A helpful owner’s manual for those in possession of emotions—and, more to the point, those possessed by them.
A noted mental health professional casts light on “some of the dark avenues of our lives.”
Writing for his fellow psychiatric practitioners, but in language accessible to lay readers, Sederer (The Family Guide to Mental Health Care, 2013, etc.)—chief medical officer of the New York State Office of Mental Health and the medical editor for mental health for the Huffington Post—identifies what he characterizes as four “secrets” that illustrate “opportunities in plain sight” for therapy. One is the thesis that “behavior serves a purpose.” That purpose may not be readily discernible, but, the author writes, a cornerstone of good psychiatric practice is finding the right language to allow the patient room for self-expression: “We have to ask more, in a manner that allows a person to respond, over time, knowing that they will not be judged or harmed when allowing another person access to their private and sometimes previously inaccessible thinking.” The challenges are numerous, but Sederer’s insistence on there being a discoverable reason for mental illness helps ferret out why, for instance, smart young people should fall victim to anorexia nervosa or what logic underlies manic depression. The author writes that mental health is a product of both nature and nurture; we cannot help our genes, and people have only so much control over whether their families are supportive or they are able to earn a decent living. It is in that scenario of environmental control that another of Sederer’s secrets emerges, namely that “chronic stress is the enemy.” The stress response, like all behavior, has a purpose, but acute inflammation and the endless fight or flight of modern life takes its toll. Blending cutting-edge science with therapeutic art (“positive thinking is good protection against stress and beneficial to our health”), the author offers an optimistic view of what we can do to improve our well-being.
A helpful owner’s manual for those in possession of emotions—and, more to the point, those possessed by them.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61537-082-5
Page Count: 134
Publisher: American Psychiatric Association Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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