The Emotional Toolkit: Seven Power-Skills to Nail Your Bad Feelings [Paperback]

Darlene Mininni (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 24, 2006 | ISBN-10: 031231888X | ISBN-13: 978-0312318888 | Edition: Reprint

Have you ever been stuck in a bad mood? Are you often helpless to stop your mind's negative thinking? Can you find peace when you're feeling overwhelmed?

Imagine what life would be like if you had an emotional toolkit. When confused or upset, you'd have powerful tools at your fingertips to help you understand your emotions and master your troubling feelings. With The Emotional Toolkit, help has arrived.

Meticulously researched, The Emotional Toolkit is a remarkable guide based on a highly successful course Dr. Darlene Mininni developed and taught to undergraduate women at UCLA. Now she's offering this essential information to women of all ages. Written with warmth and intelligence, Dr. Mininni teaches you the messages your emotions are trying to send you. She offers seven concrete, easy-to-follow "power-tools" scientifically proven to boost your emotional well-being.

With an emotional toolkit, you will harness the power of your mind and body to reduce your distress. Scientists confirm that women using the strategies from The Emotional Toolkit have less anxiety and sadness and are happier and more optimistic than before. And you can be, too.

Filled with helpful tips, quizzes, resources and insightful case studies, The Emotional Toolkit is an inspiring lesson on how to take charge of your emotions and create more happiness in your life. Finally, here is the emotional education you never received.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The skills in this book are just what this doctor ordered to help women (and men) achieve health and wellbeing through emotional literacy." Christiane Northup, M.D. Author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom"

About the Author

Darlene Mininni has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and a master's degree in public health. For fifteen years she was an educator and behavioral health specialist at the UCLA Arthur Ashe Health & Wellness Center. She is an experienced speaker and workshop leader.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Reprint edition (January 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031231888X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312318888
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Managing the Emotional Rollercoaster of Adulthood November 6, 2005

By David E. Johnson, MSW, LICSW

Format:Hardcover

Book Review: The Emotional Toolkit - Seven Power-Skills to Nail Your Bad Feelings, by Darlene Mininni, Ph.D., St. Martin's Press.

Managing emotion has never been a part of school curriculum, nor has it been a regular part of parenting. Parents learn about managing emotion from their parents in a disorganized anecdotal fashion teased out by trial and error. A particularly adverturous child may have many opportunities for learning, while a child that is shy and/or particularly compliant has relatively few. The family style of emotion management is based on a coping method passed on informally from generation to generation by word of mouth. Our modern culture lacks the traditional rites of passage that help ensure we learn the skills of adulthood. Yet emotion management is the single most important skill that determines our social and economic success and ability to maintain our mental health. As a psychotherapist over the past 28 years, I have found that a major part of what I do is educating people on what their emotions mean and how to cope with them.

I recently had the good fortune of obtaining a copy of Dr. Darlene Mininni's book, The Emotional Tookit. This book is well organized and chock full of most every tool I can think of that will prepare the average person for managing the emotional rollercoaster of adulthood in a complicated world. Although written particularly for women using many real life examples from the author's clinical experience, the skills are just as applicable to men and simple enough to be incorporated in a pre-teen training curriculum. The skills are described in an easy to understand way with many examples of how they can be applied in situations we are all familar with. I greatly appreciate this book and will recommend it to my clients.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book has changed my life! July 11, 2005

By L. manduke

Format:Hardcover

This is the best self-help book I ever read. It helped me understand my feelings in a completely new way. When I'm in a bad mood, I know how to get rid of it quickly. It's amazing. Reading her book is like listening to an incredibly smart and helpful girlfriend. I saw Dr. Mininni speak last week, and was mesmerized. She's brilliant, but knows how to talk to everyday women, because she is one. I just ordered copies of the book as gifts for my friends and family. Get this book, and you won't be disappointed.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding! A life-changing book May 24, 2005

By C. C. Holland

Format:Hardcover

This is the book so many women have been waiting for! It's a readable, engaging, engrossing, and incredibly helpful look at how we can better manage our emotions. Anyone who has ever felt helpless in the grip of sadness, anger, depression, or a host of other negative feelings can benefit from Dr. Mininni's smart strategies.

On a personal level, this book empowered me to both acknowledge the validity of my emotions and to find ways to actively manage them rather than letting them run my life. Dr. Mininni offers techniques that can work with every personality type, including some that I now incorporate into my daily routines. I found her sections on how to analyze your feelings by paying attention to your body signals to be especially helpful, since we often mask painful feelings beneath other emotions.

In short, The Emotional Toolkit is an outstanding choice for anyone looking to understand and manage feelings and emotions. I can't recommend it highly enough.