Admittedly, his case is mild. But when the average person thinks of someone with OCD, my friend is the kind of person that comes to mind. Contrary to mainstream opinion, however, OCD is a much more dynamic disease. It is multifaceted, coming in all shapes and sizes, and it is nondiscriminatory: anyone can have it. And for those who do have it, their condition may not be what you think it is. Dispelling this myth is J.J. Keeler’s central mission.

In I Hardly Ever Wash My Hands: The Other Side of OCD, Keeler writes openly and often humorously about her condition. Unlike my friend, Keeler does not need to open and close a drawer a certain amount of times. Nor does she need to make sure her desk hits her wall at precisely a 90-degree angle. She’s no Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets. But this does not mean she lacks irrationality.

Keeler paints a perfect portrait of her condition in her opening paragraph: “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had AIDS. I’ve probably had it more often than the average person has had a common cold or a sinus infection. I’ve had it more often than the average child has had strep throat or the average athlete has had a muscle pull. I’ve had AIDS more times than I can count.”

Keeler, by her own admission, has never actually had AIDS. Yet throughout her life, she has continually thought she has been afflicted. When she was told “dirty needles” were one cause of the disease, she took the phrase literally. And when as a child she bought a poster for her room, she thought she infected herself: “After unrolling the poster against the wall and guessing it was straight, I reached into my pocket. Almost immediately the thumbtack—a dirty needle—stuck my finger. Once again, I had AIDS.”

Keeler got AIDS in many other ways as well: nicking her hand on a tree, having a dog slobber on a cut, even just looking at a public toilet soaked in urine. “Though I decided not to use it and immediately left, I got AIDS anyway.”

Worry over AIDS is far from Keeler’s only OCD-driven fear. When she read Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis in high school, she “was obsessively worried about going to bed as a human and waking up as a giant bug.” And when she was given a free teddy bear at a garage sale, all hell broke loose. Keeler didn’t think there was a bomb inside the toy; she knew there was.

The inner workings of Keeler’s mind are worth devoting a few lines to:

I thought about my stethoscope from my toy doctor’s kit and listening to see if I could hear the bomb ticking, but I knew that wouldn’t do any good. Obviously, it would be ticking.

I thought about wrapping the teddy bear in a protective barrier made of aluminum foil, but I wasn’t sure if that would keep the bear secured, or just keep it fresh for tomorrow’s supper.

I thought about taking the teddy bear to some rural area and throwing it away in a field. But that was no good. Someone would find it, take it home and then their home would blow up.

I thought about shoving it down one of the slits on the sidewalk curbs that led to the sewer. This way the bomb would be underground when it exploded. But the toxins from the bomb—there had to be toxins—would get into the city’s water system and poison anyone who drank tap water.

It would be a massive understatement to say that Keeler gave this issue a lot of thought. She obsessed over the idea that her teddy bear was rigged with explosives. The notion clearly consumed her at times. She considered the idea from all different angles, trying to find the best way to deal with this highly sensitive issue.

Welcome to Keeler’s life. No, she does not fret, as she writes, about the “mouse living under [her] stove. I’m not worried. I’m not anxious. In fact, I don’t really care at all.” She is not who we consider to be the typical person with OCD. Keeler instead represents the underreported segment of people with the disease. She’s not the one obsessing about the little things. The title says it all: she hardly ever washes her hands. Such things are relatively trivial to her. It’s the big things that consume Keeler.

I Hardly Ever Wash My Hands is fascinating for many reasons. First, it is elegantly written in a confident and humorous way bereft of any filler. Everything in the book is interesting and necessary. Second, it is one of those rare books that gives the reader unfiltered access to an unusual mind at work. We can see the pain, confusion and despair dripping from each page. Third and finally, it’s just a good book. And for anyone interested in learning more about “the other side of OCD,” it’s a worthwhile book.

One thing worth noting is that Keeler does not downplay the nuisance that OCD can be for people who deal with the more mainstream version. She writes: “Don’t get me wrong. OCD is often a disease marked by a debilitating obsession of all the [typical] things, but that’s only part of the story. Sometimes it’s none of the story.”

For Keeler, common obsessions are not part of her story. Hers is unique and atypical, and news to most of us. For those who struggle with Keeler’s brand of OCD, however, it’s not news. It’s life.

I Hardly Ever Wash My Hands: The Other Side of OCD
By J.J. Keeler
Paragon House: March 1, 2012
Paperback, 170 pages
$16.95

While the book goes into more detail about different aspects of anxiety, the workbook includes enough background information to function by itself.  Since the workbook also contains worksheets for each technique, if you were to purchase just one of the two books, you would probably find that the workbook meets your needs.

Wehrenberg says that the first step is to assess the type of disorder you suffer from.  To help you do this, Wehrenberg provides checklists and assessments which she says “are based on situations I have observed over the years in my practice.  As such they are not validated tests but rather represent questions I ask my clients and the circumstances they describe to me.”  Some of the assessments are specifically designed for adolescents.  In spite of not being validated, when I compared a few of the assessments with scientifically validated versions, they produced comparable results.

The workbook focuses on panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder. It is divided into three sections:  managing the anxious body, managing the anxious mind, and managing anxious behavior.  In the section on managing the anxious body, chapters focus on the impact of food and drink on anxiety, and on breathing, mindfulness, and physical relaxation.  Each chapter presents techniques which may be valuable for all types of anxiety, then describes how a technique can be applied to each of the anxiety disorders.  The book includes a CD with guided exercises for breathing, practicing mindfulness, and physical relaxation.  The CD is well-produced, with exercises read by the author, who has a pleasant voice.

Techniques vary from strategies you can use when you only have as little as two minutes to strategies for developing productive new habits.  Most chapters end with a S.I.M.P.L.E plan that you create for specific problems.  Each letter stands for a different element of the plan which includes “S” for describing the symptoms of your problem, “M” for the method you’re going to try, and “E” for evaluating the results.

The book includes detailed and useful information about how to perform diaphragmatic breathing, as well as teaching how to practice mindfulness and relaxation.  It contains detailed and less useful information about how to stop catastrophizing and on thought stopping and replacement.  Even though some of the advice may seem obvious, if you suffer from anxiety you are likely to find a strategy that could help you.  One interesting idea is that when we’re anxious, we need to seek the “right reassurance.”  If you ask for reassurance from others, you may feel better only temporarily.  Wehrenberg says that “the right reassurance is reassurance that you are competent to handle problems.”  She says that you’ll continue to worry unless “you remind yourself that even if the worst does happen, you will be able to deal with it.”

One of my quibbles with the book is that the author has an annoying habit of personifying the brain, as when she says “Your brain does not like it when you have a physical sensation without an observable reason, so it decides, ‘If I feel this bad, there must be something wrong!’”  She also makes strange assertions such as “If your energy supply is not burned off through physical exertion, such as when sitting in front of a computer 12 hours a day . . . you have a release of energy that never gets used.  This is a major reason people put fat on in their middles when under stress.”  She implies that sedentary jobs lead to anxiety because of this “release of energy that never gets used;” and also that stress is the deciding factor in whether we get fat when we have a sedentary job, leaving out the importance of dietary intake and exercise.  She also recommends questionable techniques such as the use of affirmations, even though research does not validate their use.

Strangest of all is her invention of the term “too much activity” (TMA), which she describes as though it is a scientific diagnosis.  Someone with TMA suffers from a “high drive” and sufferers are unable to “hold still,” causing their feelings of anxiety to increase.  Her diagnostic assessment for TMA includes statements such as “getting unexpected free time can raise my anxiety, especially if I have no warning” and “I become very impatient when something slows down my progress.”  TMA also includes perfectionism, which she says some people use to control their anxiety.   The strategies she describes for dealing with TMA include life/work balance, planning for free time, and learning to have fun.  You may find her treatment information useful, but I question creating a new diagnosis for what might otherwise be called a “Type A” personality.

Should you purchase this workbook if you suffer from social anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, or panic disorder?  You will find a great deal of useful information, along with worksheets and tools to help you try new strategies and evaluate your progress.  In spite of my reservations about a few areas that she writes about, overall, a sufferer from anxiety will probably find it and the accompanying CD useful.

The Ten Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques Workbook
By Margaret Wehrenberg
W. W. Norton & Company: March 19, 2012
Paperback, 240 pages
$19.95

We can, in fact, not only cause the neurons in our brains to change and to grow new connections and pathways, but we can produce new neurons, throughout our entire lives. It’s called neuroplasticity… What does this mean for you and your relationships? If you can grow new connections and new neurons, your old, getting-in-your-way wiring can be redirected and/or overridden. You can rebuild it. (Italics in text.)

This is all well and good. But how exactly does one go about doing this? Lucas’s prescription is a radical approach: “The ancient practice of mindfulness meditation, as it turns out, produces real, measurable changes in the brain in key places so that deeper connections, better love, and healthier relationships can really take hold.”

Lucas continues: This can be done “in as little as 20 minutes a day. Whaddaya think? Are your relationships worth 20 minutes a day?”

As evidenced by the style above, Lucas writes quite conversationally, which is refreshing considering how academic and formal the book could have been. Yet Lucas is able to take the complex idea of neuroscience and boil it down in a highly readable, highly engrossing way.

Rewire Your Brain for Love is divided into three sections. The first, containing just two chapters, is filled with preliminary information to give the reader a basis from which to approach the “rewiring.” The second section contains the bulk of the book. In each of its seven chapters, Lucas works with one singular idea before giving a meditative exercise to complement the words. The final section, just one chapter with a brief epilogue, provides wisdom for continuing this new practice.

Throughout the book, Lucas maintains her unique voice. Even when explaining a complex idea, Lucas is able to break it down into its simplest parts. Her casual writing style helps readers feel that complex scientific ideas are workable and capable of being successfully implemented.

A solid example of Lucas’s ability to relate with the reader comes in Chapter 6 when she discusses emotional reflexes:

We all have those d’oh moments when we realize we’ve blown it with our partners and said something we regretted. And we’ve all had the experience where, upon later reflection (sometimes days later), we finally let the authentic, meaningful response that we wish we’d had the presence of mind to come out with earlier bubble up into our awareness. By practicing mindfulness meditation, you’ll be able to give your brain more time to generate an awareness of choices.

Lucas’s casual, intimate style draws the reader in where more academic prose might have failed to do so. This is in no way to assert that Lucas does not write intelligently. She writes both with intelligence and authority. Those traits, couple with the occasional wit and of course her eminent relatability, make Rewire Your Brain for Love somewhat of a fun read.

This review has focused primarily on Lucas’s writing style and ability to present information in a readable way. But the book’s meditative component is equally important. As stated previously, each of the second section’s chapters culminates in a different meditation. It should be noted that these are not the meditations you will find an experienced Buddhist monk doing. That said, they revolve around the same basic idea: mindfulness. If you are new to meditation, or even if you have some cursory experience, then you will find what Lucas offers to be of great benefit. Each of the meditations is meant to address a different aspect of your psychological outlook. In this way, each meditation is slightly different, preventing the possibility of getting bored or frustrated by one specific exercise.

Rewire Your Brain for Love is one of those great hybrids between self-help and education. If you’re looking for a method to tackle relationship problems (or even just ‘life’ problems), you’d be hard-pressed to find a better primer.

Rewire Your Brain for Love: Creating Vibrant Relationship Using the Science of Mindfulness
By Marsha Lucas, Ph.D
Hay House Publishers: February 1, 2012
Hardcover, 201 pages
$19.95

From talk shows and reality programming on television, to personal blogs on the Internet, we are flooded with people’s confessions and secrets. The politician’s confession has become so commonplace that we know the script and are only surprised when it is violated — when “the wronged wife” chooses not to attend the media event, for instance.

At the same time, the traditional context for confession, religion, is experiencing a decline in participation. What do we even mean by confession these days?

In The Art of Confession, Paul Wilkes explores the roots and branches of confession, which he conceives as an attitude more than a specific action – confession with a little c, he says. He begins the book by stating his core assumption that “deep within every human heart, there is a desire to be good.” As human beings, of course, we falter, we make inelegant choices, we betray ourselves and others, and we know it. In this context, Wilkes enlists a “Confessional Chorus” – a rabbi, a priest, a psychiatrist, and a Roman Catholic nun – to contribute sidebar commentary on the issues he explores in this small but powerful book.

The first third of the book orients the reader to the history of confession. It’s a brief but fascinating history. Starting in ancient Egypt, it travels through Native Americans; Buddha; New Guinea; Judaism; Catholicism; the Protestant Reformation; and therapy — today’s commonplace confessional context.

Confession has been secularized and in the process, as philosopher Paul Ricoeur said, “man has lost the sense of forgiveness while retaining his sense of sin.” And in the words of Swiss physician Paul Tournier, “Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets.”

In the remaining chapters, Wilkes leads the reader forward to an understanding of confession as an attitude of realignment, to a way of minding our inner compass. Chapter Five is particularly helpful, and quite moving. It presents and describes seven very specific approaches to reflection and realignment, including:

• Observe, Judge, Act – a method developed before World War II by a Catholic group who wanted to translate religious teachings into a very concrete practice
• Consolations and desolations – a method developed by Ignatius Loyola to review the day, focusing on moments that produced the feeling of being alive and worthwhile, and those that produced the feeling of worthlessness
• Praying backward through the day – a number of techniques designed, as Wilkes says, not to produce self-reproach or anxiety, but rather to help you see yourself more clearly
• “Rummaging for God” – five steps of prayer, review, reflection, and looking ahead
• A particular examen – focusing closely on a specific problem or fault
• Metta Bhavana – the cultivation of lovingkindness
• An adult examination of conscience – eight suggested areas for focused reflection

There are times we know we need to confess to another person. That private reflection is not the final step. In Chapter Six, Wilkes addresses this topic, exploring how, what, to whom, where, and when not to confess. Finally, in Chapter Seven, Wilkes briefly explores the next step, shaping a new way of living, which he summarizes as “doing the next right thing.”

This small book – at a trim size of 7” x 5” – reminds me of a prayer book, one I would leave on my nightstand for dipping into before sleep, one I might carry with me in my bag. The tone throughout is compassionate and real, so the reader feels welcomed and understood. Wilkes and his Confessional Chorus do not write from on high, from a position of holy judgment, but rather from the human perspective of thoughtful people who aspire to goodness and who, like us as readers, regularly miss the mark. Although the book is itself beautiful, I flagged sections, starred passages, underlined sentences, and folded pages so I could find them quickly. This is not a book I simply read and placed on the shelf; it’s a book that means to be used, that intends to place its fingers into your life, to guide you in the kindest way toward who you want to be. Although much of the history it presents and the guidance it offers is in the realm of religion, you needn’t be religious to find it useful. It takes a universal approach to the material, making room for everyone. The closing sentences make the point: It isn’t about reuniting you with a specific religious belief, it’s a wish “that you might be reunited with yourself.”

Because the book is small, and brief, I was left wishing for a bit more, especially in the final chapter about moving beyond these specific practices. That chapter felt light, even for a small book. However, the book takes an internal focus – me, inside myself – so perhaps it’s up to me to figure out those next steps for myself, anyway. This lovely little book has stayed with me in the weeks since I read it, and some of the exercises have stuck with me, if not as nightly practice at least as a regular part of my inner life. It is a welcome antidote to the excesses of our public confessional culture.

The Art of Confession: Renewing Yourself through the Practice of Honesty
By Paul Wilkes
Workman Publishing Company: January 1, 2012
Hardcover, 144 pages
$18.95

The authors — an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard’s Medical School and assistant psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry and “Coach Meg,” the founder and CEO of a leading corporation which focuses on building international standards for professional health and wellness coaches — offer a very holistic approach to decreasing the frenzy that so many of us encounter in our daily lives.  They complement each other wonderfully. Dr. Hammerness (the professor) usually approaches the reader head-on, lobbing out new tidbits of scientific research and trying to get the reader up to speed on the ever-evolving field of neuroscience.  Coach Meg, on the other hand, greets us at the end of each chapter in a more “nitty-gritty” manner, giving us practical steps to take on our journey toward less chaos.

Each chapter walks the reader through a clear and concise look at one “Rule of Order,” as the authors term these guidelines to gaining control and order in our every day.  They typically illustrate where so many of us go wrong and help us pinpoint the moment or moments that lead to disarray.  Many of the cases highlight individuals who have made it into adulthood with varying levels of ADD or ADHD, often through acquisition of coping skills that unfortunately have their limits.  When these people or those coping skills have met their limits, Dr. Hammerness conveys to the reader, he often sees them in his office, eager for their first appointment.

As a younger professional in the sciences who has been diagnosed with ADHD, I can easily empathize and readily understand these individuals. Throughout the book, we see myriad cases in which people struggle to keep their heads afloat in a world that seems to never stop picking up the pace around them.  The authors relay tales of mothers who allow themselves to obsessively get roped into cleaning a garage, while the rest of the world spins out of control, and contractors who forget pertinent details needed to keep business booming in a subpar economy.

Within this book we gradually move with the authors through the all of the Rules of Order: “Taming the Frenzy;” “Sustaining Attention;” “Applying the Brakes;” “Molding Information;” “Shift Setting” and “Connecting the Dots” (where we learn to put together each one of these valuable tenets to form a practical design with which to newly approach our lives).  If ever, during the course of the narrative, we doubt the real need for adjusting our turbulent lifestyles, the authors rein us back in with new understandings in neuroscience and another example of someone burning the proverbial candle at both ends.

At one point the authors even lure us into a few examples of people “multi-tasking,” goading us into momentarily believing that those people who seem adept in this supposedly coveted ability to handle more than one task at a time are superior.  But quickly we see that multitasking is akin to seeing a snapshot of a juggler with a dozen balls in the air.  We don’t see the juggler drop all of the balls in the next snapshot, so don’t truly have an accurate depiction of the ability or limitations of the juggler. 

Similarly, when we see the person in the office next door texting, typing and listening in on a conference call, we should understand that each of those tasks will be of poor quality and many likely will not be completed at all.  There are, Dr. Hammerness assures us, limitations with any human brain.

For anyone who has sought this title out in a bookstore, there will likely be no disappointment with the content.  Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life is an extremely well-constructed and astutely interesting mix of science and recipe book, arming the modern-day person with countless tasks consistently scheduled, a more productive and less stressful manner with which to approach life.  By the end of the last chapter the authors seem like two dear friends with whom we have learned invaluable skills, like stepping back from each situation and assessing before acting.  With them we learn to welcome an interruption and flex with the changing nature of the world around us.  Surely if we follow these two recommendations alone, we can thank both authors for a few added years!

As the book claimed from the beginning, Coach Meg and Dr. Hammerness offer us tools with which “to tap into our embedded organizational skills, improve focus and attention and better structure our life.”  As someone who has at times struggled with the challenges of ADHD, I practice mindfulness meditation, engage in regular physical activity (which the authors strongly urge) and attempt to eat well.  This book is a priceless addition to my library in terms of very tangible life skills that will certainly improve my ability to organize and manage my hectic schedule.

In addition, I look forward to pursuing some of the websites and citations found within this gem.  For these two gifted authors to utilize them, it will certainly be worth my time and effort to follow up on all extraneous information offered.  I cannot recommend Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life enough, as it truly does just what it sets out to do:  educates and empowers the reader to “train your brain to get more done in less time.”  It would hard to begin to put a cost on that.

Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life: Train Your Brain to Get More Done in Less Time
By Paul Hammerness, MD and Margaret Moore
Harlequin: December 27, 2011
Paperback, 272 pages
$16.95

Spanning 21 essays, the first of which Hanson wrote (as well as four others which he cowrote), Ideology, Psychology, and Law is an academic book that belongs either on a classroom desk or a library shelf. It’s not really the kind of book you bring to the beach for light reading. That said, for students and academics looking to examine the intersection of the three titular areas, Hanson’s new contribution is nothing short of a marvel.

Each of its essays is distinct, coherently argued, well written and worthy of reading. Hanson starts the book with his own essay, “Ideology, Psychology, and Law.” In it, he lays the groundwork for the remaining essays and gives some background on and context to the meaning of the three terms under discussion. He does not aim to define them, leaving that task to the essays that follow. Rather, Hanson provides the reasoning behind the book’s composition:

It should not be obvious what a volume titled Ideology, Psychology, and Law is actually about. After all, each category—ideology, psychology, and law—has numerous definitions and covers a vast domain. Furthermore, the concepts are not commonly understood as closely linked. One goal of this volume, however, is to help delineate the sizable overlap between the categories of ideology, psychology, and law and to show that the links between them are tighter and stronger than conventionally perceived.

Hanson’s other goal is to, in a sense, create a new field of study—or rather, to look at preexisting fields in new ways. He writes:

In bringing together some of the world’s most illustrious scholars in law, political science, political psychology, and social psychology, my aspiration for this book has been not only to illuminate the intersections among those disciplines but also to expand the ties between those fields in the hope of encouraging more interdisciplinary collaboration, research, and insight in the future.

Hanson is almost calling for some quasi-revolution in how we study these three fields. Human behavior is not only dynamic, but also largely misunderstood. In this way, the implications contained in Hanson’s book can result in profoundly new ways of conceiving of these disciplines. And by attempting to reorient the reader’s world and renegotiate his perception of reality, Hanson is implicitly catalyzing the evolution of our studies. Are there arguments in Ideology, Psychology, and Law that will be contested? Of course. But they are rooted in such substantive theory and testimony that it is not easy simply to dismiss them.

Moreover, Ideology, Psychology, and Law does not have one single or even several themes that abstractly bind the book together. Instead, Hanson gave his contributors free rein to write and argue as they pleased. In this way, readers will surely agree with certain arguments and disagree with others, and they will surely favor certain essays over others.

My personal favorites are the first section of Hanson’s introduction from which I quoted above, “Ideology, Psychology, and Law;” “Bias Perception and the Spiral of Conflict” by Kathleen A. Kennedy and Emily Pronin; “Backlash: The Reaction to Mind Sciences in Legal Academia” by Adam Benforado and Hanson,;and “Crowding Out Morality: How the Ideology of Self-Interest Can Be Self-Fulfilling” by Barry Schwartz.

The second section of Hanson’s introduction provides brief synopses of each essay to come. He succinctly describes the scholars’ arguments in readable, concise language. To Schwartz’s essay above—perhaps my favorite—Hanson writes:

Contrary to popular opinion and to legal theory, that is, people are not inherently self-interested. Schwartz shows that the ideological presumption that people are self-interested in law and in other institutions creates powerful, self-fulfilling expectations and situations. Schwartz further describes the problems with allowing market ideologies to govern social interactions and he examines the impact of economic thinking on legal justice.

I quote Hanson’s summary for two reasons: one, because I enjoy Schwartz’s essay and I think it is worthwhile, but two, and more important, I believe it shows the level of commitment to and investment in this book that Hanson professes. Ideology, Psychology, and Law took a long time to assemble, and though he himself did not write everything contained therein, Hanson did write a substantial amount and he did edit everything that did not bear his name. Given its timeliness, thought-provoking nature and ability to elucidate key and heavy ideas, Ideology, Psychology, and Law should without question be studied by those interested in its subjects. As well, Hanson should be commended for his staggering efforts.

Ideology, Psychology, and Law (Series in Political Psychology)
Jon Hanson, Editor; John Jost, Series Editor
Oxford University Press, USA: January 11, 2012
Hardcover, 816 pages
$110

As I cried, I wanted to believe it was the alcohol that induced Mom’s words.  I had to believe it was the alcohol.  I don’t want them.  The words rang in my ears.  That’s the night my heart first broke.

White Elephants is the story of Chynna Laird’s childhood with an alcoholic, bipolar mother.  Not for the faint of heart, this memoir is a gripping tale that Laird colorfully paints for those unfamiliar with what it is like to grow up in this situation.

This review’s opening paragraph comes from a story in the first chapter. Laird overhears a phone call between her grandmother and her mother.  Her mom is drunk and on one of her many “vacations” and Laird’s grandparents are taking care of Laird and her brother, Cam.  Five-year-old Tami (the name Laird went by for most of her life) hears her mother say on the phone, “I don’t want them.”  This scene sets the stage for the drama that plays through the rest of the book.

No one seemed to understand the manic behavior and profound depression of Tami’s mother, Janet. Janet’s siblings and parents were constantly at their wit’s end. Laird describes several points when her mother was clearly actively suicidal.

Living in a chaotic home filled with binge drinking, verbal and physical abuse will leave its mark on a child.  Tami was molested and raped in her own home.  She and her brother started drinking at a young age and were both involved in drugs at various points.  They both struggled with anger.  Cam raged on the exterior, punching walls and sometimes turning on their mother, whereas Tami unleashed her anger on herself.  She was known among other high school students for crying when she was drunk. By the age of 15, she had begun cutting and even attempted suicide one night.  As she grew older, Tami struggled with her self-esteem and developed bulimia.

In hindsight, Laird is able to recognize the “angels” who played a role in her life.  She and Cam were close to their grandparents, who practically raised them. They were the only real parents that Tami had ever known and their influence was prevalent through most of her life. 

Her stepfather, Pat, rescued her many times from herself and from her mother.  At 15, Tami was drunk at a party and had to call Pat to pick her up.  When they got home, he hugged her and told her he was not going to ask what happened.  “I just wanted you to know I’m glad you’re both home safe…You’re better than this, Tam.  You’re better than she is.” 

However, when Tami finally realized that she needed help, she turned to her godmother, “Auntie Lois.”  Tami moved in with Lois and her family and began a daily ritual of having tea with her aunt.  Over tea, Lois would patiently listen while Tami spoke about the trauma, the alcohol, and all of the other dark secrets that she had been carrying for so long.  This was the turning point for Tami:

In that moment, as I felt Auntie Lois hug me – a person who really believed me, a person so close to God she could be considered an angel – the flood gates opened and I cried.  I cried for the little girl I never was.  I cried for all the times I hurt but couldn’t react.  I cried for not having a mother who loved me the way she wanted to.

White Elephants touched me much more than I expected.  Laird says that she wrote the book in hopes that it would help someone who has been in a similar situation.  Because she could not help her mom, she hopes that someone can find some help in her story.  Although I have not been through the trials that she has, her strength and determination to not allow her mother’s abuse to determine her future is admirable and inspiring.  The moment I began reading her book I could not put it down.  Moreover, after finishing it 24 hours after I started it, I was ready to read it again.  There are not enough adjectives to adequately describe White Elephants: inspiring, tragic, heroic, admirable, honest, and deeply moving.  There were points when I found myself crying along with Tami and others when I was cheering for her on the sidelines during her recovery.

I think that Laird accomplished her goal through her story.  Not everyone will be able to relate to the events, but I believe most people will be able to relate to the struggle of pulling yourself out of depression and finding your own feet to stand on.  In this way, Laird has most assuredly accomplished her goal for this beautiful book.

White Elephants – A Memoir
By Chynna T. Laird
Eagle Wings Press: February 1, 2011
Paperback, 280 pages
$14

Every couple has experience with friends.  In some cases, the couple’s mutual friends introduced them.  In other cases, the couple met another couple and became friends.  In all cases, there are friends that one partner likes and the other does not.  Two Plus Two examines these couple relationships in depth.  Drs. Greif and Deal note that it is important for the individual to have friends, but that it is also important for a couple to have friends.  Just as friends enrich our individual lives, friendships with other couples may enrich the lives of the two halves of the partnership.

Two Plus Two examines several real-life heterosexual couples ages 21 and up who have been committed for at least a year.  The study also included 58 people who had divorced.  The study found that people can be classified on a spectrum of how likely that person is to seek and make friends.  There are people who actively seek friendships and have many friends.  There are also people who have very few friends and are still happy.  Of course, there are also people everywhere in between.

In the context of a couple relationship (that is, two couples being friends), there will inevitably be the male half of one couple interacting with the female half of the other.  One would think that this often raises suspicions between the couples.  The opposite, however, is true.  Two Plus Two found that each member of a couple is completely trusting of the other member with the members of their couple friends.  There was very little, if any, sexual tension among the people involved.

I enjoyed reading Two Plus Two.  As I mentioned earlier, the authors made it easy for anyone to understand.  Also, even though the study focused on heterosexual couples, I can testify that the same rules and principles presented in the book apply to homosexual couples.  Overall, Two Plus Two is a refreshing look into what makes people tick.  Friendships help us to grow as individuals so that we may be good partners.  Couple relationships help our partnerships grow so they may become lifelong fulfillments of our deepest desires.

Without a doubt, I would recommend Two Plus Two to anyone looking to better understand themselves, their partner, or their relationships with other people.  It certainly helped me resolve some issues in my love life and aided me in concluding that my partner and I were simply incompatible on the most fundamental of levels—he wanted to actively seek out new friends, and I am perfectly happy having a few close friends.  Two Plus Two is absolutely a book that will teach you more about yourself and your partner than you probably cared to know.

Two Plus Two: Couples and Their Couple Friendships
By Geoffrey L. Greif and Kathleen Holtz Deal
Routledge: January 10, 2012
Paperback, 231 pages
$23.95

The McCarthys state their aim in the book’s introduction:

[This book] is designed to help people—especially married and serious couples—enhance sexual awareness, communication, feelings, and function… Our goal is to increase sexual awareness and acceptance, which lead to the new mantra for healthy couple sexuality: enhanced desire, pleasure, eroticism, and satisfaction.

The McCarthys, though, are quick to caution that the book “is not do-it-yourself sex therapy” and “is not a substitute for therapy.”

What the book offers, however, are techniques, exercises and information that can aid “healthy couple sexuality.” Nothing is meant to be a panacea. The book can help fix myriad problems, but if there is true psychological unrest at the root of the couple’s struggle, then actual couples therapy might be the prudent approach. That said, for more acute problems, as well as for enhancing a sexual relationship, Sexual Awareness is a golden resource.

A nice update that clearly was possible in the book’s original publication are the topic of sex addiction and Internet pornography. The McCarthys write:

It is crucial to recognize that a minority of men (fewer than one in five) do misuse porn in a manner that subverts healthy sexuality for themselves and their intimate relationship. In that situation, the compulsive, addictive use of Internet porn must be confronted and changed because it is destructive for both individual and couple sexuality.

One of the key problems the McCarthys point to is that when most men masturbate they are orgasm-driven. That is, they do not take in the whole experience, so to speak. It is a mindless act used as a means to an end. Not only is this mindset unhealthy, but it can also lead to “goal-oriented sex performance.” As the McCarthys point out, sex between a couple should not necessarily be about reaching orgasm; there should not necessarily be an established goal.

Couples, instead, need to be, to use the book’s term, aware of what is occurring. There needs to be a greater degree of mindfulness during sex. The McCarthys write: “So much sexual activity is goal-oriented and intercourse-oriented that sensual and sexual awareness is inhibited by the rush to intercourse and orgasm.” They continue: “Intercourse is not the only means of sexual expression, nor does sex equal intercourse.”

A reoccurring theme in Sexual Awareness is that what is right for one person is not necessarily right for another. And by extension, what is right for one couple is not necessarily right for another. In a healthy sexual relationship, the partners must work together. Not only must there be open lines of communication, but there must also be a willingness to err.

“There is a romantic myth that if you are in love and communicate, sex always works well,” the McCarthys write. This, however, is not the case. “There are loving couples who communicate feelings and work together in parenting yet are unable to transfer this caring and sharing to sexual function. Communication is necessary but not sufficient. To overcome sexual problems, you need to learn and practice sexual communication and psychosexual skills.”

These skills can be learned through the techniques and exercises the McCarthys offer throughout the book. Naturally, by experimenting with these exercises, couples can begin to develop heightened sexual awareness and intimacy.

Whether it is explaining the importance of “afterplay,” or detailing the intercourse traps couples can fall into, the McCarthys continually submit comforting, reassuring wisdom: no person or couple is in this alone. Through open communication, as well as an open mind, couples can make sex work for them. Yes, some problems are bigger than others, but, as some might say, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Sexual Awareness: Your Guide to Healthy Couple Sexuality
By Barry McCarthy and Emily McCarthy
Routledge (5th edition): March 19, 2012
Paperback, 263 pages
$19.95

When Truth Lies, a novel, follows this young man’s quest for all things young people can’t wait to experience: newfound independence, dates, and sex. All turn problematic for Kevin when he exhibits signs of schizophrenia.

Author Terry Garahan writes this story based upon his experience as a social worker who worked with mentally ill patients. Now he’s a professor at Ithaca College. He created the character of Kevin to give readers insights into this complex disease: what patients really experience, and the challenges that they and their families face.

The story begins when some frat boys talk Kevin into “borrowing” a keg for one of their parties. Kevin brings the beer cooler over with every intention of returning it to the school where he works. However, he’s caught and charged with grand larceny. The judge gives Kevin a choice: jail or the Army (Vietnam is in full swing). He opts for the Army, believing he’s on a mission to end the war. However, when Kevin enters boot camp, fear paralyzes him.

He had been moved from stockade to stockade in the military system, put on buses, and shackled to the front seat. He was passed like a baton, on and on, to the next place north. Death hunted him at every step, each cell and locked room a place of filth and squalor. Each guard, a fallen angel, each meal filled with dead flesh scorched by a flame.

Finally he ends up in a mental hospital. However, he escapes and joins a group of hippies. They load up the “Cool Bus” and head to Woodstock for a three-day concert, where they drop acid. Kevin becomes even more strung out, thinking he has lost pieces of himself. “I lost me,” he cries. “I’m not here. I’m not sure I ever was. I’m not sure I ever will be.” A medic is found in the crowd who just happens to have a supply of antipsychotic medication. Kevin is temporarily calmed, and the scene closes with Jimi Hendrix playing the Star-Spangled Banner.

Frankly, I’m not sure why Garahan decided to write a fictional account when he had real-life experiences with schizophrenic patients. Was he afraid of exposing past clients (couldn’t he disguise their identities the way Oliver Sacks does)? Or did fiction just seem easier? He could use composites to turn several characters into one in this made-up account. It’s a little confusing as he’s putting this forward as an honest book about schizophrenia, and yet the story seems overly dramatic, set within clichéd sixties moments and dated hospital scenes and treatments.

For these reasons, I don’t find this story very convincing. When Kevin ends up at yet another mental hospital, the psychiatrist sends him to the canteen every day to fetch his lunch. Of course, Kevin has been hiding his medication inside his cheek and mixing it into the doctor’s food. Lo and behold, the doctor develops a “unexplained” lethargy. Not only does this seems highly unrealistic, but it’s silly.

There are a number of really good memoirs about schizophrenia. Among them are Angelhead by Greg Bottoms and Memory Palace by Mira Bartok. I happen to love a small, self-published book by Brooke Katz, I Think I Scared Her, who gives a detailed account of her own childhood schizophrenic onset, hearing voices. She didn’t tell her parents for years because she didn’t want to upset them. These stories, to me, give clearer and more honest pictures of this illness. I think Garahan missed an opportunity to share his unique insights and observations to really enlighten and inform readers

To his credit, however, he does deal with tough subjects that many other writers would have skirted, such as sex and its complications for the mentally ill. In addition, he creates scenes of life on the streets, which patients, family, and friends may find only too familiar.

As a work of fiction, When Truth Lies transports readers into a world that may be largely unfamiliar. Because Garahan avoids all medical jargon, this tale engages readers in Kevin’s life and keeps us wondering, will he turn out all right?

When Truth Lies: A Journey With Schizophrenia
By Terry Garahan
Louis Publishing Group: 2011
Paperback, 249 pages
$11.99

Rosenthal shares her battle with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), leading us from her diagnosis at age 13 through 24 subsequent years of psychological repercussions. Rosenthal recounts the story of how she fought for years to overcome her PTSD, and managed to slowly climb her way out of a serious case of depression and anxiety, experiencing a rebirth along the way. Ultimately this results in a remarkable tale of personal strength and post-traumatic growth.

The book is divided into four sections: ‘Shock;’ ‘Confusion;’ ‘Clarity;’ and ‘Healing,’ with each of these representing a different stage in Rosenthal’s journey. The first, ‘Shock,’ describes Rosenthal’s life ‘before the world intruded’ – the innocent childhood cut short by the onset of her terrible illness. ‘Confusion’ and ‘Clarity’ cover her emotional journey in coming to terms with this trauma, and ‘Healing’ describes her eventual recovery and return to happiness.

Not only is Johnson one of the 0.5 people per million to suffer from SJS, but in her case it also develops into its most extreme, life-threatening form, Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis Syndrome (TENS).The symptoms of this are a form of blistering so serious that Rosenthal has to be treated in a hospital burn unit. She recounts the condition’s sudden onset with such excruciating accuracy and vivid attention to detail that you may find yourself wincing as you read about the unbelievable pain she had to endure. Rosenthal recalls meeting the hospital psychiatrist, and being unable to put her experience into words at the time:

I did not tell her how drastically I felt changed. I did not say out loud that I was trying to suppress the memory of a pain so intense it defied words. I could not explain that I was struggling not to be overwhelmed by a staggering number of new fears and feelings, nor even the latest fear: that I had survived the physical onslaught only to be outdone by the emotions in its wake.

Indeed, it is these subsequent emotions which later cause Rosenthal to become disconnected from the rest of the world. She survives a near-death experience, and then sinks into a state of deep depression, anxiety, insomnia, and eating disorders.

Rosenthal shares the following quote from Dr. David Biro’s memoir One Hundred Days: My Unexpected Journey from Doctor to Patient:

Doctors love a good zebra. Patients with rare, exotic diseases. We crowd around to see them, touch them, photograph them. We put them on display at conferences. We write their stories in journals. We do all this, I suspect, because they reawaken the spirit that first pushed us into medicine: a fascination with the human body, its incredible achievements and its terrifying failings.

It is this idea of an “exciting zebra” for the medical community that Rosenthal most strongly identifies with throughout her struggle. She reluctantly adopts this as her identity, labeling herself as a “medical anomaly, alone, a freak.”

Eventually, 16 years after her initial diagnosis, and following countless fruitless attempts at a cure by her doctors, Rosenthal decides to seek a different kind of help. She arranges to see a psychotherapist, named Greg. It is this work with Greg, and an introduction to transcendental meditation, that signals a change for Rosenthal: She talks about her experiences for the first time and begins to discover her true voice, escaping the fearful clutches of her Ego voice. Remembering her college days, Rosenthal writes that “[W]riting was good for me. It gave me a focus outside my physical discomfort and limitation. It gave me something in which to bury the emotional angst I carried and also a place to explore how and when and why to find language and choose words.”

As her sessions with Greg evolve, Rosenthal recalls that:

I became more of a full self: I defined boundaries, learned how to communicate, and started more consciously mulling the question, ‘What do I want?’… I made a list of twenty-two things I was afraid of. At the top of the list: ‘I am afraid of myself.’ And yet, I wanted more and more to become myself. Writing seemed to be the path to that connection.

She begins to make significant progress, and to feel in control of her life, so Rosenthal terminates the sessions with Greg. But another onset of the illness sparks a relapse into her depressed state, as she is once again forced to resign herself to the role of patient, or ‘zebra.’ It is this relapse which finally triggers the turning point for Rosenthal, as she fully acknowledges the fear she has lived with – and denied – for so long. She decides once and for all to “reclaim myself,” with Greg’s help:

We break through the fear to a point where I begin to imagine for myself a different life than the invalid one I am used to. This happens oh, so slowly, but I hear the machinery grinding in my head. I fantasize I could be her, the girl of such vast energy I glimpsed for just a moment in the hospital. I imagine myself strong and free and vibrant and healthy and able to succeed without enduring the pitfalls of illness. One day, walking along the beach I feel myself as I would like to be: happy, unafraid, able to live without looking back, a strong source of joyful vitality.

Crucially, through her ongoing therapy sessions, and by reading two life-changing books – Joan Didion’s ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’ (a parent’s perspective of a child’s grave illness) and Elizabeth Wurtzel’s ‘More, Now, Again: A Memoir Of Addiction’ – Rosenthal realizes just how important her writing is to her, and how it can offer her a solution to her problems:

Socrates wrote that language is ‘an activity that moves the soul towards definition.’ Words can deliver us from our solitude, or deepen it. They are our most specific form of translating what exists in a heart through the landscape of a mind. I have always used language as a fence, as a guardrail against truth, definition, and exposure. So often my words have cloaked my self in disguises designed to ensure anonymity. Or, the lack of words has kept me separate from even myself. Recently, however, I sense the ability to use language in another way. I begin writing poetry again, starker poems and more to the point, writing more directly than ever about the aftereffects of illness and its consequence on identity… I begin to feel safe… I understand the problem has been that I never acknowledged my past and then came back to the present. Instead, I have lived in the trauma and run away from myself in every moment. It is time to sit still.

This will certainly sound familiar to anyone who has ever studied the concepts of Narrative Therapy, and it is ultimately — through her writing, a discovered love of music and dance, and a new identity – that Rosenthal finally overcomes the trauma of her illness and truly achieves happiness. At the end of the book she states that:

I can describe myself as if TENS never happened: I am a dancer, I am a writer, a creator, a lover, a partner, a daughter, a sister, a friend. I am a dog owner, a Floridian, a beachwalker, a homeowner. I am a joy seeker. I am a believer in my self. I have conquered the past. Now, I am creating my future as a woman who is connected, strong, and free.

Notably, Rosenthal is many things, but she is no longer a ‘zebra’.

Today Rosenthal works as a post-trauma coach, using the wisdom gained from her own experiences to help others, and employing the philosophy that “we can’t always find meaning in our trauma, but we can learn to make meaning come out of it.”

This is an honest, triumphant story of personal courage in the face of adversity, and will undoubtedly help anyone who has ever dealt with the effects of trauma or illness. At one point in the book, Rosenthal states that “Writing seems like the only thing that can save me,” and I am grateful that it has. Rosenthal is a survivor, and hopefully her story will help many other victims of PTSD work toward their own recovery and post-traumatic growth, finding happiness and a new sense of identity along the way.

Before the World Intruded: Conquering the Past and Creating the Future, A Memoir
By Michele Rosenthal
Your Life After Trauma, LLC: April 9, 2012
Paperback, 230 pages
$14.95

The Drawing Mind is without question ambitious, perhaps even to a fault. This is because, unlike a typical self-help book, Putnoi does not in any way tell the reader what to do. She provides some very thin guidelines, yes, but never does she launch into a lecture about how to better your life. For how could she? Rarely during the 192 pages is there more than a paragraph on consecutive pages. Rather than intersperse art throughout her text, Putnoi does the opposite, opting almost to let her art dictate her words.

The basis of The Drawing Mind lay in the idea of neuroplasticity. Putnoi addresses this: “Our brains are very plastic, meaning that as we use our brains in different kinds of ways, we can ‘build’ our brains, or ‘grow’ new neural pathways… Current research suggests that the brain is much more ‘plastic’ than earlier imagined. Even late into adulthood one can build new neural pathways by engaging in different kinds of brain-building activities.” The idea here, though certainly grand, is actually quite simple: Even if we do not believe so, we actually can change our brains for the better.

Putnoi continues: “Drawing on a regular basis may change your brain. By following the approach in this book, you will learn how to keep your senses active through drawing a series of sense experiences. You can keep your brain ‘plastic’ or build ‘brain plasticity’ by problem solving with your senses.”

Throughout The Drawing Mind, Putnoi gives exercises and even whole blank pages to allow the reader to work solely within the book. Some sample prompts for exercises include “Draw with Your Feet,” “Collect Textures” and “Drawing to Your Sense of Smell.” All these exercises are designed to force you to use your senses in modes you’d previously not considered. In this way, your brain is forced to adapt on the fly, opening up both new neural pathways and new perspectives. The implicit goal of The Drawing Mind is to get the reader to think differently, to begin to interact with him- or herself differently, and to perceive everything around him- or herself differently.

Furthermore, drawing, as Putnoi writes, does not discriminate: “Drawing is a small but powerful act. One that everyone can do. It’s a pencil, ballpoint pen, or charcoal on paper. It’s a mark in the sand or chalk on the sidewalk. Drawing is a visual language.” Perhaps you had never considered an ephemeral array of lines on the beach to be a drawing. Putnoi, however, wants you to. She wants you to reconsider your perceptions, perspectives and beliefs. In this way, the act of drawing begins to extend outward and reorient you with your world.

If this sounds like something out of an Eastern religion, you’re not far off base for thinking so. Putnoi references a meditation teacher who asks his group to “slow down and become more mindful and aware by slowly eating a raisin and meditating on the act of eating this small, dried-out grape.” ‘What does it feel like and taste like?’ he asks. The same principle is fundamental to Putnoi’s system: “Drawing a taste experience brings awareness to the next level of connection and consciousness. By slowing down, tasting and drawing the experience, you get another layer of connection” (Her emphasis). And in doing so, you begin to see things differently.

On the surface, The Drawing Mind may not seem like a book for everyone. It may seem as though it only appeals to the artsy folk: the population that already enjoys art and wants to use that interest to better their lives. But this is not the case. The fact is, as Putnoi declares, all of us can draw. We may not think so, but we can. “Drawing is not about making straight lines,” Putnoi writes. “The world of drawing is infinite. Drawings, like the people who create them, are individual.”

This is why Putnoi cannot assign self-help guidelines to her book; it wouldn’t make any sense. The bottom line is, we must help ourselves. We have all the tools, and we can be pointed in the right direction, but ultimately, the task is ours. Putnoi’s The Drawing Mind is a new direction, a unique direction, an amazingly fascinating direction, and a direction certainly worth exploring.

The Drawing Mind: Silence Your Inner Critic and Release Your Inner Creative Spirit
By Deborah Putnoi
Trumpeter: April 3, 2012
Paperback, 192 pages
$17.95

The book explores the challenges of BPD through the interactions of a fictional married couple, Annie and Fred. Dowell uses them to educate the reader about BPD as well as to offer helpful suggestions in its management. Dowell stresses that BPD is “an affliction that can be healed.” She further emphasizes that knowledge and the assistance of trained mental health professionals is important to that healing.  

Dowell formats her book in a simple, understandable way. Each chapter is dedicated to a particular facet of BPD such as emptiness, identity, or narcissistic tendencies. She covers sixteen topics in all and follows the same format for each topic or chapter. She begins each chapter with a relevant quote and then uses a sample interaction by Annie and Fred to act out the topic. She then leads her readers to a more in-depth understanding of the issue and summarizes what was covered. For those who enjoy a touch of spirituality, she also includes a prayer at the end of each section. Each chapter concludes with a thorough list of pertinent books on the topic that she entitles “Bibliotherapy.” 

In the introduction, Dowell explains the use of Annie and Fred as a way “to illustrate the unstable relationships of borderline personalities.” For example, in Chapter 5, Annie and Fred demonstrate “emptiness.”

Because of her borderline personality disorder, Annie struggles with unbearable feelings of emptiness as in this episode.

Annie: “I’m sick of our boring lives, we never do anything.”  
Fred: “What would you like to do? Want to go to a movie?”
Annie: “No, I’m tired of movies.”
Fred: “How about a football game?”
Annie: “No, football is boring.”
Fred: “Then what would you like to do, Annie?”
Annie: “I’m going shopping, see you later.”

Three hours later, Annie comes back laden with packages. Fred, while going over the receipts, discovers that she has spent $2,000 — far more than they can afford.

Dowell then defines emptiness and how it connects to other maladaptive feelings and behaviors displayed in individuals with BPD. She also dissects the interaction between the characters and offers suggestions for how they could manage Annie’s BPD in a healthy manner.

Readers may find Dowell’s use of the DSM helpful to describe and break down the relevant topic. For example, Chapter 15 covers “splitting” and Dowell begins her discussion by quoting the DSM-IV:

The Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders describes splitting as: A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation.

Dowell continues to describe the concept in more detail:

“Splitting” is a defense mechanism, a pattern of extreme thinking: all-or-nothing, 100–percent-good-or-100-percent-bad, no-shades-of-gray, black-or-white, for-me-or against-me, heroes-or-villains, good-or-evil, love-or-hate, 100-percent–in or 100-percent-out of relationships. Splitting bounces from love to hate, and there is no middle ground.

The book generally achieves its purpose “to encourage compassion … for those who suffer severe mental anguish.” However, in my opinion, the book is better suited for persons struggling with mild to moderate BPD, not suffering from severe symptoms such as ongoing suicidal gestures and self-mutilating behaviors.

In regard to Dowell’s use of the fictional characters to represent interactions that might occur with BPD symptomatology, the dialogue between her characters is a bit stiff and sometimes inauthentic. Nonetheless, Dowell still achieves her objective in using the characters as an example for the overall themes and issues that characterize the disorder.

Overall, Compassion for Annie: A Healthy Response to Mental Disorders is a book I would recommend to a general audience looking for more information on Borderline Personality Disorder. It is an easy guide to the basics of the disorder but I do not believe it gives mental health professionals any added insight into BPD. On the other hand, I do feel that it reminds mental health professionals to continue to be compassionate and patient with individuals struggling with this disorder. Most important, it offers a much-needed hope toward the healing of a very difficult and complex disorder.

Compassion for Annie: A Healthy Response to Mental Disorders
By Marilyn R. Dowell
Langdon Street Press: October 4, 2011
Paperback, 174 pages
$16.95

Such may be the case for you as well with Better Than Normal:  How What Makes You Different Can Make You Exceptional.  This offering from Dr. Dale Archer, a board-certified psychiatrist and distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, will change the way you look at “the box called normal.”  Dr. Archer states that he is “… driven to spread an empowering new message about mental disorder that places responsibility for identity and mental health back where it belongs – in your hands.”

The message Archer delivers in Better Than Normal is indeed new.  For each of eight fundamental behavioral traits he identifies, he then assigns another term that conjures up far more positivity than the terminology assigned by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). If you have been diagnosed as having ADHD, wouldn’t you rather be seen as “Adventurous”?  How about those with a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder or generalized anxiety disorder?  Wouldn’t the terms “Shy” or “Hyper-Alert” elicit more hope on a patient’s horizon?  A diagnosis of being bipolar or schizophrenic could paralyze someone’s hope for recovery, but what if you were, instead, referred to as being “High Energy” or as a “Magical” thinker? 

Also looked at through a new lens is OCD (Perfectionist); histrionic personality disorder (Dramatic); narcissistic personality disorder (Self-Focused).  Dr. Archer provides a continuum model for these traits from 0 to 10, with 0 representing that the trait is absent; 5, the trait is dominant; and 10, the trait is superdominant.  Because a great many of us have these traits in varying degrees, he suggests that we stop looking at them as negative and see, instead, their positive aspects.  Prior to reading the book, he suggests completing the eight questionnaires in the Appendix to determine your own personality’s dominant traits.

“Ascendant strengths” are identified for each trait and is where the positive spin on diagnosis and treatment really comes into play.  I can only imagine someone’s surprise at being diagnosed with one of these disorders and then their subsequent elation at being told that there are not only strengths inherent with the disorder, but that you can use them to your advantage.  Gone would be the person’s perceived stigma of having a mental disorder.  For his book Dr. Archer interviewed people whose acknowledgement and employment of the ascendant strengths of their disorders have helped them be successful in their lives.  All names in those stories have been changed, with the exception of one.  Marc, who is bipolar, requested that his real name be used as he “puts himself and his story in the public eye every day to live his message and destigmatize mental illness.”  Dr. Archer defines him as a “model of what it means to live and be successful with a diagnosis” and a reason he was invited to be included in the book.

In the chapter on social anxiety disorder, we learn that anxious people sometimes use alcohol (referred to as a “social lubricant”), marijuana, or tobacco to help with their social phobia.  In one woman’s story of her addiction to alcohol, she tried Alcoholics Anonymous meetings but disliked the group setting – remember, she is shy – found the meetings depressing, and she just was not “a joiner.”  Using her ascendant inner strength, she overcame her alcohol addiction by an intentional shift in her mindset to one in which alcohol was poisonous, and then supplemented that mindset with hypnosis tapes, prayer, and books.  It would be interesting to know what advocates of Alcoholics Anonymous think about this approach, especially since she was able to overcome her addiction to alcohol without attending meetings or having a sponsor.

Better Than Normal has its roots in the group theory of evolution, according to Archer: 

…because humans live in interdependent groups, evolution has favored the kind of personality specialization that we’re talking about.  When one person is particularly adventurous, for example, or especially well organized, or an exceptionally charismatic leader, everyone else in the group benefits.  But when we seek out diagnoses and medications so that we can stuff everyone back into the box called normal, we stifle the full range of human diversity.  As individuals, our potential for personal satisfaction decreases.  As a group – as a society – we suffer.

Rest assured that Dr. Archer is not saying that medication no longer has a role in treatment and should be thrown by the wayside.  However, when it comes to treating these disorders he is asking that we also look at them in a new and different way, with a view that may fall outside of what we think of as normal.  Whether you are the one diagnosed with a mental disorder or you are treating someone with such a diagnosis, the treatment approach in Better Than Normal could be the catalyst for beneficial change in the lives of many.

Better Than Normal:  How What Makes You Different Can Make You Exceptional
Crown Archetype: March 13, 2012
Hardcover, 256 pages
$25

Entering this landscape is Smart Thinking, by Dr. Art Markman. This book draws on two impressive strengths: an examination of 50 years of interdisciplinary studies, including but going beyond cognitive science, and Dr. Markman’s deep expertise in developing and teaching the skills associated with innovation. The book is written in clear and straightforward prose, and filled with everyday examples to help the reader see the precepts operating in his or her daily life.

What is “smart thinking”? If you’re intelligent, don’t you do smart thinking? Not necessarily. Smart thinking is the ability to solve new problems using your current knowledge, and it’s a skill you can develop.

One great example of smart thinking offered in the book is James Dyson’s vacuum cleaner. Dyson realized what we all know: that vacuum cleaners don’t work all that well. Brushes pull up the dirt, and suction pulls the dirt up into the bag – until the bag starts to fill with dirt, which minimizes the suction. Dyson created an entirely new kind of vacuum cleaner and created a company that makes over $100 million in profits a year.

But surely he was some kind of genius; surely there is just something uniquely creative about the way he thinks. Dr. Markman argues instead that Dyson simply relied on his existing knowledge (about the way things work), applied it from one area to another, and he was persistent – all skills that can be learned.

The book is organized around three core elements of smart thinking: developing smart habits, acquiring high-quality knowledge, and applying knowledge. The material in Chapter Two, “Creating Smart Habits and Changing Behavior,” is fascinating and practical, and reassuring (especially “the worst way to try to stop a habit is through what we usually call willpower”!). Instead, developing smart habits essentially involves two steps: stopping the performance of an old behavior, and replacing the bad habit with a good one. This chapter breaks those two steps down into clear and simple processes that will leave you less distracted by inefficient thinking, and ready to spend your mental energy on more creative and productive things.

Chapters Three and Four focus on the acquisition and development of high-quality knowledge. I found these chapters fascinating, because they highlighted specific ways out of my own muddied understanding. Chapter Three explores the ways our memories do and don’t work. It offers very practical advice on ways to pay attention and obtain the information before us, as well as ways to help others pay attention – a unique aspect of this book.

Chapter Four focuses quite closely on causal knowledge: the answer you give to questions that begin with “why” or “how.”  How does a ballpoint pen write? How does a flush toilet operate? How does a zipper work? The issue here is not that it’s important to know how a ballpoint pen writes, for instance, but that we operate too often with vague, hand-waving understandings of things. Developing the skills to answer these questions will bring far-reaching benefits: you’ll have complete, specific, understandable knowledge; you’ll develop the habit of teaching yourself as you go along; and you can ask for this level of explanation from people around you, which helps promote good thinking habits in others!

In Chapters Five, Six, and Seven, Dr. Markman moves into applying the high-quality knowledge you have obtained. These chapters, like those which came before, focus on practical strategies to help you access the knowledge you have, when you need it.

Chapter Five explores the concepts of similarity and analogy. It provides a number of great examples of the power of analogies to communicate and to solve new problems. Chapter Six returns to how our memory works and provides a number of specific strategies to help it work better. (As a middle-aged person, I found these strategies quite useful.) Chapter Seven brings it all together and provides a four-step process to solving problems.

Finally — and this is a unique strength of this book — Dr. Markman steps back and explores ways we can all contribute to a “culture of smart.” Very few of us work alone, and it’s not enough for one or two team members to do all the smart thinking for the entire group (as we know if we’ve been the one doing the heavy lifting). This straightforward chapter should be required in every business class, and handed out to new employees of every company. Readers who take this material to heart, and take it to their jobs, will be on the way to making everyone else a smart thinker too.

With succinct takeaway summaries at the end of each chapter, key concepts pulled out and highlighted, and the three main points of each chapter listed under the chapter title, this wonderful book practices what it preaches. At the beginning of the book, Dr. Markman (again, practicing what he preaches) advises readers to move slowly through the book, stopping to think when he recommends doing so, explaining the material to yourself as you read, and doing the exercises provided in the book. I wanted to read it that way, and I’ll probably read it that way my second time through. In my first reading, though, I was so engaged by the clarity of explanation, and the lovely examples, I just kept turning pages, underlining passages, flagging details. As I read, I saw too clearly my own muddy thinking, the gaps in my ability to think logically through causal knowledge, and my lazy habits – but the book left me energized and motivated to address them.

This book would be a great addition to your library; it will be the gift I give every college graduate, to friends who are beginning a new career, or to those of any age who feel stuck and unable to be as creative as they believe themselves to be.

Smart Thinking: Three Essential Keys to Solve Problems, Innovate, and Get Things Done
By Art Markman, PhD
Perigee Trade: January 3, 2012
Hardcover, 272 pages
$25