Mood Disorders Books - Page 3

Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament

Kay Redfield Jamison

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not the whole story...but a fine effort all the same 4 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

As mentioned by others, if you are looking for the actual process of how depression is seen to predispose certain people to be creative then this book is not for you. The fineline between madman and genius is still poorly understood. Jamisons book is a treatise on what information is known along with citing studies and statistical analysis. It is aimed more towards scientists etc. studying the phenomenon as opposed to individuals looking for answers as to why they are prone to depression and the creativity that depression brings about.
However, with the above in mind, Jamison has done a good job. I feel it to be incomplete as it doesn't really get in to the nitty gritty of what exactly is happening to cause the madman/genius scenario. Alas that isn't a failing of Jamison, more a case that currently no one knows with any certainty as to what is going on. Is it hereditary?, Genetics?, a social failing, artists taking advantage of societies perception of the madgenius-artist?, being predisposed to being more emotional and just feeling the highs and lows of the human condition to a greater degree? etc. etc. Hopefully one day soon the underlying causes may be know but not today. And in a way that is a plus for this book - Jamison for the most part appears to be impartial to the theories and merely collects them together for the reader to to review. There are some biographies of certain artists/writers/poets/musicians etc. with Lord Byron being the greatest study. They make for very interesting reading, along with the lists of well regarded artistic types and their battles with mental illness.
If you are someone looking for answers this book isn't for you. But if you are looking for the current state of affairs in this field then you will find much here to dwell on. My background is science so I found the delivery of the book to be standard scientific fare and had no problems reading it. It may come across as dry to a reader not so well versed in this manner of writing. As I am now a writer and an artist I found the book to be very interesting - I didn't learn much beyond what common sense will tell you but it was useful to have all the current studies in one tome. A book in a similar vein worth reading is Anthony Storr's "Churchill's Black Dog".

Editorial Review:

From the author of the New York Times bestseller, An Unquiet Mind, Touched with Fire is an authoritative look at the relationship between manic-depressive illness and the artistic temperament. Psychiatrist Jamison advocates a restrained, humanistic approach to treatment that does not "cure" the disorder at the expense of artistic inspiration.

Dr. Bob's Guide to Stop ADHD in 18 Days

Robert DeMaria

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Dr. Bob does a good job of writing..but misses a few points. 3 out of 5 stars.
32 of 41 people found this review helpful.

Dr. Bob in his book is another one of those writers about ADHD who believes (sincerely) that supplements, food, good parenting, and so on is the correct answer for treatment of all types of ADHD/ADD. While certainly, the above would help almost any type of disorder, he never bothers to mention at ANY time when his idea did not work, (ie the vitamins failed to solve the child's problems)--so am I believe it is 100% successful?!! Amazing. My question for Dr. Bob is if pharmaceuticals do not work, then why can I name so many success stories from people who DO USE them. Oh, by the way, they do not work all the time. He is a convincing, good writer, he is just totally wrong. Also, he forgets that we now are seeing adults in their 40s still having the symptoms of ADD, who by the way had them first diagnosed in the 1-3rd grades. I would recommend his book, because it is well written and organized. And, all children do NOT need to take medications to modify their behavior. I do think our society at time has gone overboard with that notion. But his book is not the cure all with his omega oils and patented products he so often wants you to use. He has some very good ideas, and I took this into account. He says sugar impairs you immune system, which is abosolutely false, and has some other non sense he tries to pass on with questionable science to back it up. To me it appears as another one of those who believes you should avoid ALL medications at ALL costs no matter what. Also, how many cases a day does he "treat" for ADHD, and how does he deal with adults who have had it for so long. Does he, while flexing soft tissue as a chiropractor, take time out to express his feeling while giving a massage? ADHD/ADD is a long complex condition-- that foods and vitamins cannot "fix" so easily as this half life of 18 days he speaks about. It often involves moral and personal issues at home, that by avoiding sugar is just not going to cover. guyairey

Editorial Review:

This how-to guide can rid children and families off medications and detrimental foods - junk foods loaded with sugar, preservatives, dairy products, and trans- fattyacids - so that children and families can enjoy optimal health. "This user-friendly book has the potential of setting families free from the nightmare of ADD, ADHD, and ODD. Using drugs on kids isn't solving the problem. Follow Dr. Bob's directions and witness the change is can bring to you and your loved ones." Bruce West, D.C. Publisher, Health Alert

The Instinct to Heal: Curing Depression, Anxiety and Stress Without Drugs and Without Talk Therapy

David Servan-Schreiber

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent information and examples 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This is a great book on depression, stress and anxiety. I had a little "baby blues" after my first child was born, so I checked this book out from the library. I liked it so much that I bought it for reference and to lend out to my friends and family. It is full of very good information on depression, and the examples are very interesting. It reads slowly at first because it is so dense with information and new ideas, but if you can get through the first 100 pages, it moves a lot faster. It seems like we all know someone who suffers from these problems, and we all have them ourselves from time to time. I recommend this book without inhibition to anyone interested in the subject.

Editorial Review:

Millions of Americans try drugs or talk therapy to relieve depression and anxiety, but recent scientific studies prove certain alternative treatments can work as well or better-often bringing on a cure.

In this extraordinary international bestseller, award-winning psychiatrist and neuroscientist David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., Ph.D., presents seven natural approaches, each with proven results, that together form a treatment plan that builds on the body's relationship to the brain, yielding faster, more dramatic, and permanent changes. People who want to leave suffering behind now can live joyful, happy lives.

Don't Let Your Emotions Run Your Life: How Dialectical Behavior Therapy Can Put You in Control (New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook)

Scott E. Spradlin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

You can teach an old woman new skills 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

You can teach 4 year olds to count. You can teach an old dog to fetch. At 45 I thought there was no help for me. I just couldn't change. But this book helped me to learn the skills I needed to get along with myself my family and society. It is dry reading but keep at it and you will find a new person within you.

Great Workbook 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I have been having trouble controling my emotions my whole life. I was never taught to control my emotions, so it has always been a struggle for me. Following the books guidelines and working one chapter at a time has helped me so much. It has improved my relationship with my boyfriend and given me a happier outlook on life knowing that my emotions are part of me but don't have to be who I am. I highly reccommend it, it's just like doing a workbook for a english or psych class. I also purchased the Self-Esteem Workbook. It's been just as helpful to me as this one.

Editorial Review:

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a therapeutic technique designed to counter extreme emotional reactions — before they lead to overwhelming anger, depression, anxiety, and stress-related ailments. An eclectic mix of cognitive-behavioral techniques, skills training, Zen, and existentialism, DBT helps readers pay attention to their emotions, assess their blocks to controlling them, become less judgmental of themselves when they lose control, and ultimately eliminate overpowering feelings. Worksheets and assessment exercises round out this breakthrough program.

Living Fully with Shyness and Social Anxiety: A Comprehensive Guide to Gaining Social Confidence

Erika B. Hilliard

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Anxiety disorders are among the most commonly diagnosed psychological conditions in America, currently affecting more than 19 million people. In Living Fully with Shyness and Social Anxiety, distinguished therapist and mental health expert Erika B. Hilliard offers a comprehensive guide to living fully and confidently with such conditions. In warm, reassuring language, she covers in-depth all of the relevant topics, including how to calm your body, blushing, eye contact, body language, medications, heart racing, goal setting, shy bladder syndrome, cultivating positive thoughts, and ways to prepare for stressful social situations—many of which are only briefly touched upon in other books. Uniquely organized into three distinct, logical, easy-to-digest sections—The Body, The Mind, and Action—this book offers optimum comprehensiveness and readability, and is encouraging and supportive throughout. Living Fully with Shyness and Social Anxiety provides the most thorough resource for those looking for an honest, destigmatized approach to something experienced to varying degrees by nearly everyone.

Helping Your Anxious Child: A Step-by-step Guide for Parents

Ronald M. Rapee, Ann Wignall, Susan H. Spence, Vanessa Cobham, Heidi Lyneham

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Most children are afraid of the dark. Some fear monsters under the bed. But 10 percent of children have excessive fears and worries--phobias, separation anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder--that can hold them back and keep them from fully enjoying childhood. If your child suffers from any of these forms of anxiety, the program in this book offers practical, scientifically proven tools that can help.

Now in its second edition, Helping Your Anxious Child has been expanded and updated to include the latest research and techniques for managing child anxiety. You'll learn how to help your child overcome intense fears and worries and find out how to relieve anxious feelings while parenting with compassion.

• Help your child practice "detective thinking" to recognize irrational worries
• What to do when your child becomes frightened
• How to gently and gradually expose your child to challenging situations
• Help your child learn important social skills

Stop Obsessing!: How to Overcome Your Obsessions and Compulsions (Revised Edition)

Edna B. Foa, Reid Wilson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Newly Revised and Updated!

Are you tormented by extremely distressing thoughts or persistent worries?

Compelled to wash your hands repeatedly?

Driven to repeat or check certain numbers, words, or actions?

If you or someone you love suffers from these symptoms, you may be one of the millions of Americans who suffer from some form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD.

Once considered almost untreatable, OCD is now known to be a highly treatable disorder using behavior therapy. In this newly revised edition of Stop Obsessing! Drs. Foa and Wilson, internationally renowned authorities on the treatment of anxiety disorders, share their scientifically based and clinically proven self-help program that has already allowed thousands of men and women with OCD to enjoy a life free from excessive worries and rituals.

You will discover:
• Step-by-step programs for both mild and severe cases of OCD
• The most effective ways to help you let go of your obsessions and gain control over your compulsions
• New charts and fill-in guides to track progress and make exercises easier
• Questionnaires for self-evaluation and in-depth understanding of your symptoms
• Expert guidance for finding the best professional help
• The latest information about medications prescribed for OCD

The Anger Control Workbook

Matthew McKay, Peter Rogers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Complete perfection in self-help book writing that actually WORKS 5 out of 5 stars.
29 of 29 people found this review helpful.

I love using self-help books as therapy: they are reasonably cheap and they mobilize you sometimes even better than a therapist - as you know you can't become passive or rely on someone else for your progress.

Over the years, I've seen quite a few good self-help books, and God knows, I've been duped by a few unhelpful ones in glossy covers. It always puzzles me to see how some of these real duds can manage to make it to the best seller's lists and stay there. I know it's human to seek simplistic answers, only to find out, that the solution to a long-term problem is never as easy and quick as the book promises.

A while back, I was lucky to get a hold of a book called The Authoritative Guide to Self-Help Books. The book is a result of a well-respected study that rates hundreds of self-help books/films/websites for various disorders such as depression, anger, obesity, anxiety, low self-esteem and so on. In the anger category, the only book found to be highly effective (5 stars) was the book I am reviewing.

This is the most concise book I've seen on this complex subject about 150 pages), but it's the essence of all I needed.

In my opinion, a self help book is good if:

1. It's simple, clear and free of psychobabble with a minimum of stories of non-existant humans;

2. It doesn't dwell exessively on the past no matter how sad, but rather enourages action to change;

3. The issues feel relevant and you see the application to your unique situation immediately;

4. It is scientifically proven to work. It does not promise you easy and quick results but realistic and common-sense;


The Anger Control Workbook is such self-help book.

It starts by teaching you how to relax on demand. Try to be angry when you are completely relaxed-it's impossible.

Relaxation is a skill that you perfect with 20-minute daily practice. You use this skill to temporarily calm yourself and buy time so that you can plead and reason with yourself not to act impulsively and cause an unrepairable damage.

Then, the book addresses your thought and belief system and helps to correct some of the distortions that are surely lurking there. Automatic and unnoticed distortions provide fertile ground for anger. They help sustain and justify its philosophical existance by painting all sort of seemingly inevitable catastrophes. Authors say, testing and correcting your silent dialog is the most important step in gaining control in any mood change, a.k.a. cognitive therapy.

Finally, the book teaches you how to inoculate yourself against various situations that make you angry by preventing any outbursts in the future. You compile the description of the situations that tick you off and deal with them on your own terms-at home while you are totally relaxed and safe by imagining yourself in the hot situation, and desensitizing yourself, until you get in control.

Often times, I actually found myself memorizing some of the books sentences, and reciting them to myself like mantra. For example, when getting pissed at people whom I deem as incompetent, I'd quell my anger by saying to myself "PEOPLE ARE DOING THEIR BEST". This sentence, as simple as corny as it might sound, would honestly humble myself and make me more human, calming a rising storm inside. It just had that click with me.

In the end, the obvious is worth repeating: this book or any self-help book works only if you use it! Deliberately seeking out situations that make you angry - not avoiding them - and acting in a new, non-agressive fashion, is key. Good luck!

Editorial Review:

The ever-escalating costs of anger are well documented: sabotaging careers, alienating friends and family, triggering illness, causing bodily harm. Written by two well-regarded experts in the field, The Anger Control Workbook introduces a new and radically simplified approach to anger control. Step-by-step exercises will aid readers in identifying, understanding, responding to, and ultimately coping with their hostile feelings. "Half the anger battle can be won by simply learning to relax the physical tension that develops in provocative situations. It's a proven fact that if you can relax your body, and keep it relaxed, it's almost impossible to get angry. Combating stress using the skills you're about to learn can help you calm down, think clearly, and handle any situation in an effective, positive way." - from the book

The Essential Family Guide to Borderline Personality Disorder: New Tools and Techniques to Stop Walking on Eggshells (Essential Family Guide to)

Randi Kreger

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

For family members of people with borderline personality disorder (BPD), home life is routinely unpredictable and frequently unbearable. Extreme mood swings, impulsive behaviors, and suicidal tendencies—common conduct among those who suffer from the disorder—leave family members feeling confused, hurt, and helpless.

In her pioneering first book Stop Walking on Eggshells, co-authored with Paul T. Mason, Randi Kreger outlined the fundamental differences in the way that people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) relate to the world. Now, with The Essential Family Guide to Borderline Personality Disorder, she takes readers to the next level, giving them straightforward tools to get off the emotional roller coaster and repair relationships with loved ones with BPD. Kreger answers the questions family members most want to ask about:  the symptoms and treatment of BPD, including why BPD is so misdiagnosed; how symptoms can differ by age and gender; and how addiction and other disorders complicate BPD. She then outlines how families can set boundaries and communicate differently in order to help themselves and their loved ones cope with this bewildering form of mental illness.

Telling Yourself the Truth: Find Your Way Out of Depression, Anxiety, Fear, Anger, and Other Common Problems by Applying the Principles of Misbelief Therapy

William, Backus, Marie, Chapian

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Eye opening and a quick read 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

After reading this book, I've since given away my copy and bought it twice. It's based on a simple concept: eliminate negative self talk by recognizing it, arguing with it, and replacing it with the truth. Anyone who has ever been discouraged, experienced doubt, or been angry at themselves will learn from this book.

Editorial Review:

Most of What Happens in Your Life Happens Because of the Way You Think.

Wrong thinking produces wrong emotions, wrong reactions, wrong behavior—and unhappiness! Learning to deal with your thoughts is the first step on the road to healthy thinking.

How to handle one’s thoughts properly is what this book is all about! It explains the life-changing method the authors call Misbelief Therapy, and it can work for you—

In your home In your own circumstances In your own problems In your own adverse environment In your own thinking Based on the Bible, this book has helped thousands of people for many years, and it can help you! Telling Yourself the Truth can show you how to identify your own misbeliefs and replace them with the truth.