Parenting Stress

Suicide rates among Army soldiers increased 80 percent between 2004 and 2008, according to a recent report published in Injury Prevention. In the last several years, the number of soldiers returning from the Middle East with mental and physical wounds has continued to climb. According to Dr. Simon Rego, a supervising psychologist at Montefiore Medical Center, "Unlike any other time in history, U.S. military suicide rates now appear to have surpassed those among comparable civilian populations. It is therefore critical that we address this emerging public-health problem."

Embark on soothing adventures with Degson, the lovable little black Miniature Schnauzer, in the heartwarming Degson Walk Sleep Stories series. Designed to calm your mind and ease you into a restful slumber, these tales follow Degson’s gentle escapades through serene landscapes, quaint villages, and lush, whispering trails.

How does trauma affect a child's mind—and how can that mind recover? In the classic The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, Dr. Perry explains what happens to the brains of children exposed to extreme stress and shares their lessons of courage, humanity, and hope. Only when we understand the science of the mind and the power of love and nurturing can we hope to heal the spirit of even the most wounded child.

Anxiety is a survival skill gone haywire. It happens when our brain is working so hard to protect us that it forgets to notice that the danger has passed. It feels like choking, stifling, smothering, tingling, panicking - our brains cut out and we start to make bad decisions - all normal anxiety reactions. Dr. Faith G. Harper, author of the best-selling This is Your Brain on Depression packs a ton of knowledge and help into this practical manual.

Our human nervous system has the power to cope with high stress but not when it's been ground down by the relentless stimuli of today’s world. Over time, these persistent demands leave us burnt out because our nervous system is stuck in survival mode. In this mode, we have reduced capacity for rational thinking and less capacity to care. Dr. Claire Plumbly draws on polyvagal theory and her professional insights as a trauma therapist working with clients experiencing anxiety, trauma and burnout to give you tools to thrive amidst the challenges of modern life, at work, at home.

In her trademark gentle, supportive and reassuring style, best-selling author Sarah Ockwell-Smith shows that while we all lose it at times, everyone can become a calmer parent. Based on her many years' experience working with parents, Sarah provides research, advice and practical exercises that will set you on the path to calmer parenting that will benefit both you and your child.

Middle childhood, the period for those aged 8–12 years old, is often the most overlooked phase of a child’s development, but it’s the age where play continues to serve an important role in their emotional growth. It’s also an age where we are most likely to stop playing with our children. With over 20 years of clinical expertise and neuroscientific research, psychotherapist and parenting expert Joanna Fortune shares her proven techniques that will enable you to better understand your relationship with your children as they grow.

Stress is an unfortunate fact of modern life, and when those stressors are catastrophic - divorce, illness, caregiving, loss - a brain under stress becomes a brain in crisis. In this invaluable guide, award-winning psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Love and neuropsychologist Dr. Kjell Hovik explore how to heal the damage that prolonged stress can do to your brain and your health. In When Crisis Strikes you'll learn how to prevent these side effects from hijacking your daily life.

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.

Life is busy, full of things competing for our time and attention, and it’s easy to believe that the best way to get things done is just to keep going—as fast as possible. But that just isn’t true. In fact, taking time to re-centre ourselves can have tremendous personal and professional benefits. In this concise programme, sports psychologist Dr Josephine Perry and yoga for sports specialist Lexie Williamson will guide you through tried-and-tested relaxation techniques designed especially for busy people—which, let’s face it, is all of us.

Dr. Richard Carlson has taught millions how to let go of the anxieties and fears that can derail our day and instead focus on what really matters. With 365 reflections, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff Every Day is full of the timeless wisdom and practical advice that has brought comfort and inspiration to countless readers, offering a much needed dose of encouragement.

Trauma and Recovery is revered as the seminal text on understanding trauma survivors. By placing individual experience in a broader political frame, Harvard psychiatrist Judith Herman argues that psychological trauma is inseparable from its social and political context. Drawing on her own research on incest, as well as a vast literature on combat veterans and victims of political terror, she shows surprising parallels between private horrors like child abuse and public horrors like war.

This practical and groundbreaking guide reveals seven paths to fighting the effects of stress - to strengthen our natural defenses so that our minds remain sharp, and our bodies resilient, no matter what life throws at us. Each chapter examines a common stress agent - including inflammation, an out-of-sync body clock, cortisol levels, and emotional triggers - and presents simple ways to minimize its harmful effects with changes in diet, exercise, and other daily habits - including surprising hacks involving music, eye movements, body temperature, daily routine, and more.

The Well-Gardened Mind provides a new perspective on the power of gardening to change people’s lives. Here, Sue Stuart-Smith investigates the many ways in which mind and garden can interact and explores how the process of tending a plot can be a way of sustaining an innermost self. Stuart-Smith’s own love of gardening developed as she studied to become a psychoanalytic psychotherapist.

Like millions of women, Laura Doyle wanted her marriage to be better. But when she tried to get her husband to be more romantic, helpful, and ambitious, he withdrew - and she was lonely and exhausted from controlling everything. Desperate to be in love with her man again, she decided to stop telling him what to do and how to do it. When Doyle surrendered control, something magical happened...

Everyday life is so frantic and full of troubles that we have largely forgotten how to live a joyful existence. We try so hard to be happy that we often end up missing the most important parts of our lives. In Mindfulness, Oxford professor Mark Williams and award-winning journalist Danny Penman reveal the secrets to living a happier and less anxious, stressful, and exhausting life.

What’s the most pressure you’ve ever been under? How did you react? What helped? What didn’t? Over the past five years, Dane Jensen has asked these questions of thousands of high performers - from Olympic gold medalists to Navy SEALs, politicians, executives, and busy parents. What has emerged from these conversations is that while everyone’s experiences under pressure are unique, pressure follows patterns and develops in predictable ways. If we can recognize the patterns, we can improve our ability to sidestep the biological traps that can sabotage us....

The New York Times best-selling author of Untangled presents an urgently needed guide to the alarming increase in anxiety and stress experienced by girls from elementary school through college.

Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D., is a world-renowned psychologist and speaker. The Highly Sensitive Person is an in-depth look at characteristics that define sensitivity. Through self-assessment tests and techniques, Aron shows listeners how to identify their own personality traits. This exceptional book can lead to remarkable results for many who suffer from constant stress and anxiety.

We all experience stuckness in our lives. We feel stuck in our relationships, career paths, body struggles, addiction issues, and more. Many of us know what we need to do to move forward—but find ourselves unable to take the leap to make it happen. And then we blame and shame ourselves, and stay in a loop of self-doubt that goes nowhere. The good news is you’re not lazy, crazy, or unmotivated. In this empowering and action-oriented guide, you’ll discover why we can’t think our way forward—and how to break through what’s holding us back.