Alternative Psychology

Many antidepressants - the first line in our standard of care for treating depression - bring with them potential health risks, yet one in six Americans takes medication to alleviate feeling sad, anxious, stuck, or unable to focus or sleep. More and more, conventional medicine pathologizes how we respond to life's challenges - like feeling trapped in an unfulfilling job, grieving the death of a loved one, or being anxious about a bad relationship - telling us that they're symptoms of disease.

The way to inner peace is illuminated in this accessible guide to tending one's inner landscape. The lives of outstanding figures such as the Buddha, Walt Whitman, and Gandhi are used to connect the ideal of inner peace with how real people cultivate peace in their everyday lives. Peacefulness as dynamic, selective, and egoless is shown through the constructive act of choosing different ways of life, such as having a smaller family or a more modest career. A message of hope and inspiration permeates this pragmatic approach and is exemplified by the author's own practice of meditation.

Renew your sense of purpose to achieve health and happiness with this actionable guide that incorporates astrology, integrative wellness, and positive psychology - from a renowned astrologer and integrative health practitioner.

In our busy, get-it-done-now culture, stress has become the new normal - a normal that's embedding itself into our minds and our bodies. If left unchecked, stress can dictate how we think, feel, and act. Overwhelm, anxiousness, malaise, and unease are a daily experience. And over time, these stress-reactions turn into habits, leaving us stuck in a mental and physical rut. So, how can you soothe stress before it becomes your go-to? In this practical and accessible guide, you'll find powerful and effective tools for calming stress in both mind and body.

Feeling restricted by her office-bound clinical practice, licensed clinical social worker Jen Udler decided to take therapy outdoors. Walking on local nature trails with her clients proved to be the breakthrough Jen was looking for. The calming presence of nature provided a varied backdrop, offering natural metaphors for each client's experience, while the rhythmic movement cultivated deeper connections between mind and body.

The more we learn about psychedelics, the less we seem to understand them. . . . In this engrossing, sometimes hilarious, always dramatic chronicle, a neuropsychologist deflates the hype, explores the limitless possibilities, and reveals a much-needed perspective about psychedelics, giving us a scientist’s first-person experiment with ten different compounds in ten different settings.

These days there are all kinds of problems that introduce struggle into our lives. Like the epidemic of social anxiety. Everybody who has had parents knows that a lot of internal conflict arises from the process of growing up with parents. And many people have suffered some real trauma. These sometimes cause people to feel like things aren’t going to get any better.

Used for thousands of years by indigenous tribes of the Amazon rain forest, the mystical brew ayahuasca is now becoming increasingly popular in the West. Psychologist Rachel Harris here shares her own healing experiences and draws on her original research (the largest study of ayahuasca use in North America) into the powerful medicine's effects on depression, addiction, PTSD, and anxiety.

Why sometimes do even the smallest events send us into a downward spiral? Whether we're aware of it or not, our feelings and outlook are constantly shaped by learned patterns, or habitual modes of being. These have the power to dictate our sense of wellbeing and our very perceptions of our lives and the world around us. These modes - distinct orchestrations of how we think and feel, how we act and interact - can open us up to delight and wisdom or preoccupy us with fear and despair, driving and distorting our experiences like invisible puppeteers of the mind.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) might be the treatment you’ve been looking for. CBT uses your own mind’s internal processes and ability to make associations to unleash a better version of yourself. This audiobook explains what CBT is, how it works, and how you can benefit from it. It also guides you through a 10 step process where your awareness of how your mind works can lead to greater personal happiness, peace, and joy. You'll learn how to achieve a higher level of personal clarity.

Emotional Intelligence Mastery is the ultimate 7 Book Boxset that is designed to help you with every aspect of emotional development, interpersonal relationships, becoming more charismatic and influential, dealing with negative emotions and intrusive thoughts, and achieving personal growth. It is a combination of the following seven books that will help you achieve success and happiness in life. Each book is packed with simple, yet very effective, strategies that you can start implementing in your life today.

Are you looking for unique ways to "get into the game"? To enhance your training and find focus? You aren't alone. Increasingly, athletes and coaches are incorporating mindfulness practices into their training. That's because mindfulness can help you lower your stress levels, connect with the moment, and mentally bounce back after setbacks. So whether you're a sports enthusiast or a professional athlete, mindfulness can also help you deal with physical aspects of training, such as fatigue, aches, pains, injury, burnout, and exhaustion.

Truth: A User's Guide explores how we can guard against the noise of competing truths, in business, in our personal relationships, and within ourselves, but also how we can use them to our advantage. Written with authority and humour, this is an accessible and illuminating narrative that will find a wide audience among listeners in search of understanding why the meaning of "truth" seems to have gone completely haywire.

Hope for all those who want to meditate but feel they can't because they think too much: a remedy. Making friends with the infamous "monkey mind" to make it a means for healing and awakening.

When Columbia University doctor Kelli Harding began her clinical practice, she never intended to explore the invisible factors behind our health. But then there were the rabbits. In 1978, a seemingly straightforward experiment designed to establish the relationship between high blood cholesterol and heart health in rabbits discovered that kindness — in the form of a particularly nurturing post-doc who pet and spoke to the lab rabbits as she fed them — made the difference between a heart attack and a healthy heart.

Dr. Susan J. Noonan provides people experiencing depression with strategies to take stock of their mental state, to chart a course toward emotional balance, and to track their progress on the journey to well-being. Dr. Noonan explains how to obtain care from professionals, outlines what medical options are available, and lists everyday things people can do to feel better. Integrating medicine, psychology, and holistic care while exploring the basics of mental health, she touches on diet, sleep habits, physical activity, and mindfulness techniques.

Celebrated transsexual trailblazer Kate Bornstein has, with more humor and spunk than any other, ushered us into a world of limitless possibility through a daring re-envisionment of the gender system as we know it. Here, Bornstein bravely and wittily shares personal and unorthodox methods of survival in an often cruel world. A one-of-a-kind guide to staying alive outside the box, Hello, Cruel World is a much-needed unconventional approach to life for those who want to stay on the edge, but alive.

Shadow work—the process of exploring your pain, trauma, and imperfections—is a powerful tool to help you embrace and accept yourself, even the parts that are difficult. Shadow Work gives you everything you need to get started with a clear explanation of what shadow work is, how it works, and how it helps you, as well as guided meditations and affirmations to walk you through your own shadow work. Written by licensed therapist Jor-El Caraballo, this book is the perfect companion for your self-exploration journey.

This is the first book to present an integrated model of mindfulness and emotion regulation - both clinically proven for reducing anxiety symptoms. Using these easy mindfulness practices, you'll learn to manage your emotions and lessen your anxiety, leading to improvements in your social life, work obligations, and family responsibilities.

Are you struggling to focus or manage life’s complexities due to ADHD, anxiety, or depression? You’re not alone. ADHD often coexists with anxiety and depression, leaving many feeling isolated and frustrated after trying ineffective strategies. But there’s hope for lasting change.