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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Feel like I've seen all this before, September 26, 2011
This review is from: Heal Your Brain: How the New Neuropsychiatry Can Help You Go from Better to Well (Hardcover)
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To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what to expect in this book. I was looking for new ideas in treating depression and the title and brief description of the book piqued my interest. I occasionally feel mild depression, which could probably be better described as grief after the loss of several close family members and friends over the past few years. And I also feel a bit overwhelmed by the busy pace my life often takes, so I was hoping this book would give some new ideas for coping with these issues. Although Hellerstein makes numerous references to Old Psychiatry vs New Psychiatry throughout the book, I didn't see anything that was really new. I am currently a doctoral candidate in the field of educational psychology and have read extensively on the neurological bases of emotions and am surprised that this body of research was not included. Hellerstein does talk about neurotransmitters and receptors, but his discussion seems limited to the discussion of different medications used for treatment. Hellerstein's book might be improved by inclusion of some of the cutting edge research in the areas of neurological bases for emotion, empathy, memory, creativity and learning (for example, the work of V. Ramachandran or Antonio Damasio), which might be interesting to extend into Hellerstein's ideas. The book has several positives. The discussion on medication options was very comprehensive and in contrast to some of the other reviewers, I liked the stories (case studies) Hellerstein included. I found them interesting and were very illustrative of the points Hellerstein was making. Overall, however, I thought the author didn't present much in the way of new neuroscience-based treatments (though I may have read more into the title than was intended). The number of non-medication interventions are limited (diaphragmatic breathing, sleep, exercise and a very general discussion of cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness), and I feel Hellerstein could have made much more on non-medication-based treatments.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Answers Not Revisitation, May 31, 2011
This review is from: Heal Your Brain: How the New Neuropsychiatry Can Help You Go from Better to Well (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This book is written for a non-psychology-professional. It offers some great techniques and exercises that have really begun to help me feel like I am rewiring some of the misfires that my brain makes without my awareness. The drawback to the book is that it is a bit long-winded with the stories. I would have been happier to have shorter anecdotes and more steps to healing the brain. I am happy other people have had some success and we do learn from that, but I prefer cliff notes! The goal is to heal. I have read enumerable books about recovery from severe physical and emotional abuse (thanks Dad). From many books I got nothing, from some I get a lot. But generally they fall about in the middle and I at best I walk away with one or two more skills in the arsenal to keep me happy and sane and most importantly, from inadvertently hurting the people around me. The thing I look for is helpful ACTION that I can take. I already know WHY I have trust issues, depression issues, blah blah blah...what I want is a way to fix these things without spending years rehashing and giving more of my precious time on this planet to the evil abusers of an innocent child. It won't immediately remove the need for anti-depressants, but I believe that there is sound advice in here to help someone improve their daily life with nearly immediate results. I am BETTER and I would love to finally reach WELL. Maybe this brings me a step closer...
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some new information, September 25, 2011
This review is from: Heal Your Brain: How the New Neuropsychiatry Can Help You Go from Better to Well (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I went through a major depression episode about four years ago, and I did a lot of reading on the subject and learned a lot about brain chemistry. And I never liked chemistry very much! Most of the books were about why we get depressed, what happens when we get depressed, how our brain works (or not) when we're depressed, how being depressed affects our lives. I did eventually find a couple of books that were practical books on dealing with depression on a daily basis. I've listed them at the end of this review in case you're interested. I learned a few new things from "Heal Your Brain". How depression and anxiety can physically affect the brain, causing parts of it to atrophy. That shouldn't be a surprise. Stress can have physical effects on muscles and other organs, so why should the brain be any different? But the bigger surprise is that certain things can cause parts of the brain to grow. Okay, wow. I've heard all my life that at a certain point, the brain just stops growing. In retrospect, that does seem a bit silly. Other parts of the body can heal and re-grow damaged area, so again, why not the brain? This book is about the "New Neuropsychiatry" as seen through a number of case studies. None of them really matched my situation. They may not match yours either. But that's to be expected. Every case is different. Everyone has a unique combination of family history, experiences, body chemistry, and situations that have caused a problem. So don't expect to find an answer to *your* problem leaping off the page at you. The case studies are a framework for the discussion of the causes of and treatments for anxiety, depression, and a number of other mental disorders. It's like the bird's-eye view map of the museum or zoo that shows you how to find the things you're interested in. It's an overview of a new approach to psychotherapy, and it invites you to explore further. I've done the quick read to get the gist of the book. I'm going to be doing a more careful re-read of the last sections on treatment and recovery. There's more I can get out of those chapters, and maybe some new directions for my own treatment. The other books that I found useful: Get It Done When You're Depressed, by Julie A. Fast Talking to Depression, by Claudia J. Strauss
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