Book picks similar to
ADHD in Adults: What the Science Says by Russell A. Barkley
adhd
psychology
non-fiction
self-help
Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives
Daniel J. Levitin - 2020
Pink, author of When and Drive
SUCCESSFUL AGING delivers powerful insights: - Debunking the myth that memory always declines with age - Confirming that health span--not life span--is what matters - Proving that sixty-plus years is a unique and newly recognized developmental stage - Recommending that people look forward to joy, as reminiscing doesn't promote health Levitin looks at the science behind what we all can learn from those who age joyously, as well as how to adapt our culture to take full advantage of older people's wisdom and experience. Throughout his exploration of what aging really means, using research from developmental neuroscience and the psychology of individual differences, Levitin reveals resilience strategies and practical, cognitive enhancing tricks everyone should do as they age.Successful Aging inspires a powerful new approach to how readers think about our final decades, and it will revolutionize the way we plan for old age as individuals, family members, and citizens within a society where the average life expectancy continues to rise.
The Nocturnal Brain: Nightmares, Neuroscience, and the Secret World of Sleep
Guy Leschziner - 2019
Guy Leschziner's patients, there is no rest for the weary in mind and body. Insomnia, narcolepsy, night terrors, sleep apnea, and sleepwalking are just a sampling of conditions afflicting sufferers who cannot sleep--and their experiences in trying are the stuff of nightmares. Demoniac hallucinations frighten people into paralysis. Restless legs rock both the sleepless and their sleeping partners with unpredictable and uncontrollable kicking. Out-of-sync circadian rhythms confuse the natural body clock's days and nights.Then there are the extreme cases. A woman in a state of deep sleep who gets dressed, unlocks her car, and drives for several miles before returning to bed. The man who has spent decades cleaning out kitchens while "sleep-eating." The teenager prone to the serious, yet unfortunately nicknamed "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome" stuck in a cycle of excessive unconsciousness, binge eating, and uncharacteristic displays of aggression and hyper-sexuality while awake.With compassionate stories of his patients and their conditions, Dr. Leschziner illustrates the neuroscience behind our sleeping minds, revealing the many biological and psychological factors necessary in getting the rest that will not only maintain our physical and mental health, but improve our cognitive abilities and overall happiness.
Back to Normal: The Overlooked, Ordinary Explanations for Kids' ADHD-, Bipolar-, and Autistic- Like Behavior
Enrico Gnaulati - 2013
Depression For Dummies (For Dummies (Psychology & Self Help))
Laura L. Smith - 2003
Or how about, "You're depressed? Just get over it!" Easier said than done, right? Or here's a favorite, "They have a pill for that now, you know."Unfortunately, such naive armchair psychology rarely works for someone suffering from the very real plight of depression. All it does is seek to trivialize depression and characterize depressed people as "whiners" who have nothing better to do than to "complain about their lives." But the truth is, depression is a very real problem. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that, on any given day, 121 million people worldwide suffer from depression. And depression rates continue to increase - for example, kids exhibit depression at nearly ten times the rate of previous generations. Theories abound as to why depression rates are increasing, but regardless of the cause, this scourge continues to rob its victims of happiness, joy, and the capacity to give and receive love.So why "Depression For Dummies," when there's already a glut of self-help books on the market peddling so-called cures and remedies for depression? Because this book satisfies the need for a straight-talking, no-nonsense resource on depression. The only agenda of "Depression For Dummies" is to present you with the facts on depression and explain the options for dealing with it. Rest assured, this is no infomercial in a yellow and black cover.Here's just a sampling of what you'll find in "Depression For Dummies": -Demystifying the types of depression-Discovering what goes on in the body of a depressed person-Detecting and diagnosing depression-Seeking help through therapy and medication-Modifying depressed behavior and solving life's headaches-Dealing with depression resulting from grief and relationship issues-Cutting through the hype of alternative treatments for depression-Moving beyond depression: Avoiding relapses and pursuing a happy life-Top Ten lists on getting rid of a your bad mood and helping your kids and other family members out of depressionSo, whatever your level of depression - whether you suffer from occasional bouts or you find yourself seriously debilitated by depression - "Depression For Dummies" can give you the insight and tools you need to once again find enjoyment and happiness in life. All it takes is one step.
The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness
J. Mark G. Williams - 2007
This authoritative, easy-to-use self-help program is based on methods clinically proven to reduce the recurrence of chronic unhappiness. Informative chapters reveal the hidden psychological mechanisms that cause depression and demonstrate powerful ways to strengthen your resilience in the face of life's misfortunes. Kabat-Zinn lends his calm, familiar voice to the accompanying CD of guided meditations, making this a complete package for anyone looking to regain a sense of balance and contentment.
The Highly Sensitive Person's Survival Guide: Essential Skills for Living Well in an Overstimulating World
Ted Zeff - 2004
HSP’s make up some 20 percent of the population, individuals like you who both enjoy and wrestle with a finely tuned nervous system. You often sense things that others ignore such as strong smells, bright lights, and the crush of crowds. Even the presence of strangers in your immediate vicinity can cause you considerable distraction. You already know that this condition can be a gift, but, until you learn to master your sensitive nervous system, you might be operating in a constant state of overstimulation.As an HSP, the most important thing you can learn is how to manage your increased sensitivity to both physical and emotional stimulation. This accessible, practical guide contains strategies to help you master this critical skill. Build your coping skills by exploring the books engaging exercises. Then, keep the book by your side, a constant companion as you make your way through your vibrant and highly stimulating world.•Find out what it means to be a highly sensitive person•Take the self-examination quiz and find out whether you are highly sensitive•Learn coping techniques indispensable to IHP’s•Discover how to manage distractions like noise and time pressure at home and at work•Reduce sensory-provoked tension with meditation and deep relaxation techniques•Navigate the challenges of interacting with others in social and intimate relationships
In a Different Key: The Story of Autism
John Donvan - 2016
Beginning with his family’s odyssey, In a Different Key tells the extraordinary story of this often misunderstood condition, and of the civil rights battles waged by the families of those who have it. Unfolding over decades, it is a beautifully rendered history of ordinary people determined to secure a place in the world for those with autism—by liberating children from dank institutions, campaigning for their right to go to school, challenging expert opinion on what it means to have autism, and persuading society to accept those who are different. It is the story of women like Ruth Sullivan, who rebelled against a medical establishment that blamed cold and rejecting “refrigerator mothers” for causing autism; and of fathers who pushed scientists to dig harder for treatments. Many others played starring roles too: doctors like Leo Kanner, who pioneered our understanding of autism; lawyers like Tom Gilhool, who took the families’ battle for education to the courtroom; scientists who sparred over how to treat autism; and those with autism, like Temple Grandin, Alex Plank, and Ari Ne’eman, who explained their inner worlds and championed the philosophy of neurodiversity. This is also a story of fierce controversies—from the question of whether there is truly an autism “epidemic,” and whether vaccines played a part in it; to scandals involving “facilitated communication,” one of many treatments that have proved to be blind alleys; to stark disagreements about whether scientists should pursue a cure for autism. There are dark turns too: we learn about experimenters feeding LSD to children with autism, or shocking them with electricity to change their behavior; and the authors reveal compelling evidence that Hans Asperger, discoverer of the syndrome named after him, participated in the Nazi program that consigned disabled children to death.<
The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness
R.D. Laing - 1960
Laing explains how we all exist in the world as beings, defined by others who carry a model of us in their heads, just as we carry models of them in our heads. In later writings he often takes this to deeper levels, laboriously spelling out how "A knows that B knows that A knows that B knows..."! Our feelings and motivations derive very much from this condition of "being in the world" in the sense of existing for others, who exist for us. Without this we suffer "ontological insecurity", a condition often expressed in terms of "being dead" by people who are clearly still physically alive.This watershed work aimed to make madness comprehensible, and in doing so revolutionized the way we perceive mental illness. Using case studies of patients he had worked with, psychiatrist R. D. Laing argued that psychosis is not a medical condition, but an outcome of the 'divided self', or the tension between the two personas within us: one our authentic, private identity, and the other the false, 'sane' self that we present to the world. Laing's radical approach to insanity offered a rich existential analysis of personal alienation and made him a cult figure in the 1960s, yet his work was most significant for its humane attitude, which put the patient back at the centre of treatment. R.D. Laing (1927-1989), one of the best-known psychiatrists of modern times, was born in Glasgow, Scotland.This work is available on its own or as part of the 7 volume set iSelected Works of R. D. Laing
Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding
Daniel E. Lieberman - 2021
Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, Lieberman recounts without jargon how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion.Exercised is entertaining and enlightening but also constructive. As our increasingly sedentary lifestyles have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and diseases such as diabetes, Lieberman audaciously argues that to become more active we need to do more than medicalize and commodify exercise.Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, Lieberman suggests how we can make exercise more enjoyable, rather than shaming and blaming people for avoiding it. He also tackles the question of whether you can exercise too much, even as he explains why exercise can reduce our vulnerability to the diseases mostly likely to make us sick and kill us.
Emotional First Aid: Practical Strategies for Treating Failure, Rejection, Guilt, and Other Everyday Psychological Injuries
Guy Winch - 2013
But, as Guy Winch, Ph.D., points out, these kinds of emotional injuries often get worse when left untreated and can significantly impact our quality of life. In this fascinating and highly practical book he provides the emotional first aid treatments we have been lacking. Explaining the long-term fallout that can result from seemingly minor emotional and psychological injuries, Dr. Winch offers concrete, easy-to-use exercises backed up by hard cutting-edge science to aid in recovery. He uses relatable anecdotes about real patients he has treated over the years and often gives us a much needed dose of humor as well. Prescriptive, programmatic, and unique, this first-aid kit for battered emotions will appeal to readers of Unstuck by James S. Gordon and Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff.
How to Stay Sane
Philippa Perry - 2012
In How to Stay Sane, she has taken these principles and applied them to self-help. Using ideas from neuroscience and sound psychological theory, she shows us how to better understand ourselves. Her idea is that if we know how our minds form and develop, we are less at the mercy of unknown unconscious processes. In this way, we can learn to be the master of our feelings and not their slave.This is a smart, pithy, readable book that everyone with even a passing interest in their psychological health will find useful.
The Chemistry of Calm: A Powerful, Drug-Free Plan to Quiet Your Fears and Overcome Your Anxiety
Henry Emmons - 2010
Henry Emmons offers a proven plan to combat anxiety—without medication—that has helped tens of thousands gain inner peace and start enjoying life.
The debilitating effects of anxiety can affect your sense of well-being, health, longevity, productivity, and relationships. In The Chemistry of Calm, Dr. Henry Emmons presents his Resilience Training Program—a groundbreaking regimen designed to relieve anxiety and restore physical and mental strength. This step-by-step plan for mental calmness and emotional wisdom focuses on ways to create resilience as a key to resolving anxiety in everyday life, incorporating the latest science on: -Diet—you’ve got to eat good food to feel good -Exercise—it’s proven: moving makes you less anxious -Nutritional Supplements—boosting your natural anxiety resistance -Mindfulness—including meditation techniques to calm your body and brain Using this program, Dr. Emmons has helped countless patients reduce their anxiety and reclaim the resilience that is their birthright. Now, with The Chemistry of Calm, you can be anxiety free too!
Anxiety: Expert Advice from a Neurotic Shrink Who's Lived with Anxiety All His Life
Mark Cross - 2020
Many of his patients are sufferers, which is hardly surprising, given anxiety is the most common mental health condition in Australia, affecting up to one in four people at some point in their lives. But Mark also knows about anxiety from another perspective, because he too has suffered from anxiety all his life.In this book, the well-known author of Changing Minds, who featured on the award-winning ABC TV series of the same name, demystifies this mental illness in his trademark warm and friendly style. He looks at causes, treatments, both medical and natural, anxiety in the workplace and more, sharing his own experiences as well as stories from others.
The Healing Self: A Revolutionary Plan for Wholeness in Mind, Body, and Spirit
Deepak Chopra - 2018
Only by getting past the artificial division between mind and body can personal, holistic healing become real. In our fast-paced and ever-changing world, the burden of healing rests on the individual making the right lifestyle choices every day. Chopra and Tanzi want to guide us to make the best decisions possible and they offer a cutting-edge, Seven-Day Action Plan which allows the reader free choice to develop a personalized path to self-healing.Besides this unique feature, The Healing Self prioritizes two factors--stress and inflammation--that are emerging as crucial to lifelong health and well-being. A host of chronic disorders like hypertension, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and much more, are known to takes years and sometimes decades to develop before the first symptoms appear. The medical system isn't set up to attend to chronic low-grade inflammation or the everyday stresses that take their toll over a lifetime. Therefore, learning the secrets of self-healing is mandatory; otherwise, each of us is gambling with our very future.Chopra's inspiring prose and Tanzi's experience as the world's leading researcher in brain health and Alzheimer's disease make for a unique combination of knowledge and wisdom. The Healing Self is a high point in a partnership that has benefitted millions of people to date. It is destined to be a landmark book in the growing movement of self-care and lifelong wellness.
NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
Steve Silberman - 2015
Along the way, he reveals the untold story of Hans Asperger, the father of Asperger’s syndrome, whose “little professors” were targeted by the darkest social-engineering experiment in human history; exposes the covert campaign by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner to suppress knowledge of the autism spectrum for fifty years; and casts light on the growing movement of "neurodiversity" activists seeking respect, support, technological innovation, accommodations in the workplace and in education, and the right to self-determination for those with cognitive differences.