Psychiatrist and Montel Williams show Director of Aftercare Salzer offers an instruction guide to overcoming the deleterious effects of emotionally wrenching experiences.
“How does a person live through a life-altering challenge yet emerge still self-possessed, still hopeful, still empowered,” asks the author at the beginning of this practical guide to beating the often crippling aftershock of trauma—be it uppercase Trauma, such as rape or death, or lowercase trauma, as in any situation that has robbed you of self-esteem and left you fearful and helpless (a health issue, job loss, betrayal, etc.). When trauma becomes “permatrauma”—maladaptive behavior in which the lessons of the worst day become the guideposts of the everyday—then, Salzer writes, it is time to recalibrate your mindset. In addition to affirmation and cheerleading, the author tenders some serious tools. She doesn’t simply ask readers to ad lib their way through various evaluative templates; she provides extensive lists of possible answers to either use or to jump-start your replies. When she suggests finding a greater meaning in the experience, she gives numerous examples, from the teachings of Viktor Frankl to tactics to reframe your boss’ daily insults. If you identify with the passive-victim mode, Salzer serves up specific exercises in awareness, assertiveness and harvesting positive associations. She provides a crash course in survivorship, abetted by a positive psychology that draws from resilience theory, cognitive therapy and learned optimism, with cues taken from people who display resilient talents like flexibility, accountability, the perception of success and developing some form of social network. A few of Salzer’s strategies may seem a stretch at this difficult juncture—reaching for the flow state, for example—but in her hands, something as simple as a worry stone can help find you “navigating a path through traumaville.” A sensible escort to identifying and deploying signature strengths buried by traumatic emotional paralysis.
Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-177106-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2010
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.
More life reflections from the bestselling author on themes of societal captivity and the catharsis of personal freedom.
In her third book, Doyle (Love Warrior, 2016, etc.) begins with a life-changing event. “Four years ago,” she writes, “married to the father of my three children, I fell in love with a woman.” That woman, Abby Wambach, would become her wife. Emblematically arranged into three sections—“Caged,” “Keys,” “Freedom”—the narrative offers, among other elements, vignettes about the soulful author’s girlhood, when she was bulimic and felt like a zoo animal, a “caged girl made for wide-open skies.” She followed the path that seemed right and appropriate based on her Catholic upbringing and adolescent conditioning. After a downward spiral into “drinking, drugging, and purging,” Doyle found sobriety and the authentic self she’d been suppressing. Still, there was trouble: Straining an already troubled marriage was her husband’s infidelity, which eventually led to life-altering choices and the discovery of a love she’d never experienced before. Throughout the book, Doyle remains open and candid, whether she’s admitting to rigging a high school homecoming court election or denouncing the doting perfectionism of “cream cheese parenting,” which is about “giving your children the best of everything.” The author’s fears and concerns are often mirrored by real-world issues: gender roles and bias, white privilege, racism, and religion-fueled homophobia and hypocrisy. Some stories merely skim the surface of larger issues, but Doyle revisits them in later sections and digs deeper, using friends and familial references to personify their impact on her life, both past and present. Shorter pieces, some only a page in length, manage to effectively translate an emotional gut punch, as when Doyle’s therapist called her blooming extramarital lesbian love a “dangerous distraction.” Ultimately, the narrative is an in-depth look at a courageous woman eager to share the wealth of her experiences by embracing vulnerability and reclaiming her inner strength and resiliency.
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0125-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
PROFILES
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A vibrant, encouraging depiction of a sinister disorder.
A British novelist turns to autobiography to report the manifold symptoms and management of his debilitating disease, depression.
Clever author Haig (The Humans, 2013, etc.) writes brief, episodic vignettes, not of a tranquil life but of an existence of unbearable, unsustainable melancholy. Throughout his story, presented in bits frequently less than a page long (e.g., “Things you think during your 1,000th panic attack”), the author considers phases he describes in turn as Falling, Landing, Rising, Living, and, finally, simply Being with spells of depression. Haig lists markers of his unseen disease, including adolescent angst, pain, continual dread, inability to speak, hypochondria, and insomnia. He describes his frequent panic attacks and near-constant anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure. Haig also assesses the efficacy of neuroscience, yoga, St. John’s wort, exercise, pharmaceuticals, silence, talking, walking, running, staying put, and working up the courage to do even the most seemingly mundane of tasks, like visiting the village store. Best for the author were reading, writing, and the frequent dispensing of kindnesses and love. He acknowledges particularly his debt to his then-girlfriend, now-wife. After nearly 15 years, Haig is doing better. He appreciates being alive and savors the miracle of existence. His writing is infectious though sometimes facile—and grammarians may be upset with the writer’s occasional confusion of the nominative and objective cases of personal pronouns. Less tidy and more eclectic than William Styron’s equally brief, iconic Darkness Visible, Haig’s book provides unobjectionable advice that will offer some help and succor to those who experience depression and other related illnesses. For families and friends of the afflicted, Haig’s book, like Styron’s, will provide understanding and support.
A vibrant, encouraging depiction of a sinister disorder.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-312872-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
SEEN & HEARD
Readers Donate Depression Book After Star Suicide
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