Mental Disorders

What is autism: a lifelong disability or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is both of these things and more - and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. Wired reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses has soared in recent years.

If you're among the millions of adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you need the latest facts about the disorder and its treatment. You need practical strategies to help develop your strengths and achieve your goals, whether on the job, in family relationships, or in personal pursuits. From renowned ADHD researcher/clinician Russell A. Barkley, this is the book for you. Dr. Barkley takes you through the process of seeking professional help, addresses frequently asked questions about medications and other treatments, and offers a wealth of advice and tips.

For family members of people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), home life is routinely unpredictable and frequently unbearable. Extreme mood swings, impulsive behaviors, unfair blaming and criticism, and suicidal tendencies - common conduct among those who suffer from the disorder - leave family members feeling confused, hurt, and helpless.

Veteran psychologist Sharon Saline shares the words and inner struggles of children and teens living with ADHD - and a blueprint for achieving lasting success by working together. Based on more than 25 years of experience counseling young people and their families, Dr. Saline’s advice and real-world examples reveal how parents can shift the dynamic and truly help kids succeed.

After years of trying different therapies for his debilitating anxiety without success, Dr. Russell Kennedy had an epiphany: anxiety does not start in the brain. Anxiety starts in the body, where trauma is stored and physical and emotional perception begin. Alarm bells originating in the body are what trigger those anxious thoughts that we call anxiety, and Russ realized that true healing starts only when we learn not to conflate the two.

Charming, charismatic, and delightful or manipulative, self-serving, and cunning? Psychopaths are both and that’s exactly what makes them dangerous. Best-selling author of the international phenomenon Surrounded by Idiots, Thomas Erikson, reveals how to identify the psychopaths in your life and combat their efforts to control and manipulate. Surrounded by Psychopaths teaches listeners how to deal with psychopaths in their lives by becoming aware of their own behavior and their weaknesses.

In The Highly Sensitive Person's Guide to Dealing with Toxic People, you'll learn evidence-based skills grounded in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) to help you recognize and shut down the common manipulation tactics used by toxic people, such as gaslighting, stonewalling, projection, covert put-downs, and love bombing.

This confessional self-help guide explores the complex emotional truth of what it’s like when food, weight, and body image take priority over every other human impulse or action. Activist author Marissa LaRocca’s revelatory tale includes her struggle with her secrets, including sexuality, and how she emerged as an outspoken advocate for gay rights and women’s health issues.

Is the emotionally disturbed person a victim of forces beyond his awareness? This is the belief on which neuropsychiatry, psychoanalysis, and behavior therapy are all based. But what if this premise is wrong? What if a person’s psychological difficulties stem from his own erroneous assumptions and faulty concepts of himself and the world? Such a person can be helped to recognize and correct distortions in thinking that cause his emotional disturbance. Now one of the founders of cognitive therapy has written a clear, comprehensive guide to its theory and practice.

In Trauma and Memory, best-selling author Dr. Peter Levine (creator of the Somatic Experiencing approach) tackles one of the most difficult and controversial questions of PTSD/trauma therapy: Can we trust our memories? While some argue that traumatic memories are unreliable and not useful, others insist that we absolutely must rely on memory to make sense of past experience. Dr. Levine suggests that there are elements of truth in both camps.

Most people diagnosed with bipolar disorder are sent home with the name of a doctor and multiple prescriptions. However, few people with bipolar disorder are able to find long-term stability with medications alone. Bipolar disorder researcher and expert Julie A. Fast, who was diagnosed with the illness at age thirty-one, and specialist John Preston, PsyD, offer the pioneering Take Charge program used around the world to help listeners promote stability, reduce mood swings, increase work ability, decrease health care costs, and improve relationships.

Do you toss and turn at night with a knot in your stomach, worrying about your job, your family, work, your health, or relationships? Do you suffer from crippling shyness, obsessive doubts, or feelings of insecurity? Are you plagued by fears, phobias, or panic attacks? The truth is you can defeat your fears. In When Panic Attacks, Dr. Burns takes you by the hand and shows you how to overcome every conceivable kind of anxiety.

Le syndrome borderline : comment enfin vraiment comprendre la maladie en tant que personne concernée ou proche et découvrir les possibilités simples d'auto-assistance et de thérapie qui s'offrent à vous - y compris des conseils pratiques pour la vie quotidienne et une partie BONUS avec des « histoires encourageantes ».

Pioneering research psychologist Roy F. Baumeister collaborates with New York Times science writer John Tierney to revolutionize our understanding of the most coveted human virtue: self-control. Drawing on cutting-edge research and the wisdom of real-life experts, Willpower shares lessons on how to focus our strength, resist temptation, and redirect our lives. It shows listeners how to be realistic when setting goals, monitor their progress, and how to keep faith when they falter.

Now with 25 percent new and revised content, Overcoming Anxiety for Dummies, 2nd Edition explores all of the most common triggers for anxiety, recent developments in medications, newly emerging biologically oriented approaches for treating anxiety, and the most up-to-date advancements in psychotherapies.

BPD is a serious mental health problem that affects more than 1 in 100 people. If left untreated, its effects can be devastating. But there is hope. Despite what you may have heard, you can make a full recovery. By understanding why you have BPD and the underlying reasons for your most troublesome symptoms, you can start to heal. This book will show you how.

The phrase "broken heart" belies the real trauma behind the all-too-common occurrence of infidelity. Psychologist Dennis Ortman likens the psychological aftermath of sexual betrayal to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in its origin and symptoms, including anxiety, irritability, rage, emotional numbing, and flashbacks. Dr. Ortman sees recovery as a spiritual journey and draws on the wisdom of diverse faiths, from Christianity to Buddhism. He also offers exercises to deepen recovery, such as guided meditations and journaling.

For the millions of adults diagnosed with ADHD, The Disorganized Mind will provide expert guidance on what they can do to make the most of their lives. The inattention, time mismanagement, procrastination, impulsivity, distractibility, and difficulty with transitions that often go hand-in-hand with ADHD can be overcome with the unique approach that Nancy Ratey brings to turning these behaviors around.

ADHD is one of the most common neurological disor­ders in the United States—yet a staggering 75 percent of girls and women remain undiagnosed. Due to the gen­der gap in medical research, which does not account for symptoms manifesting differently in women—leading to increased problems with anxiety, depression, work­ing memory, sleep, energy, and concentration—many ADHD women are left to navigate a society that fails to understand their struggles and gifts.

From insulin comas and lobotomy to incarceration and exile, Walter Brown chronicles the troubling history of the diagnosis and (often ineffective) treatment of bipolar disorder through the centuries, before the publication of a groundbreaking research paper in 1949. Cade's "Lithium Salts in the Treatment of Psychotic Excitement" described, for the first time, lithium's astonishing efficacy at both treating and preventing the recurrence of manic-depressive episodes, and would eventually transform the lives of patients, pharmaceutical researchers, and practicing physicians worldwide.