Psychology Mental Illness

A founder of the field of evolutionary medicine uses his decades of experience as a psychiatrist to provide a much-needed new framework for making sense of mental illness. With his classic book Why We Get Sick, Dr. Randolph Nesse helped to establish the field of evolutionary medicine. Now he...

Pain is an inevitable part of existence, but severe debilitating or chronic pain is a pathological condition that diminishes the quality of life. The Brain and Pain explores the present and future of pain management, providing a comprehensive understanding based on the latest discoveries from many branches of neuroscience. Richard Ambronthe former director of a neuroscience lab that conducted leading research in this fieldexplains the science of how and why we feel pain.

If you have a family member who suffers from mental illness, but refuses to seek treatment, you may feel like you're caught in a trap. If you try making life easier for your loved one, you wind up perpetuating dependency and entitlement. If you push for treatment, you are met with resistance or outright animosity. And when you reach out to professionals for help, you are told that nothing can be done unless your family member is ready to change. So, how can you escape the "family trap?"

While on a research trip in Peru, science journalist Alice Robb became hooked on lucid dreaming - the uncanny phenomenon in which a sleeping person can realize that they're dreaming and even control the dreamed experience. Finding these forays both puzzling and exhilarating, Robb dug deeper into the science of dreams at an extremely opportune moment: just as researchers began to understand why dreams exist. They aren't just random events; they have clear purposes. They help us learn and even overcome psychic trauma.

Based on decades of research, Chronotherapy shows you how to harness the power of light to reset your natural clock and boost your mood, be more alert, and get a good night's sleep. A good night's sleep can be hard to get. Sleep problems and depressed mood often go hand in hand, forming a frustrating cycle. Only now are we beginning to understand the way these problems are based in the working of the brain's inner clock, through the science of chronobiology - the study of circadian rhythms and their regulation by light and darkness.

When neuroscientist Susan Barry was 50 years old, she took an unforgettable trip to Manhattan. As she emerged from the dim light of the subway into the sunshine, she saw a view of the city that she had witnessed many times in the past but now saw in an astonishingly new way. Skyscrapers on street corners appeared to loom out toward her like the bows of giant ships. Tree branches projected upward and outward, enclosing and commanding palpable volumes of space.

Over the last decade, scientists have discovered the importance and widespread presence in the body of a remarkable family of proteins known as prion proteins. Research links various types of prion proteins to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's—and this has fueled the search for new drugs that could halt the progression of these terrible disorders. Other discoveries have revealed the essential roles prion proteins play in memory and immunity, and the part they may have played in the beginnings of life on our planet.

Like many of us, journalist David K. Randall never gave sleep much thought. That is, until he began sleepwalking. One midnight crash into a hallway wall sent him on an investigation into the strange science of sleep. In Dreamland, Randall explores the research that is investigating those dark hours that make up nearly a third of our lives.

Traditional therapy and medications have taken you as far as they can, but you still live in fear of that next relapse. You diligently manage your life to avoid a manic or depressive episode, yet you can’t become the person you know you truly are. If your body, mind, and soul are crying out for relief, and you dream of a day when your mental illness no longer controls you, then This Is Me, Bipolar-Free is the beacon of hope you've been searching for.

“Pat, we need to kill the dog.” When a sudden mental illness struck his wife, Patrick Dylan found himself living with an eerie stranger. Scared and unprepared, he began a desperate battle to protect her from a mysterious disease, shelter their children from her bizarre behavior, and recover the woman he loved. Within weeks, she had been admitted to the emergency room, the hospital, and the local crisis facility, but none of the experts could provide an answer. As her illness eluded diagnosis, the family’s struggle was only beginning.

After best-selling author Jean Carper discovered that she had the major susceptibility gene for Alzheimer's, she was determined to find all the latest scientific evidence on how to escape it. She discovered 100 surprisingly simple, scientifically tested ways to radically cut the odds of Alzheimer's, memory decline, and other forms of dementia.

The inspiration for the PBS series Mysterious of Mental Illness, Shrinks brilliantly tells the "astonishing" story of psychiatry's origins, demise, and redemption (Siddhartha Mukherjee). Psychiatry has come a long way since the days of chaining "lunatics" in cold cells and parading them as...

Explore a medley of poetic beats, unique insights, and creative therapies in the author's first work of creative nonfiction. Tony Martello is an author like no other who combines sound and sanity to balance scholarly research with an enriched experiential existence. Creativity is king here and is grounded by peer reviewed studies on chronic pain both physical and emotional in nature.

In Healing Depression for Life, Dr. Gregory Jantz offers a new way forward. Drawing on the innovative whole-person approach that has made his treatment center one of the top 10 depression treatment facilities in the US, Dr. Jantz reveals the treatments, practices, and lifestyle changes that can provide lasting relief from depression - by addressing its chemical, emotional, physical, intellectual, relational, and spiritual causes.

Leading medical innovator Kenneth Bock, MD, has helped change the lives of more than 1,000 children, and in this important book he offers help to children everywhere. This is the book that finally puts hope within reach. Doctors have generally overlooked the connections among the 4-A disorders, despite their concurrent rise and the presence of many medical clues.

Narcissistic personality disorder is, in short, the state of self-obsession to such a great extent that the person is delusional in one way or another. It can manifest in many ways and result in the decline of the mental, emotional, and even physical health of the people around the individual. For this reason, it is necessary that you're able to identify what narcissistic personality disorder is, who is most at risk for it, what the symptoms of this disorder are, and what treatment options are available.

Anxiety is a very serious issue and especially the fear of illness is a real ordeal for many sufferers. But fear is also a feeling that every human being carries within him or her, which is vital or essential for survival and is stronger or weaker in each person depending on their personality. Fear drives, inspires, mobilizes one's own forces, leads to success, but can also make you sick - so sick that life becomes hell. Hypochondria - as the fear of illness is specifically called - is a phenomenon of completely exaggerated fears that can push sufferers to their limits.

When Dr. David Kirkpatrick's wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2007, their lives - and their marriage - would change forever. In an honest, uplifting, and sometimes heartbreaking account of loving a partner with dementia, Dr. Kirkpatrick creates a clear guide for others in similar circumstances. He shares his perspective both as a loving and grief-stricken husband coping with a profound change in his marriage, and as a geriatric psychiatrist doing everything he can for his wife while continually learning throughout that experience.

Thoughts, stories, and philosophy of life from someone living with mental illness

The Beasts in Your Brain is a guide and companion equally for you and your loved ones, here to provide that essential first dose of information, understanding, and validation about mental illness and how it affects the young people of today.