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Author: Jordan Smoller Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN: 0062101331 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 247
Book Description
Psychiatry has ignored the normal. The focus on defining abnormal behavior has obscured what turns out to be a more fundamental question—how does the biology of the brain give rise to the mind, which in turn gives rise to everything we care about: thoughts, feelings, desires, and relationships? In The Other Side of Normal, Harvard psychiatrist Jordan Smoller shows us that understanding what the mind was designed to do in the first place demystifies mental illness and builds a new foundation for defining psychiatric disorders—from autism to depression. Smoller argues there are no bright lines between normal and abnormal. Psychiatric disorders are variations of the same brain systems that evolved to help us solve the challenges of everyday life. How do we become who we are? Smoller explains where our personalities come from, and how the temperaments we had as infants actually stay with us into adulthood. Why do we choose to date, love, and marry the people we do? Why do some of us form healthy relationships while others form unstable ones? Our relationships are shaped by the biology that drives two imperatives: maternal-child bonding and child-parent attachment. Along the way, Smoller tackles an even greater question—what do we mean by "normal"?—as he explores the puzzles behind the epidemics of multiple personalities and koro, the shocking phobia that one's penis is shrinking. He also looks at the controversial history of psychiatric classification and the explosive debates over how much early experiences influence our minds and to what degree genetics affect our temperaments, personalities, and emotional lives. Throughout this examination, Smoller explores the hidden sides of such questions as: How are trust and love rooted in biology? How much does sexual attraction stem from biology rather than culture? And what can the scientific study of normal behavior tell us about what it means to be human? Based on the author's groundbreaking research and personal experiences treating psychological disorders, The Other Side of Normal changes the way we think about the human condition.
Author: Jordan Smoller Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN: 0062101331 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 247
Book Description
Psychiatry has ignored the normal. The focus on defining abnormal behavior has obscured what turns out to be a more fundamental question—how does the biology of the brain give rise to the mind, which in turn gives rise to everything we care about: thoughts, feelings, desires, and relationships? In The Other Side of Normal, Harvard psychiatrist Jordan Smoller shows us that understanding what the mind was designed to do in the first place demystifies mental illness and builds a new foundation for defining psychiatric disorders—from autism to depression. Smoller argues there are no bright lines between normal and abnormal. Psychiatric disorders are variations of the same brain systems that evolved to help us solve the challenges of everyday life. How do we become who we are? Smoller explains where our personalities come from, and how the temperaments we had as infants actually stay with us into adulthood. Why do we choose to date, love, and marry the people we do? Why do some of us form healthy relationships while others form unstable ones? Our relationships are shaped by the biology that drives two imperatives: maternal-child bonding and child-parent attachment. Along the way, Smoller tackles an even greater question—what do we mean by "normal"?—as he explores the puzzles behind the epidemics of multiple personalities and koro, the shocking phobia that one's penis is shrinking. He also looks at the controversial history of psychiatric classification and the explosive debates over how much early experiences influence our minds and to what degree genetics affect our temperaments, personalities, and emotional lives. Throughout this examination, Smoller explores the hidden sides of such questions as: How are trust and love rooted in biology? How much does sexual attraction stem from biology rather than culture? And what can the scientific study of normal behavior tell us about what it means to be human? Based on the author's groundbreaking research and personal experiences treating psychological disorders, The Other Side of Normal changes the way we think about the human condition.
Author: F. Michael Horn Publisher: Xlibris Corporation ISBN: 1462823114 Category : Body, Mind & Spirit Languages : en Pages : 144
Book Description
This work is an outgrowth of two profound life experiences. One took place in graduate school, preparing for a career as a clinical psychologist. One professor, well into middle age, began pontificating on homosexuality. Without hesitation he made a pronouncement which was delivered as the final immutable truth on the subject: Men do NOT love one another. It was delivered with a finality of conviction, of ultimate judgment. I wondered how he knew; how he could be so sure; what had given him the right to speak so authoritatively on a matter he in all likelihood had never experienced nor ever would. It struck me as the ultimate arrogance. That was 1980. The second experience was the ever popular enquiry: What do homosexuals do with each other? This question is rarely one of innocent curiosity but rather one of disbelief, incredulity, distaste, disgust, even thinly disguised contempt. Both these early experiences impressed me as a powerful negation of our core essence as gay men in the world. It seemed incredible that who we are should be dismissed with a wave of the hand, as if the gay experience is of no consequence whatsoever, a mere pock mark on otherwise unblemished skin. Even nineteenth century Victorians were never so cavalier about [hetero] sexuality. Few, if any of us, growing up in heterosexual society, avoid the experience of being wholly dismissed in this way, as if our very existence is irrelevant, perhaps should never have been. This is profoundly corrosive of our core sense of human integrity. An ineradicable message is implanted: that of deviate, defective, unworthy, condemned. This unavoidably etches a deep experience of shame within us all. Over the years, with maturity, we slowly come to terms with who we are, always at a price. What do homosexuals do with each other? The fulcrum of the question is on the do-ing. It completely ignores the be-ing; what does a gay man feel about men? How are such feelings distinct from those felt by heterosexual men for other men? The feelings we hold for one another are rarely of concern to the hetero. It just doesn't get asked. Curiosity stops here. It seems a discussion that prefers to be shunned. Bringing it up evokes fear and discomfort and embarrasment, even shame. We are cued into silence. It is a silence which intrudes into our shared moments of intimacy with other men. Unaware of our shame, we prefer instead to utter the body language of sex, giving voice to the feeling within, through the do-ing. Sex often serves an unwitting purpose of helping us avoid our feelings. What we take to bed with us is the commonplace heterosexual male model of using sex to spare us the whole range in feelings which naturally arise with intimacy between human beings. In their case, however, the female presence helps balance out this inclination. Healthy women are active seekers of intimacy and feeling expression. As gay men we are required to find this balance within ourselves. It wasn't so very long ago that, not only did we not have the right to have sex with one another; we didn't even have the right to be in one another's company. Meeting one another socially, in public places or private gathering was fraught with risk. In almost any gay bar or restuarant, entrapment by the vice squad was a very real threat. The accusation was tantamount to the conviction, particularly as to employers, authority figures, parents, family, community. This was a de-facto suspension of civil rights: freedom of assembly; freedom of association; freedom from harassment; threat, coercion, intimidation, habeas corpus, rights to privacy, and so on. Our lives were dismissed out of hand. Like the Jews in 1940's Europe, our very existence was taken from us. Like theirs, our very livelihood was at stake. We were relegated to the fringes of society, forced to live in shame and in secrecy. Certainly this did not provide a conducive atmosphere for
Author: Isabel Reyes Publisher: Lulu.com ISBN: 1312247649 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 453
Book Description
Noelle and Cameron have been fighting their personal demons for years. When they meet in a writing class during their last year of college, there is a strong attraction that neither can explain. As they get to know each other, they learn to work through their crises, forgive themselves and love each other.
Author: Mariko Turk Publisher: Poppy ISBN: 0316703427 Category : Young Adult Fiction Languages : en Pages : 286
Book Description
For fans of Sarah Dessen and Mary H.K. Choi, this lyrical and emotionally driven novel follows Alina, a young aspiring dancer who suffers a devastating injury and must face a world without ballet—as well as the darker side of her former dream. Alina Keeler was destined to dance, but then a terrifying fall shatters her leg—and her dreams of a professional ballet career along with it. After a summer healing (translation: eating vast amounts of Cool Ranch Doritos and binging ballet videos on YouTube), she is forced to trade her pre-professional dance classes for normal high school, where she reluctantly joins the school musical. However, rehearsals offer more than she expected—namely Jude, her annoyingly attractive castmate she just might be falling for. But to move forward, Alina must make peace with her past and face the racism she experienced in the dance industry. She wonders what it means to yearn for ballet—something so beautiful, yet so broken. And as broken as she feels, can she ever open her heart to someone else? Touching, romantic, and peppered with humor, this debut novel explores the tenuousness of perfectionism, the possibilities of change, and the importance of raising your voice.
Author: Susannah Meadows Publisher: Random House ISBN: 0812986458 Category : Health & Fitness Languages : en Pages : 320
Book Description
You’re faced with a difficult health condition. You have exhausted medicine’s answers. What do you do? Susannah Meadows tells the real-life stories of seven families who persisted when traditional medicine alone wasn’t enough. Their adventures take us to the outer frontiers of medical science and cutting-edge complementary therapies, as Meadows explores research into the mind’s potential to heal the body, the possible role food may play in reversing disease, the power of agency, perseverance, and hope—and more. When journalist Susannah Meadows noticed her three-year-old son, Shepherd, shying away from soccer practice, she had no idea it was the first sign of juvenile idiopathic arthritis. The diagnosis was the first step of a long journey, physically painful for Shepherd and emotionally wrenching for Susannah and her family. But they pressed on, and using a combination of traditional and complementary medicine they beat the disease, and the odds. Meadows chronicles her own story, and takes you into the lives of other remarkable people, exploring their heartbreaks and triumphs. One boy who has severe food allergies undergoes an unconventional therapy and is soon eating everything. An organic farmer in Washington State tries to solve the puzzle of her daughter’s epileptic seizures. A physician with MS creates her own combination of treatments and goes from a wheelchair to riding a bike again. A child diagnosed with ADHD refuses to take medication and instead improves his life, and the life of his family, after changing his diet. Other families take on rheumatoid arthritis and autistic behaviors. Meadows includes new information about traditional and nontraditional medicine and the latest science on how the health of our gut bacteria is connected to wellness—and how the right foods play a key role in helping this microscopic population thrive. She also talks with scientists who study the traits and circumstances that may make some people keep going when others feel helpless. These researchers are illuminating the psychology of healing—how the mind, and asserting control over your body and health, can play a part in recovery. Fascinating, moving, and profoundly inspiring, The Other Side of Impossible gives us people driven by love, desperation, and astonishing resolve—a community of the defiant who share an extraordinary talent for hope and for fighting the battle for healing in today’s world and tomorrow’s.
Author: Jessi Kirby Publisher: HarperCollins ISBN: 0062424262 Category : Young Adult Fiction Languages : en Pages : 263
Book Description
Girl Online meets Wild in this emotionally charged story of girl who takes to the wilderness to rediscover herself and escape the superficial persona she created on social media. Mari Turner’s life is perfect. That is, at least, to her thousands of followers who have helped her become an internet starlet. But when she breaks down and posts a video confessing she’s been living a lie—that she isn’t the happy, in love, inspirational online personality she’s been trying so hard to portray—it goes viral and she receives a major backlash. To get away from it all, she makes an impulsive decision: to hike the entire John Muir Trail. Mari and her late cousin Bri were supposed to do it together, to celebrate their shared eighteenth birthday. But that was before Mari got so wrapped up in her online world that she shut anyone out who questioned its worth—like Bri. With Bri’s boots and trail diary, a heart full of regret, and a group of strangers that she meets along the way, Mari tries to navigate the difficult terrain of the hike. But the true challenge lies within, as she searches for the way back from to the girl she fears may be too lost to find: herself.
Author: Daniel Bergner Publisher: Penguin UK ISBN: 0141956151 Category : Psychology Languages : en Pages : 217
Book Description
Jacob is a man with an overwhelming attraction to female feet. The Baroness is a clothing designer and evangelical sadist. Roy is a wedding band singer entranced by his step daughter. Ron and Laura are simply in love - only Laura lost both her legs in a car accident, and Ron is beguiled by a beauty many would be blind to. How do we deal with desire? Our own, and the desires of others? How do we comprehend desires that are extreme, or unacceptable? And how do those who have them, live with them? In A Map of Desire Daniel Bergner takes us on a journey into human passion suffered, endured, and celebrated. Desire is a sometimes anarchic, sometimes ecstatic, sometimes destructive, sometimes redeeming, and always powerful force.Immersing himself in it through the people whose lives he follows and the scientists he spends time with who are trying to understand it, slowly he exposes and illuminates layers of our humanity.
Author: Lauren Doyle Owens Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1501167812 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 288
Book Description
Laura Lippman meets Megan Abbott in this suspenseful mystery debut set in the aftermath of a violent crime—for “fans of crime fiction wanting literary flair and emotional depth” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). After her elderly neighbor is murdered, Amy Unger, a fledgling artist and cancer survivor, takes to the canvas in an effort to make sense of her neighbor’s death. Painting helps Amy recover from the devastating illness that ended her marriage and left her life in ruin. But when her paintings prove to be too realistic, her neighbors grow suspicious, and the murderer, still lurking, finds his way to her door. Bernard White, a widower who has isolated himself for years after a family scandal, can’t stop thinking about the murder of an old friend—and what it means for his fellow octogenarians as the death toll rises. He convinces the neighborhood’s geriatric residents to band together to protect one another. But the Originals, as they are known, can’t live together forever. As it is, Bernard is pressing his luck with the woman he’s moved in with. Maddie Lowe is a teenager trying to balance her waitressing job and keeping her family intact after the disappearance of her mother, even as their neighborhood becomes more dangerous by the second. She has information crucial to solving the crime. But she doesn’t realize it–until it’s almost too late. Their paths converge around the killer terrorizing their neighborhood and they are all faced with a life—or death—decision… A gripping page-turner that explores the strange connections between strangers, the past and the present, and the power of tragedy to spark renewal, The Other Side of Everything marks the exciting debut of a vibrant and riveting new voice.
Author: Jordan Smoller
Author: Jordan Smoller
Author: F. Michael Horn
Author: Isabel Reyes
Author: Mariko Turk
Author: Cindy Gaddis
Author: Mairghread Scott
Author: Susannah Meadows
Author: Jessi Kirby
Author: Daniel Bergner
Author: Lauren Doyle Owens