Best of
Mental-Illness
2009
Last Night I Sang to the Monster
Benjamin Alire Sáenz - 2009
He is bright and articulate. He's also an alcoholic and in rehab instead of high school, but he doesn't remember how he got there. He's not sure he wants to remember. Something bad must have happened. Something really, really bad. Remembering sucks and being alive - well, what's up with that? I have it in my head that when we're born, God writes things down on our hearts. See, on some people's hearts he writes Happy and on some people's hearts he writes Sad and on some people's hearts he writes Crazy on some people's hearts he writes Genius and on some people's hearts he writes Angry and on some people's hearts he writes Winner and on some people's hearts he writes Loser. It's all like a game to him. Him. God. And it's all pretty much random. He takes out his pen and starts writing on our blank hearts. When it came to my turn, he wrote Sad. I don't like God very much. Apparently he doesn't like me very much either.
Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals
Christopher J. Payne - 2009
From the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth, over 250 institutions for the insane were built throughout the United States; by 1948, they housed more than a half million patients. The blueprint for these hospitals was set by Pennsylvania hospital superintendent Thomas Story Kirkbride: a central administration building flanked symmetrically by pavilions and surrounded by lavish grounds with pastoral vistas. Kirkbride and others believed that well-designed buildings and grounds, a peaceful environment, a regimen of fresh air, and places for work, exercise, and cultural activities would heal mental illness. But in the second half of the twentieth century, after the introduction of psychotropic drugs and policy shifts toward community-based care, patient populations declined dramatically, leaving many of these beautiful, massive buildings--and the patients who lived in them--neglected and abandoned. Architect and photographer Christopher Payne spent six years documenting the decay of state mental hospitals like these, visiting seventy institutions in thirty states. Through his lens we see splendid, palatial exteriors (some designed by such prominent architects as H. H. Richardson and Samuel Sloan) and crumbling interiors--chairs stacked against walls with peeling paint in a grand hallway; brightly colored toothbrushes still hanging on a rack; stacks of suitcases, never packed for the trip home. Accompanying Payne's striking and powerful photographs is an essay by Oliver Sacks (who described his own experience working at a state mental hospital in his book Awakenings). Sacks pays tribute to Payne's photographs and to the lives once lived in these places, "where one could be both mad and safe."
Today I'm Alice: Nine Personalities, One Tortured Mind
Alice Jamieson - 2009
Hours of her life simply disappeared. She'd hear voices shouting at her, telling her she was useless. And the nightmares that had haunted her since early childhood, scenes of men abusing her, became more detailed . . . more real. Staring at herself in the mirror she'd catch her face changing, as if someone else was looking out through her eyes.In this work she describes her journey from a teenage girl battling anorexia and OCD, drowning the voices with alcohol, to a young woman slipping further and further into mental illness. It was only after years lost in institutions that she was correctly diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. When her alternative personalities were revealed in therapy she discovered how each one had their own memories of abuse and a full picture of her childhood finally emerged. As she learned to live with her many 'alters', she set out to confront the man who had caused her unbearable pain.Moving and ultimately inspiring, this is a gripping account of a rare condition, and the remarkable story of a courageous woman.
Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche
Ethan Watters - 2009
But is it possible America's most troubling impact on the globalizing world has yet to be accounted for? In "Crazy Like Us," Ethan Watters reveals that the most devastating consequence of the spread of American culture has not been our golden arches or our bomb craters but our bulldozing of the human psyche itself: We are in the process of homogenizing the way the world goes mad. America has been the world leader in generating new mental health treatments and modern theories of the human psyche. We export our psychopharmaceuticals packaged with the certainty that our biomedical knowledge will relieve the suffering and stigma of mental illness. We categorize disorders, thereby defining mental illness and health, and then parade these seemingly scientific certainties in front of the world. The blowback from these efforts is just now coming to light: It turns out that we have not only been changing the way the world talks about and treats mental illness -- we have been changing the mental illnesses themselves.For millennia, local beliefs in different cultures have shaped the experience of mental illness into endless varieties." Crazy Like Us" documents how American interventions have discounted and worked to change those indigenous beliefs, often at a dizzying rate. Over the last decades, mental illnesses popularized in America have been spreading across the globe with the speed of contagious diseases. Watters travels from China to Tanzania to bring home the unsettling conclusion that the virus is us: As we introduce Americanized ways of treating mental illnesses, we are in fact spreading the diseases.In post-tsunami Sri Lanka, Watters reports on the Western trauma counselors who, in their rush to help, inadvertently trampled local expressions of grief, suffering, and healing. In Hong Kong, he retraces the last steps of the teenager whose death sparked an epidemic of the American version of anorexia nervosa. Watters reveals the truth about a multi-million-dollar campaign by one of the world's biggest drug companies to change the Japanese experience of depression -- literally marketing the disease along with the drug.But this book is not just about the damage we've caused in faraway places. Looking at our impact on the psyches of people in other cultures is a gut check, a way of forcing ourselves to take a fresh look at our own beliefs about mental health and healing. When we examine our assumptions from a farther shore, we begin to understand how our own culture constantly shapes and sometimes creates the mental illnesses of our time. By setting aside our role as the world's therapist, we may come to accept that we have as much to learn from other cultures' beliefs about the mind as we have to teach.
Hold Still
Nina LaCour - 2009
. . in words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin. Now Caitlin is left alone, by loss and by choice, struggling to find renewed hope in the wake of her best friend’s suicide. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and start to realize that true friendship didn’t die with Ingrid. And the journal which once seemed only to chronicle Ingrid’s descent into depression, becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid—and Caitlin herself.
Goodbye Ed, Hello Me: Recover from Your Eating Disorder and Fall in Love with Life
Jenni Schaefer - 2009
In her bestseller,"Life Without Ed", Jenni learned to treat her eating disorder as a relationship, not a condition—enabling her to break up with Ed once and for all.In "Goodbye Ed, Hello Me" Jenni shows you that being fully recovered is not just about breaking free from destructive behaviors with food and having a healthy relationship with your body; it also means finding joy and peace in your life.Combining Jenni’s signature personal advice and unfailing encouragement along with valuable exercises you can do as you read, "Goodbye Ed, Hello Me" will give you the prescriptive tools to take the final steps in divorcing your Ed completely.Foreword by Carolyn Costin, LMFT, M.A., M.Ed.
Musical Chairs
Jennifer Knox - 2009
In order to understand her restlessness, Jennifer reflects on years of strip-dancing, alcoholism and estrangement. Inspired by the least likely source, the family she left behind, Jennifer struggles toward reconciliation. This is a story about identity, class, family ties, and the elusive nature of mental illness.
The Emperor's New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth
Irving Kirsch - 2009
Professor Irving Kirsch knew this as well as anyone. But, as he discovered during his research, there is a problem with what everyone knows about antidepressant drugs. It isn't true.How did antidepressant drugs gain their reputation as a magic bullet for depression? And why has it taken so long for the story to become public? Answering these questions takes us to the point where the lines between clinical research and marketing disappear altogether.Using the Freedom of Information Act, Kirsch accessed clinical trials that were withheld, by drug companies, from the public and from the doctors who prescribe antidepressants. What he found, and what he documents here, promises to bring revolutionary change to the way our society perceives, and consumes, antidepressants.The Emperor's New Drugs exposes what we have failed to see before: depression is not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain; antidepressants are significantly more dangerous than other forms of treatment and are only marginally more effective than placebos; and, there are other ways to combat depression, treatments that don't only include the empty promise of the antidepressant prescription.This is not a book about alternative medicine and its outlandish claims. This is a book about fantasy and wishful thinking in the heart of clinical medicine, about the seductions of myth, and the final stubbornness of facts.
Wintergirls
Laurie Halse Anderson - 2009
But then Cassie suffers the ultimate loss—her life—and Lia is left behind, haunted by her friend's memory, and feeling guilty for not being able to help save her.In her most powerfully moving novel since Speak, award-winning author, Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia's struggle, her painful path to recovery, and her desperate attempts to hold on to the most important thing of all—hope.
Fractured
Ruth Dee - 2009
She is 50 years old, and was for 30 years a respected teacher and educational manager. She is married with three grown children. But ever since she was four years old, Ruth has lived with other people in her head. Ruth isn't certain when the sexual abuse started but her first memories are of being assualted by her grandfather, so it was certainly happening by the time she was four. Her response to the massive trauma was to detach herself from it completely. Unconsciously, she invented an alter ego to take her place and take her pain. The technique was so successful that she continued to invent personalities to deal with anything stressful that happened to her. And a lot of awful things happened. Her father abused her too; her mother was severely mentally ill, and for years, as the personalities inside her mind multiplied, Ruth was terrifed that she too was mad. On the outside, Ruth grew up to be a successful adult, but inside, all was chaos. Eventually she could no longer cope and she suffered a breakdown. Since then she has learned how to manage her condition and these days she works with research psychologists to increase the understanding and treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder.
Jane in Bloom
Deborah Lytton - 2009
No one ever pays attention to boring, plain Jane. But when Jane?s twelfth birthday marks the beginning of Lizzie?s fi nal descent into a fatal eating disorder, Jane discovers that the only thing harder than living in her big sister?s shadow is living without her. In the wake of tragedy, Jane learns to look through her camera lens and frame life differently, embracing her broken family and understanding that every girl has her season to blossom. Spare and vulnerable prose marks this beautiful debut that is at once heartbreaking and uplifting.
The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls
Emilie Autumn - 2009
their doctors."It was the dog who found me."Such is the stark confession launching the harrowing scene that begins The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls as Emilie Autumn, a young musician on the verge of a bright career, attempts suicide by overdosing on the antipsychotics prescribed to treat her bipolar disorder. Upon being discovered, Emilie is revived and immediately incarcerated in a maximum-security psych ward, despite her protestations that she is not crazy, and can provide valid reasons for her actions if someone would only listen.Treated as a criminal, heavily medicated, and stripped of all freedoms, Emilie is denied communication with the outside world, and falls prey to the unwelcome attentions of Dr. Sharp, head of the hospital's psychiatry department. As Dr. Sharp grows more predatory by the day, Emilie begins a secret diary to document her terrifying experience, and to maintain her sanity in this environment that could surely drive anyone mad. But when Emilie opens her notebook to find a desperate letter from a young woman imprisoned within an insane asylum in Victorian England, and bearing her own name and description, a portal to another world is blasted wide open.As these letters from the past continue to appear, Emilie escapes further into this mysterious alternate reality where sisterhoods are formed, romance between female inmates blossoms, striped wallpaper writhes with ghosts, and highly intellectual rats speak the Queen's English.But is it real? Or is Emilie truly as mad as she is constantly told she is?The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls blurs harsh reality and magical historical fantasy whilst issuing a scathing critique of society's treatment of women and the mental health care industry's treatment of its patients, showing in the process that little has changed throughout the ages.Welcome to the Asylum. Are you committed?
Stay Close: A Mother's Story of Her Son's Addiction
Libby Cataldi - 2009
At first, alcohol and pot, but quickly he spiraled into using cocaine, ketamine, crystal meth and eventually heroin.How could this wonderful son, loving brother, and star athlete lose himself to drugs? How could his parents be so clueless? How could his mother, the long-term head of a private school, be so blind?"Stagli vicino," an Italian recovering addict told the author. "Stay close--never leave him, even when he is most unlovable." This is not a book about saving a child. It is a book about what it means to stay close to a loved one gripped by addiction. It is about one son who came home and one mother who never gave up hope."Stay Close" is one mother's tough, honest, and intimate tale that chronicles her son's severe drug addiction, as it corroded all relationships from the inside out. It is a story of deep trauma and deep despair, but also of deep hope--and healing.Here is Libby Cataldi's story about dealing with addiction without withdrawing love, learning to trust again while remaining attuned to lies, and the cautious triumph of staying clean one day at a time.He told her, "Mom, never quit believing." And she didn't.
Hydraulic Level 5
Gondolier - 2009
To Bella Swan, he was simply the complex man who broke her heart for his career in New York. How does one forget her first love and the new woman on his arm? With whitewater rafting. Skydiving. Surfing. A bit of mischief and sweet, sweet revenge.9/3/13: Hydraulic Level Five is now available on Amazon!
The Yellow Wallpaper and Selected Writings
Charlotte Perkins Gilman - 2009
Her early-twentieth-century writings continue to inspire writers and activists today. This collection includes selections from both her fiction and nonfiction work. In addition to the title story, there are seven short stories collected here that combine humor, anger, and startling vision to suggest how women's "place" in society should be changed to benefit all. The nonfiction selections are from Gilman's The Man-Made World: Our Androcentric Culture and her masterpiece, Women And Economics, which was translated into seven languages and established her international reputation as a theorist. Also included in a delightful excerpt from Gilman's utopian novel, Herland, an acidly funny tale about three American male explorers who stumble into an all-female society and begin their odyssey by insisting, "This is a civilized country . . . there must be men." Gilman's analyses of economic and women's issues are as incisive and relevant today as they were upon their original publication. This volume is an unprecedented opportunity to rediscover a powerful American writer.Content: Introduction Stories. The yellow wallpaper The unexpected The giant wistaria An extinct angel The rocking-chair Deserted An unnatural mother Three Thanksgivings The Cottagette When I was a witch An honest woman Turned Making a Change Mrs. Elder's Idea Their house Bee Wise Fulfilment If I were a man Mr. Peeble's heart Mrs. Merrill's duties. Selections from the author's autobiography. The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Tattoo
Paul Elard Cooley - 2009
They remind us who we are, what we are and where we have been.But when a scar takes away your identity, what would you do to get it back?Jackson, a journalist in Houston, discovers links between several murders that have taken place in his city. His investigation draws him into the world of body art where he discovers an obsession worth killing for.Written and performed by Paul Elard Cooley with the voice talents of Andrew Richardson.
Crystal Clear: The Inspiring Story of How an Olympic Athlete Lost His Legs Due to Crystal Meth and Found a Better Life
Eric LeMarque - 2009
But Eric’s ordeal on the mountain was only part of his struggle for survival—as he reveals, with startling candor, an even more harrowing and inspiring tale of fame and addiction, healing and triumph.
On February 6, 2004, Eric, a former professional hockey player and expert snowboarder, set off for the top of 12,000-foot Mammoth Mountain in California’s vast Sierra Nevada mountain range. Wearing only a long-sleeve shirt, a thin wool hat, ski pants, and a lightweight jacket—and with only four pieces of gum for food—he soon found himself chest-high in snow, veering off the snowboard trail, and plunging into the wilderness. By nightfall he knew he was in a fight for his life…Surviving eight days in subfreezing temperatures, he would earn the name “The Miracle Man” by stunned National Guard Black Hawk Chopper rescuers.But Eric’s against-all-odds survival was no surprise to those who knew him. A gifted hockey player in his teens, he was later drafted by the Boston Bruins and a 1994 Olympian. But when his playing days were over, Eric felt adrift. Everything changed when he first tasted the rush of hard drugs—the highly addictive crystal meth—which filled a void left by hockey and fame. By the time Eric reached the peak of Mammoth Mountain in 2004, he was already dueling demons that had seized his soul.A riveting adventure, a brutal confessional, here Eric tells his remarkable story—his climb to success, his long and painful fall, and his ordeal in the wilderness. In the end, a man whose life had been based on athleticism would lose both his legs, relearn to walk—even snowboard—with prosthetics, and finally confront the ultimate test of survival: what it takes to find your way out of darkness, and—after so many lies—to tell truth… and begin to live again.
Borderline Personality Disorder for Dummies
Charles H. Elliott - 2009
This book also aids loved ones in accepting the disorder and offering support. Inside you'll find authoritative details on the causes of BPD and proven treatments, as well as advice on working with therapists, managing symptoms, and enjoying a full life.Review the basics of BPD -- discover the symptoms of BPD and the related emotional problems, as well as the cultural, biological, and psychological causes of the diseaseUnderstand what goes wrong -- explore impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, identity problems, relationship conflicts, black-and-white thinking, and difficulties in perception; and identify the areas where you may need helpMake the choice to change -- find the right care provider, overcome common obstacles to change, set realistic goals, and improve your physical and emotional stateEvaluate treatments for BPD -- learn about the current treatments that really work and develop a plan for addressing the core symptoms of BPDIf someone you love has BPD -- see how to identify triggers, handle emotional upheavals, set clear boundaries, and encourage your loved one to seek therapyOpen the book and find:The major characteristics of BPDWho gets BPD -- and whyRecent treatment advancesIlluminating case studiesStrategies for calming emotions and staying in controlA discussion of medication optionsWays to stay healthy during treatmentTips for explaining BPD to othersHelp for parents whose child exhibits symptomsTreatment options that work and those you should avoid
Voices from the Inside: Readings on the Experience of Mental Illness
David A. Karp - 2009
Featuring memorable, first-person accounts of mentally ill individuals, Voices from the Inside: Readings on the Experiences of Mental Illness allows students to connect directly with real-life "experts" who know mental illness all too intimately. This unique anthology addresses a variety of central topics surrounding mental illness, including suicide, hospitalization, the meanings of medication, the experiences of caregivers, and the stigma attached to mental illness. Each section of readings opens with a "sensitizing" introduction that outlines key questions, specific matters for student consideration, and ways in which social scientists approach relevant substantive issues. The thought-provoking discussion questions following each set of readings are designed to foster vibrant class discussion. Comprehensive enough to be used throughout a course--but brief enough to be combined with other supplementary materials or a full-scale textbook--Voices from the Inside is ideal for upper-level undergraduate or graduate courses on the sociology of mental health and illness. It can also be used in courses in medical sociology, social work and mental health, nursing and mental health, and abnormal psychology.
Sliding on the Edge
C. Lee McKenzie - 2009
Scarred inside and out, she's survived with a tough, hardened attitude. Yet she's thrown when her mother abandons her in Vegas with only a bus ticket and the name and number of a stranger to call. Now this troubled, desperate teen finds herself on a Northern California horse ranch with Kay Stone, her steely, youngish, disillusioned grandmother, who overwhelms Shawna with rules and daily barn chores. Shawna will baffle Kay with her foul-mouthed anger and shrugging indifference to everything-except the maltreated horse on the ranch next door. But it's worse than even Kay suspects: Shawna's driven to cut herself by that strange voice inside her head, which at times has been her only steady companion. As this unlikely pair struggle to co-exist, will they overcome their inner suffering to build a bridge to each other, and together find the strength to transcend the past?
Gentling: A Practical Guide to Treating PTSD in Abused Children
William E. Krill - 2009
This text redefines PTSD in child abuse survivors by identifying child-specific behavioral signs commonly seen, and offers a means to individualize treatment and measure therapeutic outcomes through understanding each suffering child's unique symptom profile. The practical and easily understood Gentling approaches and techniques can be easily learned by clinicians, parents, foster parents, teachers and all other care givers of these children to effect real and lasting healing. With this book, you will: Learn child-specific signs of PTSD in abused children Learn how to manage the often intense reactivity seen in stress episodes Gain the practical, gentle, and effective treatment tools that really help these children Use the Child Stress Profile (CSP) to guide treatment and measure outcomes Deploy handy 'Quick Teach Sheets' that can be copied and handed to foster parents, teachers, and social workers Clinicians Acclaim for "Gentling" "In this world where children are often disenfranchised in trauma care--and all too often treated with the same techniques as adults--Krill makes a compelling case for how to adapt proven post-trauma treatment to the world of a child." --Michele Rosenthal, HealMyPTSD.com "Congratulations to Krill when he says that 'being gentle' cannot be over-emphasized in work with the abused." --Andrew D. Gibson, PhD Author of "Got an Angry Kid? Parenting Spike, A Seriously Difficult Child" "William Krill's book is greatly needed. PTSD is the most common aftermath of child abuse and often domestic abuse as well. There is a critical scarcity of mental-health professionals who know how to recognize child abuse, let alone treat it." --Fr. Heyward B. Ewart, III, Ph.D., St. James the Elder Theological Seminary, author of "AM I BAD? Recovering From Abuse" Cover photo by W.A. Krill/ Fighting Chance Photography Learn more at www.Gentling.org From the New Horizons in Therapy Series at Loving Healing Press www.LovingHealing.com
Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders: Dsm-V and Beyond
Paul F. Dell - 2009
It reports the most recent scientific findings and conceptualizations about dissociation; defines and establishes the boundaries of current knowledge in the dissociative disorders field; identifies and carefully articulates the field s current points of confusion, gaps in knowledge, and conjectures; clarifies the different aspects and implications of dissociation; and sets forth a research agenda for the next decade. In many respects, Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders both defines and redefines the field.
Wrestling with Our Inner Angels: Faith, Mental Illness, and the Journey to Wholeness
Nancy Kehoe - 2009
Through fascinating stories of her own spiritual journey, she gives readers of all backgrounds and interests new insights into the inner lives of the mentally ill and new ways of thinking about the role of spirituality and faith in all our lives.
The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder: Using DBT to Regain Control of Your Emotions and Your Life
Sheri Van Dijk - 2009
You've probably already developed your own ways of coping with recurring depression, the consequences of manic episodes, and the constant, uncomfortable feeling that you're at the mercy of your emotions. Some of these methods may work; others might do more harm than good. The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder will help you integrate your coping skills with a new and effective dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) plan for living well with bipolar disorder.The four DBT skills you'll learn in this workbook-mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness-will help you manage your emotional ups and downs and minimize the frequency and intensity of depressive and manic episodes. By using this book in conjunction with medication and professional care, you'll soon experience relief from your bipolar symptoms and come to enjoy the calm and confident feeling of being in control.•Learn mindfulness and acceptance skills•Cope with depressive and manic episodes in healthy ways•Manage difficult emotions and impulsive urges•Maintain relationships with friends and family members
The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bulimia: Using DBT to Break the Cycle and Regain Control of Your Life
Ellen Astrachan-Fletcher - 2009
While purging is a strategy for controlling weight, bingeing is an attempt to calm depression, stress, shame, and even boredom. The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bulimia offers new and healthy ways to overcome the distressing feelings and negative body-image beliefs that keep you trapped in this cycle.In this powerful program used by therapists, you'll learn four key skill sets-mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness-and begin using them right away to manage bulimic urges. The book includes worksheets and exercises designed to help you take charge of your emotions and end your dependence on bulimia. You'll also learn how to stay motivated and committed to ending bulimia instead of reverting to old behaviors. Used together, the skills presented in this workbook will help you begin to cope with uncomfortable feelings in healthy ways, empower you to feel good about nourishing your body, and finally gain true control over your life.This book has been awarded The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Self-Help Seal of Merit — an award bestowed on outstanding self-help books that are consistent with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and that incorporate scientifically tested strategies for overcoming mental health difficulties. Used alone or in conjunction with therapy, our books offer powerful tools readers can use to jump-start changes in their lives.
The Insomnia Workbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Getting the Sleep You Need
Stephanie Silberman - 2009
There's no better treatment for insomnia than cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Research has shown that CBT works even better than powerful sleep medications, and with this workbook, it's easier than ever to put these strategies to work to help you ward off insomnia and finally get to sleep.The Insomnia Workbook is designed to simulate the experience of seeing a professional CBT sleep specialist. First, you'll assess your sleep habits with questionnaires and evaluate how your sleep problem affects your life; then you'll learn a variety of proven techniques sleep specialists recommend to their clients. This book includes all of the tools you need to better understand your insomnia and create an effective plan for getting the sleep you need.With this complete program, you'll:•Stop the racing thoughts that keep you awake at night•Train yourself to sleep using stimulus control, sleep restriction, and deep relaxation skills •Identify foods and lifestyle factors that may be making things worse•Keep a personal sleep log to track your progress
Freedom from Self-Harm: Overcoming Self-Injury with Skills from DBT and Other Treatments
Kim L. Gratz - 2009
But if you're ready to replace self-harm with a set of healthy coping skills, this compassionate and practical book can help.This complete guide to stopping self-injury gives you the facts about self-harm, corrects common myths about this behavior, and provides self-soothing techniques you can begin using right away for regulating difficult or overwhelming emotions. "Freedom from Self-Harm" also includes self-assessment worksheets, guidance for seeking professional help, and information about the most effective therapies and medications. Drawn from treatments such as dialectical behavior therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy, the tools in this book can help you cope with your emotions whenever you feel the urge to self-harm.""
Drug-Induced Dementia: a perfect crime
Grace E. Jackson - 2009
Within the United States alone, the number of affected individuals over the age of 65 is expected to rise exponentially from 8 million cases (2% of the entire population in the year 2000), to 18 million retirees (roughly 4.5% of the national census in the year 2040). Although they are striking, these statistics quite likely underestimate the scope of the coming epidemic, as they fail to consider the impact of under-diagnosis, early-onset disease, and the potential for a changing incidence of illness in the context of increasingly toxic environments. In the face of this imminent crisis, concerned observers have called for policies and practices which aim to prevent, limit, or reverse dementia. Drug-Induced Dementia: A Perfect Crime is a timely resource which reveals why and how medical treatments themselves - specifically, psychopharmaceuticals - are a substantial cause of brain degeneration and premature death. A first-of-its-kind resource for patients and clinicians, the book integrates research findings from epidemiology (observational studies of patients in the "real world"), basic biology (animal experiments), and clinical science (neuroimaging and autopsy studies) in order to demonstrate the dementing and deadly effects of psychiatric drugs. Highlighted by more than 100 neuroimages, slides of tissue specimens, and illustrations, the book uniquely describes: O the societal roots of the problem (target organ toxicity, regulatory incompetence, and performativity) O the subtypes and essential causes of dementia O the patterns, prevalence, and causes of dementia associated with antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, mood stabilizers, and stimulants and O the actions and reforms which patients, providers, and policy makers might immediately pursue, in an effort to mitigate the causes and consequences of this iatrogenic tragedy.
Releasing You From Social Anxiety
Stephen Richards - 2009
This groundbreaking brainwave technology does not use self-hypnosis or subliminal messaging. In less than 30 minutes the main track will target the core of the problem and help you overcome nerve racking situations from panic attacks to being fearful of strangers to simply being tongue tied at or feared of social events. This audio should be additional to, and not in place of, any normal treatment you are already receiving from a qualified medical practitioner. Using up to date methods of paraliminals with brainwave technology this audio overcomes the need to use self-hypnosis. Being struck dumb with nerves, stuttering and stammer or blushing bright red are all symptoms of social anxiety. Now these situations need no longer fill you with dread. Now there is something you can do to change this. The technology used in this can turn your life around, and it can boost your moral. The best time to listen to this is through the daytime, or when you are alert. For the best results it is advisable to listen to this audio through stereo headphones. Please ensure you know which part of the earpiece set is for the left and right ear, and wear accordingly. However, if you are left handed reverse the headset, so that the right earpiece is in or over your left ear, and the left earpiece is over or in your right ear.
Understanding Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Katharine A. Phillips - 2009
In The Broken Mirror, thefirst and most definitive book on BDD, Dr. Katharine A. Phillips provided a comprehensive manual for patients and their physicians by drawing on years of clinical practice, scientific research, and professional evaluations of over 1,000 patients. Now, in Understanding Body Dysmorphic Disorder: AnEssential Guide, the world's leading authority on BDD reaches out to patients, their friends, and their families with this concise and updated handbook.BDD causes sufferers to be obsessed by perceived flaws in their appearance and may afflict as much as two percent of the population, or nearly five million people. Many sufferers are able to function well in society, but remain secretly obsessed by their hideous acne or horrible nose, sneakingconstant peeks at a pocket mirror, or spending hours at a time redoing makeup. Others find their lives disintegrate because of their appearance obsessions. It is not an uncommon disorder, simply a hidden one, since sufferers are often embarrassed to tell even their closest friends about theirconcerns.Using stories and interviews to show the many different behaviors and symptoms of BDD, and a quick self-assessment questionnaire, Dr. Phillips guides readers through the basics of the disorder and through the many treatment options that work and don't work. With Understanding Body DysmorphicDisorder: An Essential Guide, sufferers will find both helpful advice and much needed reassurance in a compact, down-to-earth indispensable book.
Willow
Julia Hoban - 2009
But they never made it--Willow lost control of the car, and both of her parents were killed.Now seventeen, Willow is living with her older brother, who can barely speak to her. She has left behind her old home, friends, and school. But Willow has found a way to survive, to numb the new reality of her life: She is secretly cutting herself.And then she meets Guy, a boy as sensitive and complicated as she is. When Guy discovers Willow's secret, he pulls her out of the solitary world she's created for herself, and into a difficult, intense, and potentially life-changing relationship.Julia Hoban has created an unflinching story about cutting, grieving, and starting anew. But above all, she has written an unforgettable tale of first love.
When the Piano Stops: A Memoir of Healing from Sexual Abuse
Catherine McCall - 2009
But beneath this perfect façade, her family hid a horrific secret. No one could have guessed there was an actual torture chamber in the basement of 763 Montgomery Place, or that McCall was being raped repeatedly by her father. And by the age of eighteen, she didn’t know either — she had repressed every memory of abuse. Twenty years later, married and with children of her own, McCall's memories began to return.When the Piano Stops is McCall's revealing memoir detailing the abuse she suffered at the hands of her mentally ill father and her remarkable recovery as an adult. Now a highly successful family therapist, her ability to overcome the dark years of childhood is an inspiration to those who have been sexually abused. Her prose is lucid, with early events narrated from the perspective of a child, giving her story a stark authenticity and immediacy.A true survivor memoir, When the Piano Stops is poised to change the face of literature on the topic of sexual abuse.
Can I Catch It Like a Cold?: Coping With a Parent's Depression
Centre For Addiction And Mental Health - 2009
Young Alex’s father had been a policeman until he began to suffer from depression, perhaps the most common mental health issue we face. Alex’s questions are those that are often asked by the children of parents who have depression: is the parent simply lazy? Does he no longer care? And is it something I can catch, like a cold?In simple, straightforward language, the book explains what depression is and how it is treated. It also prepares a child for working with a helping professional. And perhaps most important, it reassures a child that he or she is not alone.Written by Canada’s foremost experts in the field, this is an important book to spur discussion and allay fears of those affected by depression.