Dr. Rosenfarb’s Blog

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy
by: David D. Burns
publisher: Harper, published: 1999-10-01
ASIN: 0380810336
EAN: 9780380810338
sales rank: 384
price: $4.42 (new), $1.13 (used)

The good news is that anxiety, guilt, pessimism, procrastination, low self-esteem, and other “black holes” of depression can be cured without drugs. In Feeling Good, eminent psychiatrist, David D. Burns, M.D., outlines the remarkable, scientifically proven techniques that will immediately lift your spirits and help you develop a positive outlook on life. Now, in this updated edition, Dr. Burns adds an All-New Consumer′s Guide To Anti-depressant Drugs as well as a new introduction to help answer your questions about the many options available for treating depression.

– Recognize what causes your mood swings
– Nip negative feelings in the bud
– Deal with guilt
– Handle hostility and criticism
– Overcome addiction to love and approval
– Build self-esteem
– Feel good everyday

Mindfulness and Acceptance: Expanding the Cognitive-Behavioral Tradition

Mindfulness and Acceptance: Expanding the Cognitive-Behavioral Tradition
publisher: The Guilford Press, published: 2011-06-22
ASIN: 1609189892
EAN: 9781609189891
sales rank: 91800
price: $21.00 (new), $23.04 (used)
This volume examines the role of mindfulness principles and practices in a range of well-established cognitive-behavioral treatment approaches. Leading scientist-practitioners describe how their respective modalities incorporate such nontraditional themes as mindfulness, acceptance, values, spirituality, being in relationship, focusing on the present moment, and emotional deepening. Coverage includes acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, integrative behavioral couple therapy, behavioral activation, and functional analytic psychotherapy. Contributors describe their clinical methods and goals, articulate their theoretical models, and examine similarities to and differences from other approaches.

Essential Components of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for Depression

Essential Components of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for Depression
by: Jacqueline B. Persons
publisher: American Psychological Association (APA), published: 2001-01-15
ASIN: 1557986975
EAN: 9781557986979
sales rank: 505430
price: $31.00 (new), $27.00 (used)

Intended for both trainees and practitioners in the mental health professions, the book details the five basic components of cogntive-behavior therapy in practice: developing an individualized case formulation, session structuring, activity scheduling, the thought record, and the schema change method. A thorough case study is included to illustrate how the therapist uses the case formulation to plan and carry out treatment. Examples of each major intervention are also provided as well as a demonstration of how the assessment and intervention strategies are woven together over the course of treatment. This is the perfect teaching tool for those working in clinical, counseling, and health psychology as well as social work, psychiatry, psychiatric nurses, marriage and family counseling, and pastoral counseling.

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (Open Road)
by: William Styron
publisher: Open Road, published: 2010-04-30
ASIN: B003JBFCFA
sales rank: 11494
Styron’s stirring account of his plunge into a crippling depression, and his inspiring road to recovery
In the summer of 1985, William Styron became numbed by disaffection, apathy, and despair, unable to speak or walk while caught in the grip of advanced depression. His struggle with the disease culminated in a wave of obsession that nearly drove him to suicide, leading him to seek hospitalization before the dark tide engulfed him.

Darkness Visible tells the story of Styron’s recovery, laying bare the harrowing realities of clinical depression and chronicling his triumph over the disease that had claimed so many great writers before him. His final words are a call for hope to all who suffer from mental illness that it is possible to emerge from even the deepest abyss of despair and “once again behold the stars.”
This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.

The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression

The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
by: Andrew Solomon
publisher: Scribner, published: 2002-04
ASIN: 0684854678
EAN: 9780684854670
sales rank: 11813
price: $0.01 (new), $0.01 (used)

The Noonday Demon examines depression in personal, cultural, and scientific terms. Drawing on his own struggles with the illness and interviews with fellow sufferers, doctors and scientists, policy makers and politicians, drug designers and philosophers, Andrew Solomon reveals the subtle complexities and sheer agony of the disease. He confronts the challenge of defining the illness and describes the vast range of available medications, the efficacy of alternative treatments, and the impact the malady has on various demographic populations — around the world and throughout history. He also explores the thorny patch of moral and ethical questions posed by emerging biological explanations for mental illness. With uncommon humanity, candor, wit, and erudition, award-winning author Solomon takes readers on a journey of incom-parable range and resonance into the most pervasive of family secrets. His contribution to our understanding not only of mental illness but also of the human condition is truly stunning.

The Bipolar Workbook: Tools for Controlling Your Mood Swings

The Bipolar Workbook: Tools for Controlling Your Mood Swings
by: Monica Ramirez Basco PhD
publisher: The Guilford Press, published: 2005-12-21
ASIN: 1593851626
EAN: 9781593851620
sales rank: 14472
price: $13.70 (new), $6.44 (used)
Mood swings may be a part of your life, but the struggle to control them doesn’t have to dominate it. Together with the right course of medication, The Bipolar Workbook can put you back in control. Dr. Monica Ramirez Basco has assembled a versatile toolkit of proven self-help strategies designed to help you recognize the early warning signs of relapse, resist the seductive pull of manic episodes, and escape the paralysis of depression. Whether you’re new to the diagnosis (and not quite sure it fits) or want to enhance your current treatment, this simple program puts you in charge. Easy-to-follow guidelines and worksheets help you identify problem areas and minimize their impact, including ways to:

  • Reduce the recurrence and severity of your symptoms.
  • Slow things down and get the sleep you need when mania strikes.
  • Keep motivated and avoid procrastination when you’re depressed.
  • Fine-tune medical treatments to maximize your gains.
  • Rein in emotional reactions.
  • Stay focused and achieve your goals.

Since every individual’s experience with bipolar disorder is unique, Dr. Basco encourages you to customize a plan that suits your needs. So take charge and make a better life.

I am Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help!

I Am Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help! How to Help Someone with Mental Illness Accept Treatment. 10th Anniversary Edition.
by: Xavier Amador
publisher: Vida Press, published: 2011-10-19
ASIN: 0967718937
EAN: 9780967718934
sales rank: 4153
price: $19.40 (new), $20.40 (used)

‘This book fills a tremendous void…’ wrote E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., about the first edition of I AM NOT SICK, I Don’t Need Help! Ten years later, it still does. Dr. Amador’s research on poor insight was inspired by his attempts to help his brother Henry, who developed schizophrenia, accept treatment. Like tens of millions of others diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Henry did not believe he was ill. In this latest edition, 6 new chapters have been added, new research on anosognosia (lack of insight) is presented and new advice, relying on lessons learned from thousands of LEAP seminar participants, is given to help readers quickly and effectively use Dr. Amador s method for helping someone accept treatment. I AM NOT SICK, I Don’t Need Help! is not just a reference for mental health practitioners or law enforcement professionals. It is a must-read guide for family members whose loved ones are battling mental illness. Read and learn as have hundreds of thousands of others…to LEAP-Listen, Empathize, Agree, and Partner-and help your patients and loved ones accept the treatment they need.

The Complete Family Guide to Schizophrenia: Helping Your Loved One Get the Most Out of Life

The Complete Family Guide to Schizophrenia: Helping Your Loved One Get the Most Out of Life
by: Kim T. Mueser PhD
publisher: The Guilford Press, published: 2006-05-26
ASIN: 1593851804
EAN: 9781593851804
sales rank: 71321
price: $10.91 (new), $7.70 (used)

Will the person you love ever get better? Chances are you’ve grappled with the question. With care and support from their families, people with schizophrenia can and do make vast improvements. Noted therapists Kim Mueser and Susan Gingerich deepen your understanding of the illness and cover a wide range of effective treatments. Based on decades of research and experience, they offer pragmatic suggestions for dealing with depression, psychosis, and other symptoms. They show you how to prioritize needs, resolve everyday problems, and encourage your loved one to set life goals. Plus, individual sections highlight special issues for parents, children, siblings, and partners. Whether you’re facing schizophrenia for the first time or you’ve dealt with its impact for years, you’ll discover innovative ways to handle challenges that arise over the course of treatment, from reducing the chances of relapse to making friends and finding work. Recovery isn’t an endpoint–it’s a lifelong journey. With love, hope, and realistic optimism, striving for it can lead to a richer, more rewarding life for your entire family.

Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Patients, and Providers

Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Patients, and Providers
by: E. Fuller Torrey
publisher: Harper Perennial, published: 2006-03-28
ASIN: 0060842598
EAN: 9780060842598
sales rank: 13503
price: $8.16 (new), $3.00 (used)

Since its first publication in 1983, Surviving Schizophrenia has become the standard reference book on the disease and has helped thousands of patients, their families and mental health professionals. In clear language, this much–praised and important book describes the nature, causes, symptoms, treatment and course of schizophrenia and also explores living with it from both the patient and the family’s point of view. This new, completely updated fifth edition includes the latest research findings on what causes the disease as well as information about the newest drugs for treatment and answers to the questions most often asked by families, consumers and providers.

The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness

The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness
by: Elyn R. Saks
publisher: Hyperion, published: 2008-08-12
ASIN: 1401309445
EAN: 9781401309442
sales rank: 15087
price: $5.50 (new), $4.99 (used)

Elyn Saks is a success by any measure: she’s an endowed professor at the prestigious University of Southern California Gould School of Law. She has managed to achieve this in spite of being diagnosed as schizophrenic and given a “grave” prognosis — and suffering the effects of her illness throughout her life.

Saks was only eight, and living an otherwise idyllic childhood in sunny 1960s Miami, when her first symptoms appeared in the form of obsessions and night terrors. But it was not until she reached Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar that her first full-blown episode, complete with voices in her head and terrifying suicidal fantasies, forced her into a psychiatric hospital.

Saks would later attend Yale Law School where one night, during her first term, she had a breakdown that left her singing on the roof of the law school library at midnight. She was taken to the emergency room, force-fed antipsychotic medication, and tied hand-and-foot to the cold metal of a hospital bed. She spent the next five months in a psychiatric ward.

So began Saks’s long war with her own internal demons and the equally powerful forces of stigma. Today she is a chaired professor of law who researches and writes about the rights of the mentally ill. She is married to a wonderful man.

In The Center Cannot Hold, Elyn Saks discusses frankly and movingly the paranoia, the inability to tell imaginary fears from real ones, and the voices in her head insisting she do terrible things, as well as the many obstacles she overcame to become the woman she is today. It is destined to become a classic in the genre.