Bounce: Living the Resilient Life [Hardcover]

Robert J. Wicks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0195367685 | ISBN-13: 978-0195367683 | Edition: 1

Stress is a fact of modern life. And as more and more people face greater financial insecurity, longer work hours, and the increasingly complex personal and social demands of our fast-paced, multi-tasking, high-tech lifestyle, finding healthy ways to handle stress is more important than ever.

In Bounce: Living the Resilient Life, Robert Wicks shows you not just how to manage stress, but how to transform stressful situations into opportunities to live a more meaningful, self-aware, and compassionate life. Wicks makes available to everyone techniques he has used for over 30 years in helping physicians, nurses, psychotherapists, educators, social workers, ministers, and relief workers not only survive but flourish in highly stressful occupations. You'll learn a wide range of methods--normally reserved for those in helping and healing professions--to help you bounce back from stress and live life to the fullest.

Bounce shows you how to:



· Recognize the insidious nature of denial and avoidance as responses to stress


· Employ psychologically powerful approaches to self-awareness


· Improve self-talk through the use of cognitive behavioral principles


· Apply daily-debriefing techniques


· Utilize a structured reflection guide to uncover areas that require special attention


· Incorporate silence, solitude, and mindfulness into daily life


· Stop the drain of valuable emotional energy caused by toxic life situations and unexamined attitudes and beliefs


· And much more
Most important, Bounce helps you develop your own self-care protocol and personal renewal program, based on an honest assessment of your needs, life situation, and habitual ways of dealing--or failing to deal--with stress.

Insightful, practical, and filled with wise guidance, Bounce shows us all how to live with greater resilience in a world that grows more stressful by the day.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Bounce treats us to 'Have a Life!'and live it more fully. Wicks helps us to develop hardiness, learn to debrief ourselves after a hard day, and create a personal self-care program we will actually follow. Insightful, practical, and often humorous, Bounce is the right tonic for the spirit that we need in today's stressful world." --Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking

"Wicks has written a reflective book for counseling professionals seeking personal change and growth...counseling professionals searching for self-knowledge will find this book instructive, insightful and compelling." --Counseling Today

About the Author

Dr. Robert Wicks received his doctorate in psychology from Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia. Presently, he is a professor at Loyola University Maryland. In 1994, he was responsible for the psychological debriefing of relief workers evacuated from Rwanda during their bloody civil war. In 2006, he delivered a presentation on self-care at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland and Walter Reed Army Hospital to health care professionals responsible for Iraqi war veterans with multiple amputations and severe head injuries. Dr. Wicks is author of numerous books including The Resilient Clinician (OUP, 2008), Overcoming Secondary Stress in Medical and Nursing Practice (OUP, 2006), and the acclaimed best seller, Riding the Dragon: 10 Lessons for Inner Strength in Challenging Times (Sorin Books, 2003). He lives with his wife Michaele in Ellicott City, Maryland.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (September 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195367685
• ISBN-13: 978-0195367683
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.8 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Robert Wicks received his doctorate in psychology from Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia. Presently, he is a professor at Loyola University Maryland. In 1994, he was responsible for the psychological debriefing of relief workers evacuated from Rwanda during their bloody civil war. In 2006, he delivered a presentation on self-care at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland and Walter Reed Army Hospital to health care professionals responsible for Iraqi war veterans with multiple amputations and severe head injuries. Dr. Wicks is author of numerous books including The Resilient Clinician (OUP, 2008), Overcoming Secondary Stress in Medical and Nursing Practice (OUP, 2006), and the acclaimed best seller, Riding the Dragon: 10 Lessons for Inner Strength in Challenging Times (Sorin Books, 2003). He lives with his wife Michaele in Ellicott City, Maryland.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Well-Organized Wealth of Wisdom for Climbing out of the Spiral of Stress January 3, 2010

By David Crumm TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

I got hooked on the work of Dr. Robert J. Wicks, the renowned pastoral counselor and expert on overcoming stress, with the release of his earlier book, Prayerfulness: Awakening to the Fullness of Life. As a journalist, I was so impressed by "Prayerfulness" that I published an in-depth interview with Wicks and came to a deeper appreciation of his work. This is a scholar who works regularly with at-risk professional groups particularly prone to stress, including clergy, medical personnel and men and women serving in the armed forces.

In "Bounce," Wicks boils down his wisdom on springing back from stress into 200 very well-organized pages. Depending on where you find yourself in the spiral of stress, you may wind up dwelling more on one chapter than another. Wherever you turn in this book, though, Wicks offers helpful inventories to assess your own situation and tools to begin grappling with your daily challenges.

I like his eclectic approach to explaining these general principles. You'll find references here to psychologist Carl Jung and folk singer Joan Baez, to the Catholic monk Thomas Merton and the Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh.

This is a great gift idea for someone you care about--especially if that someone is you.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Toolbox for Cultivating Mindful Awareness of One's Life March 2, 2010

By D. S. Bornus

Format:Hardcover

This short book is a very concise, densely-packed manual for identifying one's stressors and discontent in life, assessing contributing factors, developing a self-care plan including regular debriefing of daily experiences, and cultivating meditative mindful awareness. All these elements are part of forming an overall lifestyle of "resilience," which is the capacity to thrive in a world filled with challenges and potential stressors by realigning one's outlook and taking intentional steps to care for one's psyche.

The book is filled with lists and self-diagnostic tools which, if one takes the time and effort to reflectively work through, provide extensive insight into one's situation, needs, and strengths. Included are two appendices which also provide one with an in-depth self-analysis. An extensive bibliography provides fertile material for further study and resources.

I found the discussion of "vicarious PTSD" particularly helpful, as well as the characterization of PTSD as a situation where normal crisis-coping mechanisms have become "stuck" beyond normal time frames. Most importantly, the book emphasizes that in the helping professions it is normal for people to experience vicarious stress and that it is important and healthful not to deny these effects but to consciously accept their existence and work through them in a preventative way, before a pathological internal state (such as depression) develops.

This book is a particularly good resource for clinicians, doctors, clergy, emergency services, or other professionals whose work entails a continuous contact with stressful, negative situations or individuals.

Highly recommended!

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I read it every other day January 23, 2010

By Therese Borchard

Format:Hardcover

I keep this book on my desk, because I'm always going back to it. Not only does he offer cutting edge research on the study of resilience, he sprinkles poignant stories throughout that really illuminate the material. Wicks is one of my favorite authors, and this is my favorite book of his.