The Pulse of Allah


James Knight - 2012
    In this book the end comes through the use of an EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) weapon over the United States and Europe by a Muslim coalition. It follows the lives of its characters through the pulse and its aftermath - their struggle for survival through the chaos - and the eventual triumph of the US against the coalition in spite of huge population losses at home.

The Mailman Went UA (A Vietnam Memoir)


David Mulldune - 2013
    I can sanitize my manuscript and give the reader a false sense of how war reduces the humanity of an individual. Not only that, but sanitizing the past distorts history and lulls a person into a nonchalant manner of behavior in determining courses of action. The end result is that I would defeat the purpose that compelled me to write my book in the first place. So what is the point? I hope that you understand what I am trying to achieve. As I put this book together over the years, I constantly questioned my ability and skill to compose my manuscript in a cohesive manner and even my right to do it, but here it is. I think the main problems were that I couldn't look at it objectively and that I tried to write it as an 18-19 year-old. I wanted to present the naiveté and immaturity, which had awesome power and control over life and death. At the same time, naiveté and immaturity could strangle you. The title, The Mailman Went UA, came from our little song and dance routine that we performed when we didn't receive any mail. It reflected the utter desolation of aloneness and heartbreak that extended beyond the lack of mail to who you were as a human being, and that impact is impossible to shake. The mail was our only touch with any degree of normalcy. It was more than a connection with the "World." It was the essential element in preserving our sanity. We were surrounded by death and destruction and became unfazed by them, but we were always hit hard when we didn't receive any mail.

Droplets of God: The Life and Philosophy of Mavis Pittilla


Suzanne Giesemann - 2019
    One of these "spirit people" delivered a message that would ultimately save her life. Still, she wanted nothing to do with these visitors and sought help from her local Spiritualist church. There she learned to embrace these new experiences, opening her to a lifetime of service that has spanned continents. World-renowned and universally respected and beloved as a medium and teacher for over fifty years, Mavis Pittilla remains modest and humble. The story of her life reveals a multi-faceted, endearing woman who has overcome tremendous adversity, much of it caused by her own human frailties. Droplets of God is far more than Mavis's fascinating biography. It is a primer of the foundations of mediumship, the key philosophical teachings of Spiritualism, and of the soul's journey of self-realization.

Hooked: Five Addicts Challenge Our Misguided Drug Rehab System


Lonny Shavelson - 2001
    With court-mandated rehab being debated across the country, Shavelson’s in-depth look at the struggles of five addicts as they travel through the treatment maze makes a powerful case for reform.Highly readable and shaped by Shavelson’s experience as a journalist and physician, Hooked takes us through the anguishing “intake” and controversial House meetings, inside counselors’ and judges’ offices where many treatment decisions are made, and to prison cells where, under current policies, many addicts end up. It explores the links between drug addiction, mental illness, and trauma, including child abuse—links often ignored by current rehab efforts—and argues for an integrated approach that treats the roots of drug abuse, not just the behavior itself.Hailed as “compelling” and “heartbreaking” (Time Out), Hooked offers a provocative, honest look at the seemingly intractable issue of drug addiction, and offers powerful alternatives to our current policies.

The Search For The Real Self: Unmasking The Personality Disorders Of Our Age


James F. Masterson - 1990
    Outwardly successful, charming and powerful, personality-disordered individuals have long confounded their colleagues, family, lovers and employees - as well as mental health professionals. The author helps the reader understand them. After describing how the healthy real self develops and functions, he explains what can go wrong. Drawing on case histories, he shows how the false self behaves in relationships and on the job, and then delineates appropriate treatments, offering real hope for cure.

Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision--An Analytical Biography


Louis Breger - 2000
    Everyone with an interest in psychoanalysis and the psychoanalytic movement will enjoy exploring, grappling with, arguing about, and learning from this absolutely fascinating book."-JUDITH VIORST, AUTHOR, Necessary Losses and Imperfect Control "Written with brilliance and insight, Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision takes us on a daring, at times chilling, journey to the early years of psychoanalysis, revealing both the human weaknesses and the professional triumphs of its founder. . . . Cutting away the accretions of fabrication and romance cloaking Sigmund Freud, Breger has reinstated historical honesty to its rightful, high place, but the figure who emerges at the end of this breathlessly honest biography is quite as extraordinary as the legend concocted by Freud and perpetuated by his followers. Fresh, vigorous, and lucid."-PHILIP M. BROMBERG, Ph.D., CLINICAL PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY"Louis Breger's fine new biography of Freud is a welcome contribution to the existing literature and a corrective to much of it. It is also one of the best intellectual histories of the origin and development of psychoanalysis I have read in recent years. Breger is to be commended for his original research, the objectivity of his views, and the elegance and grace of his writing."-DEIRDRE BAIR, NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER FOR Samuel Beckett AND AUTHOR OF A FORTHCOMING BIOGRAPHY OF CARL JUNG"Finally, the Freud biography we have long been waiting for. With the history of Europe in the background, we follow with fascination Freud's journey from an impoverished childhood filled with losses to worldly fame, ending in exile in England. We come to understand the impact of Freud's difficult personality on the development of his brilliant as well as questionable theoretical ideas. Breger writes with compassion and fairness toward Freud as well as toward the many interesting personalities who cross his life, with their complicated relationships to the great man."-SOPHIE FREUD, FREUD'S GRANDDAUGHTER AND PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF SOCIAL WORK, SIMMONS COLLEGE"Louis Breger's magnificent book is the definitive work on the personal psychology of Sigmund Freud. it brilliantly illuminates how the darkness in Freud's vision has affected psychoanalytic history. This book will be central for psychoanalytic scholarship for decades to come."-GEORGE E. ATWOOD, Ph.D., PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

A Way of Being


Carl R. Rogers - 1980
    A Way of Being was written in the early 1980s, near the end of Carl Rogers's career, and serves as a coda to his classic On Becoming a Person. More philosophical than his earlier writings, it traces his professional and personal development and ends with a prophetic call for a more humane future.

Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense (The Writings of Anna Freud, Vol 2)


Anna Freud - 1936
    More than half a century later it enjoys the status of a classic. Written by a pioneer of child analysis, and illustrated by fascinating clinical pictures drawn from childhood and adolescence, it discusses those adaptive measures by which painful and unwanted feeling-states are kept at bay or made more bearable.Anna Freud's arguments have a clarity and cogency reminiscent of her father's and the work is remarkable undated. Nothing stands still, but The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense has unmistakably passed the test of time.

Average 70kg D**khead: Motivational Lessons from an Ex-Army Special Forces Doctor


Dan Pronk - 2018
    Average 70kg D**khead tracks key life events of Dr Dan Pronk from his beginnings as an average chubby kid, through his failed attempt at professional triathlon, onto becoming a doctor, joining army Special Forces, being decorated for his conduct in action in Afghanistan, and then onto his post-army career as a medical executive and co-owner of a multimillion dollar business. Throughout the book Dan shares his motivational philosophies and key lessons learned from his journey. He breaks down the goal setting process and provides examples of how seemingly impossible goals can be deconstructed into smaller and smaller achievable sub-goals, creating a clear pathway to getting started and moving towards your ambitious objectives. Dan highlights the crucial factor of persistence in goal attainment and uses case studies from the Special Forces selection process to illustrate that average people with above-average persistence will beat stronger, smarter, faster, and more educated people who are not as willing to persist every time. This book will inspire you to do more. Be it to get off the couch and get started, or double down on your existing goals and supercharge your commitment to them. You only get one go at this life, so what are you waiting for? Give it a read and get going!

The Restoration of the Self


Heinz Kohut - 1973
    Here Kohut proposes a “psychology of the self” as a theory in its own right—one that can stand beside the teachings of Freud and Jung. Using clinical data, Kohut explores issues such as the role of narcissism in personality, when a patient can be considered cured, and the oversimplifications and social biases that unduly influenced Freudian thought. This volume puts forth some of Kohut’s most influential ideas on achieving emotional health through a balanced, creative, and joyful sense of self. "Kohut speaks clearly from his identity as a psychoanalyst-healer, showing that he is more of a psychoanalyst than most, and yet calling for major theoretical revisions including a redefinition of the essence of psychoanalysis.”

Babies and Their Mothers (Classics in Child Development)


D.W. Winnicott - 1987
    W. Winnicott is a major influence on all of us who have tried to bring emotional and behavior issues into pediatrics. His work should be available to parents and to all those who work with small children in this country."--T. Berry Brazelton, M.D."Dr. Winnicott was, among my seniors, the paediatrician I most admired and from whom I learned the most."--Sir Peter Tizard, President of the British Paediatric Association"The gentleman wrote powerfully, and with sensitivity, intelligence, and the fruits of many years of experience."--Burton White, Ph.D., author of The First Three Years of Life"Winnicott helped to bridge the gap for me between pediatrics and the dynamics of child development."--Benjamin Spock, M.D."My reaction to this work can perhaps be best understood by imagining oneself to be the editor of some popular journal who had just received from Sigmund Freud a collection of his most important work written specifically for the educated lay public. While Winnicott's importance continues to grow in psychoanalytic circles, this collection of essays represents Winnicott at his most creative, comprehensible, and relevant."--Harold Bursztajn, M.D., Harvard Medical School

The Gossamer Thread: My Life as a Psychotherapist


John Marzillier - 2010
    It shows his progression from a hard-nosed behavior therapist with a strong commitment to science to a psychodynamic therapist with an interest in narrative. Along the way he shows the way the main schools of psychotherapy (behavioral, cognitive, psychodynamic) work, drawing on case material from his professional practice. He shows the mistakes he made and the lessons he eventually learned from his patients. His focus on clinical cases enables readers to see psychotherapy in operation and get drawn into the ups and downs of trying to help some fascinating and often tricky people who rarely conform to what is expected of them.The book is free of jargon and can be enjoyed without any prior knowledge of psychology or psychotherapy. It is designed to entertain and inform the general readership about the mysterious world of psychotherapy, what goes on behind the consulting room door. It will be of particular interest to the increasing number of people who encounter psychotherapy either through their own experience of seeking help or the experiences of family and friends or through reading of popular books such as those of Oliver James and Irving Yalom.It should also prove invaluable for those interested in training as a clinical psychologist, counsellor or psychotherapist.

Personality Disorders in Modern Life


Theodore Millon - 1999
    At a distance, each person is 'all of a piece'; up close, each is a bewildering complexity of moods, cognitions, and motives. -Theodore MillonExploring the continuum from normal personality traits to the diagnosis and treatment of severe cases of personality disorders, Personality Disorders in Modern Life, Second Edition is unique in its coverage of both important historical figures and contemporary theorists in the field. Its content spans all the major disorders-Antisocial, Avoidant, Depressive, Compulsive, Histrionic, Narcissistic, Paranoid, Schizoid, and Borderline-as well as their many subtypes. Attention to detail and in-depth discussion of the subtleties involved in these debilitating personality disorders make this book an ideal companion to the DSM-IV(TM).Fully updated with the latest research and theory, this important text features:Discussion of the distinctive clinical features and developmental roots of personality disorders Balanced coverage of the major theoretical perspectives-biological, psychodynamic, interpersonal, cognitive, and evolutionary Individual chapters on all DSM-IV(TM) personality disorders and their several subtypes and mixtures Case studies throughout the text that bring to life the many faces of these disorders Including a new assessment section that singles out behavioral indicators considered to have positive predictive power for the disorders, this Second Edition also includes a special focus on developmental, gender, and cultural issues specific to each disorder. A comprehensive reference suitable for today's practitioners, Personality Disorders in Modern Life, Second Edition features a clear style that also makes it a valuable resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. The most thorough book of its kind, this Second Edition is a powerful, practical resource for all trainees and professionals in key mental health fields, such as psychology, social work, and nursing.

The Intelligent Clinician's Guide to the DSM-5


Joel Paris - 2013
    Written by a celebrated professor of psychiatry, this reader-friendly book uses evidence-based critiques and new research to point out where DSM-5 is right, where it is wrong, and where the jury's still out. Along the way, The Intelligent Clinician's Guide to the DSM-5(R) sifts through the many public controversies and clinical debates surrounding the drafting of the manual and shows how they inform a modern understanding of psychiatric illness, diagnosis and treatment. This book is necessary reading for all mental health professionals as they grapple with the first major revision of the DSM to appear in over 30 years.

A History of Modern Psychology


C. James Goodwin - 1998
    They will also develop a deeper understanding of the many interconnections that exist among the different areas of psychology. Goodwin's book not only provides accounts of the lives and contributions of psychology's pioneers set into historical context; it also contains original writings by these psychologists, interwoven with informative comments from the author. The text is written in a conversational and engaging style with discrete attention to recent scholarship in the history of psychology, especially that of the past 150 years.