Psychology & Counseling Books - Page 3

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (James H. Silberman Books)

Norman Doidge

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 87 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good Book but Definitely Not an Intro to Neuroscience 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

For decades now there has been a longstanding feud between biologists and psychologists on how the human brain forms and develops -- otherwise known as the nature versus nurture debate. Evolutionary biology teaches us that genes is destiny, and with his book the Canadian psychiatrist Norman Doidge makes his case for individual agency and cultural influences.

Like Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, & Steel" Dr. Doidge's book is not original research but rather a synthesis and summary from the frontiers of brain science. Supplemented with case studies "The Brain that Changes Itself" is about neuroplasticity, which argues that the brain is "plastic," or organic and malleable. For hundreds of years, thanks to thinkers like Rene Descartes, scientists have thought of the brain as mechanical, certain functions localized to certain sectors in this machine -- over time it rusts, with no chance of regeneration. Thanks to decades of research by a brave few who dared to defy their mainstream bethren and to the invention of brain scans neuroplasticity is now the accepted view.

The good news about neuroplasticity is that the brain you have is the brain you make it. New external stimuli (such as learning a new language) causes new neural connections in the brain (the "neurons that fire together wire together" rule of neuroplasticity). Often when we're learning a new language or skill after some fast improvement in the early stages we reach a plateau where we seem to have no improvement at all. Then after a while we suddenly make a great leap. That's because it takes time (as measured by nights of good sleep) for these neural connections to consolidate themselves but once they do we can move onto the next level. Of course if we don't keep on practising this skill these connections will weaken (the "use it or lose it" rule of plasticity) because space in the brain is, after all, limited.

Individual agency over our brains gives great hope to those who suffer from aging and brain damage. Scientists have developed brain exercises on the computer to help the elderly maintain a sharp and alert mind, and help stroke victims restore once lost cognitive functions.

The bad news is that the brain you have is the brain that you make it, and unfortunately most of us choose the path of least resistance and decide not to use it at all. As Dr. Doidge explains the plastic paradox means that exposing yourself to new stimuli can make the brain flexible but choosing to stay within your comfort zone will also make the brain rigid. Learning is fast and furious when we're kids but as we reach adulthood the brain becomes less plastic, making learning more difficult, and instead of choosing to learn most of us choose merely to rely on our current belief system. And when the world challenges this belief system we choose to ignore the world, and if forced we'll opt to fight the world. Thus, the plastic brain that allows us to learn new languages can also paradoxically make us intolerant and racist.

Indeed, as Dr. Doidge warns us, the individuals that he profiles who have managed to change themselves have done so because they make a honest and hard commitment to change themselves. Dr. Doidge's patients went into psychotherapy (which operates from the principles of neuroplasticity) to discover how trauma created unhealthy neural connections, and how through discussion, self-analysis, and will-power to create new neural connections. But this process is painful and costly and takes many years.

And it's so hard because the brain is so adept at protecting us. When we suffer a physical injury the brain will actually decide on what the appropriate level of pain we feel is. And when we're traumatized when we're young (for example, our mother dies or we're sexually abused) the brain will often decide to not convert this experience into long-term memory, and build defenses to disassociate ourselves from the possible pain of further trauma. The net effect is that our hippocampus -- the area of our frontal lobe that transfers experience into long-term memory, and thus what governs our ability to learn -- will shrink, thereby giving a scientific explanation to why adult victims of childhood trauma seem so adolescent and immature.

Neuroplasticity offers hope though: love. It seems that our neural network will automatically become more flexible in two critical periods of our adulthood: when we fall in love, and when we have children. Presumably it's because in both instances we need to urgently learn a new skillset to match the two most important circumstances we could find ourselves in. So being in love with someone does allow you to change who you are. Of course, being the circumspect doctor, Dr. Doidge reminds us that if we find ourselves in love with the wrong person we can change for the worst as well, seeing our confidence and healthy attitude suddenly shatter.

I'm not sure how Dr. Doidge would view my summary of his book, because I've taken great liberty in summarizing it. It's a pithy book and there's really a lot of refreshing and insightful material in the book but I'm not happy about the writing style -- which seems rushed and choppy to me -- and the organization, which hurts the clarity and effectiveness of the book. I've read quite a lot on the workings of the brain so I could follow through most chapters but I think a novice will have a particularly hard time reading this book. For a great introduction to how the mind works I suggest watching the BBC documentary series "The Human Series," hosted by Robert Winston -- possibly the greatest documentary series ever made.

Editorial Review:

An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. In this revolutionary look at the brain, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge, M.D., provides an introduction to both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they’ve transformed. From stroke patients learning to speak again to the remarkable case of a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, The Brain That Changes Itself will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential.

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High

Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, Stephen R. Covey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 132 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The New York Times Bestseller!

Learn how to keep your cool and get the results you want when emotions flare.

When stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong, you have three choices: Avoid a crucial conversation and suffer the consequences; handle the conversation badly and suffer the consequences; or read Crucial Conversations and discover how to communicate best when it matters most. Crucial Conversations gives you the tools you need to step up to life's most difficult and important conversations, say what's on your mind, and achieve the positive resolutions you want. You'll learn how to:

• Prepare for high-impact situations with a six-minute mastery technique
• Make it safe to talk about almost anything
• Be persuasive, not abrasive
• Keep listening when others blow up or clam up
• Turn crucial conversations into the action and results you want

Whether they take place at work or at home, with your neighbors or your spouse, crucial conversations can have a profound impact on your career, your happiness, and your future. With the skills you learn in this book, you'll never have to worry about the outcome of a crucial conversation again.

Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself

Melody Beattie

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 160 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Directly to you 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The author talks directly to you as you read and as a reader you are able to grasp so much helpful information. . I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for help with co-dependency and I also recommend for a perfect relationship I Love You. Now What?: Falling in Love is a Mystery, Keeping It Isn't

Editorial Review:

Is someone else's problem your problem? If, like so many others, you've lost sight of your own life in the drama of tending to someone else's, you may be codependent--and you may find yourself in this book.

The healing touchstone of millions, this modern classic by one of America's best-loved and most inspirational authors holds the key to understanding codependency and to unlocking its stultifying hold on your life.

With instructive life stories, personal reflections, exercises, and self-tests, Codependent No More is a simple, straightforward, readable map of the perplexing world of codependency--charting the path to freedom and a lifetime of healing, hope, and happiness.

Melody Beattie is the author of Beyond Codependency, The Language of Letting Go, Stop Being Mean to Yourself, and Playing It by Heart.

You Can Heal Your Life (Gift Edition)

Louise Hay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 272 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

If you haven't seen Hay House's Lifestyles series of gorgeous gift books, there is no better way to acquaint yourself than with publisher/author Louise Hay's You Can Heal Your Life. A bestseller for many years, You Can Heal Your Life has been republished with bright, beautiful illustrations in full, living color and exquisite typography--each and every page is a work of art by artist Joan Perrin Falquet. The timeless message of the book is that we are each responsible for our own reality and "dis-ease." Hay believes we make ourselves ill by having thoughts of self-hatred. She includes a directory of ailments and emotional causes for each with a corresponding affirmation to help overcome the illness. For example, the probable cause of multiple sclerosis is "mental hardness, hard-heartedness, iron will, and inflexibility." The healing "thought pattern" would be: "By choosing loving, joyous thoughts, I created a loving joyous world. I am safe and free." --P. Randall Cohan

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book

Don Miguel Ruiz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 655 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very basic 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 5 people found this review helpful.

First of all this is a very basic book. I have big issues with page 30 right from the get go. He says the word is powerful and is a force....I beg to differ. Things are just symbols of symbols, thus twice removed from reality, and the word IS the symbol! It's the thoughts we think that give us power and give us light to see what we REALLY are, not the word. He states a familar bible phrase, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God,and the word is God." No.... I'm sorry, God doesn't DO words or any other "idols" He only does creation... in the form of loving, expansive thoughts. Yes we, (as children of God), are thoughts in the mind of God, and have NEVER left. Ideas leave NOT their source. He also gives a definition of sin, which I don't beleive in, and therefore can't possilbly be correct! The truth MUST be the same for eveyone! So while this book may have some good things to say, I so disagree with most of it's main premises, that it will serve no good purpose to reccommend it or reread it.

Editorial Review:

Sit at the foot of a native elder and listen as great wisdom of days long past is passed down. In The Four Agreements shamanic teacher and healer Don Miguel Ruiz exposes self-limiting beliefs and presents a simple yet effective code of personal conduct learned from his Toltec ancestors. Full of grace and simple truth, this handsomely designed book makes a lovely gift for anyone making an elementary change in life, and it reads in a voice that you would expect from an indigenous shaman. The four agreements are these: Be impeccable with your word. Don't take anything personally. Don't make assumptions. Always do your best. It's the how and why one should do these things that make The Four Agreements worth reading and remembering. --P. Randall Cohan

APA: The Easy Way!

Peggy M. Houghton, Timothy J. Houghton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 90 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A handy small book on APA 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a small book but contains all information about APA formatting. Handy when enrolled in a college program.

Great Book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This instruction book is great. It is easy to read,understand and has great step-by-step instructions as well as covering everything you need know about how to use APA style.

APA: the easy way 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Easy to follow- very helpful!!!!!!!!!!!!I return back to college to do my masters in nursing after a 10 plus absence, I had a lot of difficulty following the APA style but this book kept it simple and gave clear examples.I did recommend it to classmates who were experiencing the same difficulties and the reaction was positive. Thank you

Editorial Review:

This handbook is a quick and simplified guide to the APA writing style. It was developed as a condensed version of the official APA Publication Manual and designed to be utilized as a supplement to the actual guide.

The handbook is divided into three parts. Part one focuses on the mechanics of APA format as well as internal text citations; part two emphasizes the actual reference page entries; and part three provides a sample paper.

Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy, Fifth Edition

Irvin D. Yalom, Molyn Leszcz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Mervelous 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A real masterpiece! Astonishingly comprehensive, most excellently and lucidly written,interesting, profound, convincing, frank and open-minded, and contains, in my opinion, the best of group thinking and pracice.

happy customer 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

i was very pleased with the product i ordered arriving on time and in the condition promised

Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Yalom did a superb job in taking his readers through the process- the world of group psychotherapy. I especially appreciate reading about the cases to see how the theories actually came together. I have learned so much from a pro!

Masters Student 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This was a very helpful manual for Group Therapy. It was a little lengthy in spots, but I would recommend it for anyone interested in improving their skills as a group counselor.

Editorial Review:

In this completely revised and updated fifth edition of group psychotherapy’s standard text, Dr. Yalom and his collaborator present the most recent developments in the field, drawing on nearly a decade of new research as well as their broad clinical wisdom and expertise. Among the significant new topics: Online therapy Specialized groups Ethnocultural diversity Trauma Managed care Plus hundreds of new references and clinical vignettes

Educational Psychology (with MyLabSchool) (10th Edition) (MyLabSchool Series)

Anita Woolfolk

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Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Filled with practicality 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Although I did not use the 10th edition due that it was delivered to a neighbor, I borrowed a 9th edition that is similar. It was an excellent resource for teaching. It has practical guidelines for class prep, updated guidelines for students with disabilities and much much more. I highly recommend this book for teachers of all levels. You may not be taking this class; Educational Psychology, the book is practical to use throughout a school year.

educational psychology 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

the book is what I need for class, cheeper than the book store and showed up at my door! What more could you ask for? I guess there is good information, or that is what my teacher said!

2007 books 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book came new,however, I guess it is my fault not knowing what my lab series is. I saw that the book is paperback, but i assumed it would at least be bound.For those who are just returning back to college after 7 years for grad school, just know this book will have to be put in a binder.On the flip side it is whole punched already for you. Other than this, very smooth transaction and fast shipping. Great seller-Thanks!

The Developing Person Through the Life Span

Kathleen Stassen Berger

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A shame this is used in educational settings 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Not a very science-based textbook. Filled with author bias, assumptions, and outdated stereotypes. Downright infuriating read for those with a social conscious. It's lucky for the author this is required reading.

Editorial Review:

Kathleen Stassen Berger's The Developing Person Through the Life Span is a perennial bestseller instructors depend upon for an authoritative portrait of the field. Enhanced with carefully crafted learning tools, its warm narrative style and emphasis on diverse lives and universal themes that speak directly to students.

With this new edition, that tradition is brought forward in a captivating new way.Cutting-edge research, electronic tools, and comprehensive insight combine to make The Developing Person Through the Life Span, Seventh Edition, the text that instructors need. With this edition, the ideal life-span text is better
than ever.

The Definitive Book of Body Language

Barbara Pease, Allan Pease

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Total reviews: 86 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Available for the first time in the United States, this international bestseller reveals the secrets of nonverbal communication to give you confidence and control in any face-to-face encounter–from making a great first impression and acing a job interview to finding the right partner.

It is a scientific fact that people’s gestures give away their true intentions. Yet most of us don’t know how to read body language–and don’t realize how our own physical movements speak to others. Now the world’s foremost experts on the subject share their techniques for reading body language signals to achieve success in every area of life.

Drawing upon more than thirty years in the field, as well as cutting-edge research from evolutionary biology, psychology, and medical technologies that demonstrate what happens in the brain, the authors examine each component of body language and give you the basic vocabulary to read attitudes and emotions through behavior.

Discover:
• How palms and handshakes are used to gain control
• The most common gestures of liars
• How the legs reveal what the mind wants to do
• The most common male and female courtship gestures and signals
• The secret signals of cigarettes, glasses, and makeup
• The magic of smiles–including smiling advice for women
• How to use nonverbal cues and signals to communicate more effectively and get the reactions you want

Filled with fascinating insights, humorous observations, and simple strategies that you can apply to any situation, this intriguing book will enrich your communication with and understanding of others–as well as yourself.