/neurological brain changes similar to drug addiction that result in the need for a more extreme “fix”…the list goes on). As a parent I was particularly interested in protecting my children from the problems porn forces us to face, and after sifting through the book I have been given a solid foundation that I believe will help me foster a healthy and realistic understanding of human sexuality."
"I think anybody who want to know how porn affects society, and is still using porn or who has recover from porn should get this book."
"Exposing the truth is desperately needed in this area."
"nice book...prompt seller!"
"Porn myth is very informative and insightful as well as educational."
"Very good book,with a lot of details that are helpfull.I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about this subject."
"Great resource for our abstinence educators."
"Excellent, fact filled book."
Best Mental Health
At the time of Frankl's death in 1997, Man's Search for Meaning had sold more than 10 million copies in twenty-four languages. The book begins with a lengthy, austere, and deeply moving personal essay about Frankl's imprisonment in Auschwitz and other concentration camps for five years, and his struggle during this time to find reasons to live. The second part of the book, called "Logotherapy in a Nutshell," describes the psychotherapeutic method that Frankl pioneered as a result of his experiences in the concentration camps.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Read this book, read this book."
"Those that had developed purpose and meaning to the harsh conditions got out of bed every morning to face another unbearable day."
"Profound insight."
"A little twist of ideas as to why some people survive the worst and why others don't survive medium bad."
"A nice read about the importance of finding meaning in your life."
"This is a great book from both the personal story aspect as well as for its philosophical aspects."
"A powerful book."
"This is a fantastic book for anyone interested in logotherapy, Positive thinking, or Holocaust survival stories."
Best Anxieties & Phobias
"Some people might think that being 'furiously happy' is just an excuse to be stupid and irresponsible and invite a herd of kangaroos over to your house without telling your husband first because you suspect he would say no since he's never particularly liked kangaroos. And that would be ridiculous because no one would invite a herd of kangaroos into their house. I say he should have been clearer about that before I rented all those kangaroos. Furiously Happy is about "taking those moments when things are fine and making them amazing, because those moments are what make us who we are, and they're the same moments we take into battle with us when our brains declare war on our very existence. An Amazon Best Book of September 2015: Jenny Lawson follows up her marvelous debut Let’s Pretend This Never Happened with her determination to be furiously happy: she will seize the strangest and most glorious moments of her life while she stares down her depression, severe anxiety, avoidant personality disorder, and much more—and dares it to stop her. Then your stomach drops like an artillery shell when Lawson exposes the dark side of her mental illnesses: trying not to cut herself and holing up in her bedroom for days on end. Whether or not you too suffer from depression, you’ll turn the last page fired up by Lawson’s conviction that you can be furiously happy no matter what life hurls at you. But the two things you'll never do is doubt Jenny's brilliance or her fearlessness when it comes to having honest discussions about mental illness, shame, and the power of human resilience. She's changing the conversation one rented sloth at a time.” ― Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW, author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Daring Greatly.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Last year I bought this author's hilarious LET'S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED when it was a Daily Deal and enjoyed it enormously. It's presented in a comic manner and I suspect that many readers will be upset to learn that her life hasn't been non-stop laughs. The societal costs of untreated or poorly treated mental illness in terms of suicide, unemployment or underemployment, incarceration, etc. But there can be happy days and hours and minutes in between the misery and Jenny valiantly grabs every one of them and savors it. I remember reading LET'S PRETEND and thinking that it must have been uncomfortable growing up with a father whose idea of parenting was waking his little daughters up and telling them that he had brought them a pet squirrel."
"Parts of this book - where she's being honest about mental illness - are very touching, funny and classic Bloggess."
"It's hard, and exhausting, and it literally kills people. It's easy to feel alone, or at the very least stigmatized when you deal with mental issues, but Jenny's relatable stories and anecdotes helped me feel like I had an ally in the trenches with me."
"My girlfriend (fiancé now, so that's good) laughed so much she kept having to cover her mouth with my arm and made me listen(audiobook, we were on an aeroplane up in the sky) to a new paragraph every 30 seconds and kept interrupting me during The Revenant, and she knows how much I love that movie; because she was enjoying it so much, she had to show me, over and over, for 2.4 hours."
"Granted, some of the ramblings were genuinely funny, and I found myself snickering out loud on the bus while reading, but a good portion of the ramblings were just a funny premise taken way too far until it's just not funny anymore. I think the #1 question I kept asking myself after every chapter was, "Yes, but...WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH MENTAL ILLNESS?""
"This book is a gem, a must read for everyone who has mental illness, loves someone with mental illness, or just knows someone with mental illness."
Best Disabled Studies
He writes about families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, multiple severe disabilities, with children who are prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are transgender. Many families grow closer through caring for a challenging child; most discover supportive communities of others similarly affected; some are inspired to become advocates and activists, celebrating the very conditions they once feared. Amazon Best Books of the Month, November 2012: Anyone who’s ever said (or heard or thought) the adage “chip off the old block” might burrow into Andrew Solomon’s tome about the ways in which children are different from their parents--and what such differences do to our conventional ideas about family. Ruminative, personal, and reportorial all at once, Solomon--who won a National Book Award for his treatise on depression, The Noonday Demon --begins by describing his own experience as the gay son of heterosexual parents, then goes on to investigate the worlds of deaf children of hearing parents, dwarves born into “normal” families, and so on. -- Sara Nelson *Starred Review* Solomon, who won the National Book Award for The Noonday Demon (2001), tackles daunting questions involving nature versus nurture, illness versus identity, and how they all affect parenting in his exhaustive but not exhausting exploration of what happens when children bear little resemblance to their parents.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Thank you, Mr. Solomon for pointing out the absurdities in our justice system when it comes to dealing with juvenile crime. I wanted to learn about how families deal with a diagnosis of autism; instead I learned about how families deal with all kinds of unexpected outcomes, how resilient parents can be when faced with hardships, and how connected are the identities of parents and their children. One more thing: in 700 pages (okay, I admit, I didn't read the Acknowledgments) I never found an example of "martyrdom" that one reviewer complained about. But Far From the Tree isn't a chronicle of long-suffering devastated parents; there are plenty of positive, hopeful, make-the-best-of-it moments as well."
"Great read, tying in a wide variety of different and often difficult situations that make it hard for children to fully bond with their parents, their "vertical community"."
"Solomon focuses on a range of "differences" that children can have from their parents, e.g. deaf children born to hearing parents, "dwarf" children born to normal-sized parents, schizophrenic children, etc., and explores in extensive detail the experiences, dilemmas and challenges of both the parents and the children."
"I was assigned this book for my grad class that I'm in and I just read a chapter on disabilities that really shook me."
"It is a bear of a book to get through although to be fair about half the book are Notes and other supporting material. The author, Andrew Solomon, writes an incredibly good and detailed book about families who are faced with children who are extraordinary and exceptional. Through the use of tons of in person interviews over many years he presents the reader with raw emotions, feedback and day to day life raising these sorts of children."
Best Alternative Therapies
“Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding and treating traumatic stress and the scope of its impact on society.” —Alexander McFarlane, Director of the Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing in this New York Times Science bestseller Trauma is a fact of life. Praise for The Body Keeps the Score “In this inspirational work which seamlessly weaves keen clinical observation, neuroscience, historical analysis, the arts, and personal narrative, Dr. van der Kolk has created an authoritative guide to the effects of trauma, and pathways to recovery. A must read for mental health and other health care professionals, trauma survivors, their loved ones, and those who seek clinical, social, or political solutions to the cycle of trauma and violence in our society.” —Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY “This is an absolutely fascinating and clearly written book by one of the nation’s most experienced physicians in the field of emotional trauma. “Breathtaking in its scope and breadth, The Body Keeps the Score is a seminal work by one of the preeminent pioneers in trauma research and treatment. Van der Kolk, the eminent impresario of trauma treatment, who has spent a career bringing together diverse trauma scientists and clinicians and their ideas, while making his own pivotal contributions, describes what is arguably the most important series of breakthroughs in mental health in the last thirty years. Here we see not only how psychological trauma also breaks connections within the brain, but also between mind and body, and learn about the exciting new approaches that allow people with the severest forms of trauma to put all the parts back together again.” —Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself. “ The Body Keeps the Score articulates new and better therapies for toxic stress based on a deep understanding of the effects of trauma on brain development and attachment systems. Bessel van der Kolk may focus on the body and trauma, but what a mind he must have to have written this book.”. Its deeply empathic, insightful, and compassionate perspective promises to further humanize the treatment of trauma victims, dramatically expand their repertoire of self-regulatory healing practices and therapeutic options, and also stimulate greater creative thinking and research on trauma and its effective treatment. The body does keep the score, and Van der Kolk’s ability to demonstrate this through compelling descriptions of the work of others, his own pioneering trajectory and experience as the field evolved and him along with it, and above all, his discovery of ways to work skillfully with people by bringing mindfulness to the body (as well as to their thoughts and emotions) through yoga, movement, and theater are a wonderful and welcome breath of fresh air and possibility in the therapy world.”. “In The Body Keeps the Score we share the author’s courageous journey into the parallel dissociative worlds of trauma victims and the medical and psychological disciplines that are meant to provide relief. “Bessel van der Kolk is unequaled in his ability to synthesize the stunning developments in the field of psychological trauma over the past few decades. —Ruth A. Lanius, MD, PhD, Harris-Woodman chair in Psyche and Soma, professor of psychiatry, and director PTSD research at the University of Western Ontario; author of The Impact of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease. Interspersed with that narrative are clear and understandable descriptions of the neurobiology of trauma; explanations of the ineffectiveness of traditional approaches to treating trauma; and introductions to the approaches that take patients beneath their cognitive minds to heal the parts of them that remained frozen in the past. “When it comes to understanding the impact of trauma and being able to continue to grow despite overwhelming life experiences, Bessel van der Kolk leads the way in his comprehensive knowledge, clinical courage, and creative strategies to help us heal. Dr. Van der Kolk offer a brilliant synthesis of clinical cases, neuroscience, powerful tools and caring humanity, offering a whole new level of healing for the traumas carried by so many.”. Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., is the founder and medical director of the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Frankly, nothing really worked until I discovered - and applied - the somatic (body) techniques espoused by van der Kolk, and other luminaries such as Peter Levine, Pat Ogden, and Eugene Gendlin. The only way to ‘communicate’ with this pre-verbal system is through the body, which can signal to the brain stem that it is OK to begin the process of unfreezing the emotional paralysis that has plagued us for decades. UPDATE 2018: One of the treatments that Bessel van der Kolk mentions in his book - MDMA (Ecstasy) - was recently granted ‘Breakthrough Therapy’ status by the FDA for phase 3 trials. This is because the phase 1 and 2 trials were so successful, that nearly 70% of participants no longer had PTSD after just 3 MDMA sessions (most of these participants had suffered PTSD for decades)."
"I believed I could gut it out, that the past was the past and that only weak people needed to talk through their problems. I believed only losers behaved badly as adults due to anything in their childhood or past and that claiming you were affected by any past problem was a crutch to allow you to embrace failure. It's very hard to be kind to people, to focus on your work, to love others when all your power is spent trying to pretend you don't feel like s***. When you see everything you have go away and can only occasionally find the strength to take care of yourself and your business and need others in your life to carry you from time to time (much to your embarrassment) and yet you think you're smart and capable and have no understanding of why you are where you are, life becomes a slog. While I can't attribute every part of my success to this book alone as it takes many things to get where you want to go (mostly you), I can absolutely attest to the power of this book. If you've suffered any sort of major and/or persistent trauma in your life, please buy (and read) this book."