Undoing Perpetual Stress: The Missing Connection Between Depression, Anxiety and 21st Century Illness [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Richard O'Connor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 2006

The author of bestselling Undoing Depression, Dr. Richard O'Connor goes beyond depression and into the world of perpetual stress--a condition that affects us all and leads to serious physical and mental health problems.

Twenty-first-century life is evolving at a breakneck pace-and with it, stresses multiply by the day. With people working long hours, worrying about families and finances ,and receiving non-stop e-mail and cell phone calls, stress is at an all time high. This is perpetual stress syndrome and the human nervous system was never meant to handle this many stressors. Here psychotherapist O'Connor explains how many common problems, both emotional and physical, are actually side effects of modern life, and how to undo their damage. He explains how readers can:

- Recognize the hidden effects of stress on the brain and body
- Understand their inner sanity in conflict with a crazy world
- Develop self-control over how to think, act, and feel when stressed
- Regain a sense of meaning and purpose in their lives

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to psychotherapist O'Connor (Undoing Depression), the human brain and nervous system cannot process the constant stress that is accepted as inevitable today, resulting in an alarming rise in chronic illness, depression and anxiety. Using current mind/body research, he shows how the brain and nervous system respond to stress; how the body manifests these changes; and how negative patterns become vicious cycles of mental, emotional and physical illness. O'Connor says there are many studies implicating stress as a major factor in heart disease, diabetes, cancer and such difficult to treat conditions as chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, but the health-care establishment hasn't been able to adequately help patients make the lifestyle modifications needed for lasting change. To that end, he suggests mindfulness techniques to help readers identify mental and emotional programming and defense mechanisms, make healthy choices and form life-affirming habits. O'Connor's vast subject ranges from everyday stress to deep-seated emotional trauma and serious mental illness, and this work may overwhelm readers in the acute phase of a stress-related condition, although they will likely find O'Connor's compassionate understanding helpful. The book may be of greatest value to professionals who work therapeutically with patients, and readers interested in the mind/body connection who are ready to make major changes in their lives to combat stress.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

A graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, Richard O'Connor, Ph.D., received his M.S.W. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, followed by postgraduate work at the Institute for Psychoanalysis and the Family Institute. He is a practicing psychotherapist with offices in Connecticut and New York. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• ISBN-10: 0425207692
• ASIN: B000I0ROCY
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,750,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard O'Connor, MSW, Ph.D. is the author of Undoing Depression and Undoing Perpetual Stress. For fourteen years he was executive director of the Northwest Center for Family Service and Mental Health, a private, nonprofit mental health clinic serving Litchfield County, Connecticut, overseeing the work of twenty mental health professionals in treating almost a thousand patients per year. He is currently a practicing psychotherapist with offices in Connecticut and New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creating Mindful Reactions That Are Good for Your Health!, May 8, 2005

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Undoing Perpetual Stress: The Missing Connection Between Depression, Anxiety and 21st Century Illness (Hardcover)

I decided to read this book because I enjoyed Dr. O'Connor's book, Undoing Depression so much. I am delighted to report that Undoing Perpetual Stress is an even better book.

What is perpetual stress like? The metaphor that Dr. O'Connor uses is that of an impala who thinks there's a cheetah behind every rock. The flight or fight response is never at rest . . . and the poor impala's health is soon destroyed.

Dr. O'Connor argues that our over stimulating world creates the same kinds of stress from unseen "threats" as the world goes whizzing by at 75 miles per hour.

In the book, he describes the sources of the stress, how stress undermines your body, immune system, brain and mind, and what you can do to put the stress comfortably in the background.

This book will appeal to those who are stressed out, those who experience anxiety and depression at the same time, those who love such people, and those who want to better understand the mind-body connection based on the latest scientific research.

Undoing Perpetual Stress is filled with many helpful exercises that will help even those who don't think they have too much stress. One of the best from my perspective was taking a psychological snapshot of yourself every five years . . . and spotting what was wrong with your life at each stage. I was astonished to realize how many memories I had repressed, but which are still influencing my psychology. And Dr. O'Connor is good about reminding you to "practice, practice, practice" the exercises and his advice.

I have been a meditator for over ten years, and this book helped me to gain a lot of perspective on what the meditation is helping and what it is not. While I have eliminated a lot of the background noise, I haven't dealt with a lot of old issues. It was helpful to find out what those issues are . . . and what to do about them. I found that my creativity and mind were suddenly freed by the process.

For parents, there's a lot of new information here on how various parenting methods influence a child over a lifetime. It's a lot better than what you read in that first book about how to be a parent. Check it out!

This book should be required reading for anyone who finishes high school.

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winner of an "Academy Award for Books", February 15, 2005

By 

Jordan "librarian" (Brooklyn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Undoing Perpetual Stress: The Missing Connection Between Depression, Anxiety and 21st Century Illness (Hardcover)

Undoing Perpetual Stress is one of eight books of the thousands published in 2005 to receive a Books for a Better Life award in a ceremony like an "Academy Awards" for books. Hurrah to Larry McMurtry, who won an Oscar for Brokeback Mountain and reminded the audience of the importance of books. The seven other winners in this amazing prize-winning list are: The Tender Bar (J.R. Moehringer), The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls), The Treehouse (Naomi Wolf), The Sociopath Next Door (Martha Stout), Perfect Love, Imperfect Relationships (John Welwood), Unattended Sorrow (Stephen Levine), and Jim Cramer's Real Money.

From an earlier review for O'Connor's book: It's a reference work, and at the same time it's good reading. You can go to your particular problem--depression, anxiety, addiction, physical illness--and get both an authoritative explanation for what's wrong, and clear, practical advice for how to recover. You can also learn about just what is unique about contemporary stress, and understand in detail exactly what it's doing to your mind, brain, and body.

This is a long book, but it's necessary for the author to prove his controversial thesis. He doesn't want to simply assert that life experience changes the brain, he wants to show you how it does. In the form of stress, it destroys brain cells, damages the immune system, and shapes our character. But the good news is that we can change our own brains for the better by making deliberate choices about the kinds of life experience we seek.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mindfulness helpful for Non-Specific Illness, September 16, 2005

By 

D. Oehrke - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Undoing Perpetual Stress: The Missing Connection Between Depression, Anxiety and 21st Century Illness (Hardcover)

I've just finished reading a copy of this book that I had checked out from the library. I found that I would want to read certain parts again, particularly the mindfulness exercises. So I ordered a copy for my library. As a person who has been diagnosed some time ago with Fibromyalgia Syndrome, one of the Non-Specific Illnesses referred to in the book, I was especially interested in the Biopyschosocial view which I believe this author represents. I have been dissatisfied with my medical diagnosis and the lack of treatments when the condition is considered strictly medical. I have been ready to accept/integrate a mind/body model of this condition and for most of the book I was willing to accept this model. I take issue with some of Mr. O'Connors assertions that "most" people with non-specific illnesses have a history of anxiety or depression. He may have cited studies, but I did not see the footnotes. And he states unequivocally that these non-specific illnesses "ARE NOT MEDICAL ILLNESSES". This statement somehow seems at odds with the acceptance throughout the book of the reality of the physical symptoms and the fact that the brain is a part of the physical body. Even mainstream research now acknowledges that Fibromyalgia is the result of disordered brain chemistry. While his intentions are undoubted noble, wanting people to get over the idea that there is a simple explanation or cure for non-specific disorders, this assertion undoes much of the persuading of the earlier parts of the book. If the mind affects the body, and the body affects the mind and both affect the brain, then why be so strident on this point? I am going to start to practice mindfulness as a part of my life, along with considering cognitive/behavioral therapy. I don't believe (any longer) in quick cures. But a multi-disiplinary approach is for me, and I am not dismissing my physician's advice for a strictly mindfulness approach.